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This couple were very much like my grandparents. This is how they talked. They told us that when they were in school they were severely punished if caught speaking French in school. The punishment varied on who was teaching and the student. A hard slap across the face, a closed fist punch, a belt, a paddle, or even a whip in some rare cases were used if the student was caught speaking French. But then the Second World War cam and now the US military needed these Cajuns to speak their French in France. That’s where my grandfather served in the Army during that war. Even after the war many students locally were afraid to speak French in school. In my family it became a “Hush hush” language parents used when they didn’t want us kids to know what they were talking about. Sadly many lost the language though it still lingers among some communities and families. Below is a video example of that language.
They have a strong accent and some way of construct sentance are odds for me. But it's totally understandable.
Is there still many french speaking people in US?
Sadly no. There has been efforts since the 1960s to try to save and pass on the language with classes in school. There are some isolated communities where the language continues. However English is more and more diluting the language. As for the type of French you have to remember my ancestors came to what is now Canada in the early 1600s. In around 1755 ownership of the people and land was transferred to the king of England. The men were locked up inside their church unable to leave for any reason. Ships were brought into port. The women and children were ordered to carry whatever they could without the assistance of pack animals to the ships. The men were then forced onto those ships and they were sent away. They tried to make their way to New Orleans, a French city. Some ships became infected and they had to pull into ports along the east coast of America. I met one of those descendants while in the Navy. He had the French Cajun family name Benoit but was now pronouncing it using the English pronunciation of how his name was spelled. When my ancestors did make it to New Orleans they discovered a city of wealthy nobility and wealthy merchants who owned slaves to do the work the Acadians have always done for themselves. They were looked down upon for being Frenchmen who were willing to do the work of slaves. So they left New Orleans and headed west through the swamps and came upon fertile dry land for crops and livestock. This land also offered opportunities for hunters, fur trappers, and fishermen. They developed successful communities. It was the US Civil War that began the loss of the language. After the war was over the officials who entered the area were shocked to discover people who didn’t speak English and felt this could become a source of future rebellion. The French language was made illegal in the state of Louisiana. As schools rebuilt and opened teachers from outside the area were brought in and told not to allow students to speak French. It took a few decades for things to get to the point my grandparents experienced. I only know a few words and phrases. When my grandparents passed away my parents and their siblings spoke the language very infrequently and I began to forget many of the words I had already learned. What Cajun French I did know came in handy while stationed in Italy as some words were similar enough for the locals to understand what I was trying to say.
Same thing happened in France to my grandparents during the Second World war that's why they are now bilingual in German and French, as they were living in the border with Germany and at this time the country was occupied by the German army.
Same thing happened in France to my grandparents during the Second World war that's why they are now bilingual in German and French, as they were living in the border with Germany and at this time the country was occupied by the German army.
That’s why I’m leery of those advocating for destruction of historical monuments and demands of a national English only language in USA. To destroy historical monuments and to change the language is to change the culture. Bits of the original culture will linger but never quite the same.
It's always astonishing to me how these accents and pronunciations can be similar over 250 years later, to those in Acadian regions of Nova Scotia (Atlantic Canada)
The latest U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey reports that 1,301,443 people in the U.S. speak French at home. French is the 5th most common non-English language spoken in US households after after Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. Source
There are two types of Francophone in the US, the first is those who are part of community that has passed down French since the settlement of New France, this includes Acadians in Maine and Lousiana, and people in the Quebec border region who are found mostly in northern New Hampshire, Vermont and along the St. Lawrence river and Champlain lowlands in New York State.
Then there are more recent immigrants who are spread across the country but mostly concentrated in the Northeast coastal region centered on New York City and Boston metropolitan areas and extending into New England to the north, and the Mid-Atlantic region to the south. Other significant regions of French speakers are California's major cities, and the Florida coast.
Same thing happened in France to my grandparents during the Second World war that's why they are now bilingual in German and French, as they were living in the border with Germany and at this time the country was occupied by the German army.
The French regions bordering Germany, Alsace and (the northeastern half of) Lorraine, have been German speaking for about 1500 years. Nothing to do with German occupation during WW2.
The latest U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey reports that 1,301,443 people in the U.S. speak French at home. French is the 5th most common non-English language spoken in US households after after Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. Source
There are two types of Francophone in the US, the first is those who are part of community that has passed down French since the settlement of New France, this includes Acadians in Maine and Lousiana, and people in the Quebec border region who are found mostly in northern New Hampshire, Vermont and along the St. Lawrence river and Champlain lowlands in New York State.
Then there are more recent immigrants who are spread across the country but mostly concentrated in the Northeast coastal region centered on New York City and Boston metropolitan areas and extending into New England to the north, and the Mid-Atlantic region to the south. Other significant regions of French speakers are California's major cities, and the Florida coast.
I think Louisiana has around 200,000 people who speak French at home.
Maine has fewer speakers but also has a smaller population, so its share of francophones is higher than that of Louisiana. About 5% of Maine's population speaks French at home. (The percentage of French speakers in Maine is as high or higher than the percentage of francophones in 8 of Canada's 10 provinces. All of them except Quebec and New Brunswick.)
There are a half-dozen or so small towns along the Canadian border in northern Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, where two-thirds to three-quarters of the population is francophone.
Louisiana has a couple of small towns as well where French speakers are around half the population but the main cities and towns in Cajun Country like Lafayette, St-Martinville, etc. are all predominantly English-speaking with francophone minorities of maybe 15-20%.
In these areas most people of Cajun (Cadien) origin themselves are English only speakers with very little knowledge of French.
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