Francias en Lewiston ? (Bangor, Brunswick, Paris: upper-class, house, live)

[ckingart]

I have a goal to learn to speak French fluently. Obviously the best way to learn is by using it daily. However opportunities in the US are few, Louisiana has to many problems, a lack of housing after Katrina being one. But Maine seems ideal, it is close to Quebec and New Brunswick, it also has the highest percentageof native French speakers of any state.

I'm considering moving to the Lewiston area. My question is what are the opportunities to speak French in Lewiston on a daily basis ? I would move to Manawaska but it appears to be rather economically depressed.

Any information would be appreciated, I'm visiting Maine next week to begin scouting around.

Merci pour toutes informations.

[Acadianlion]

Occasionally. But if you really want to be emersed in a form of French, you need to go to Montreal or Quebec. Even then, the French that will be spoken isn't completely true to, say Parisienne French.

[horsewizard]

If you want to be in a french speaking area, you must go to Madawaska, Fort Kent, or pretty much anywhere in northern Aroostook county. Most of them speak French on a daily basis.

[roadrat]

I've lived in Lewiston my whole life, The use of the French language here is almost entirely gone. You will have to move alot closer to Canada to use French on a regular basis.

bill

[tkx7]

There are a lot of French Canadians in Lewiston but they dont always use French on a regular basis. They might use French in their own homes though. As previously mentioned, Fort Kent, Madawaska, anything on the border of Quebec or in Quebec will have French speaking.

Here is the site to Edmundston, right next to Madawaska.
http://www.ville.edmundston.nb.ca/

[rabbitlover]

Originally Posted by ckingart

I have a goal to learn to speak French fluently. Obviously the best way to learn is by using it daily. However opportunities in the US are few, Louisiana has to many problems, a lack of housing after Katrina being one. But Maine seems ideal, it is close to Quebec and New Brunswick, it also has the highest percentageof native French speakers of any state.

I'm considering moving to the Lewiston area. My question is what are the opportunities to speak French in Lewiston on a daily basis ? I would move to Manawaska but it appears to be rather economically depressed.

Any information would be appreciated, I'm visiting Maine next week to begin scouting around.

Merci pour toutes informations.

Two words:Frenchville, Maine.

[Theeunderdog]

French isn't spoken anymore except by the older Franco Americans and their face will light up when they meet someone that can speek it. But with the Maineiacs hockey team coming to Lewiston there seems to be alot more French Canadians who have been visiting and many people have been starting to pick it up again. I understand it but I can only speak a few word.

[DavidoftheNorth]

There's a french reading group that meets once a week at Borders in Bangor...

[Audry524]

Ditto what everyone else said but just reinforcing the fact that the French spoken in Maine is not the French spoken in France.

My parents are from northern Maine and always speak french to each other, not English. As a child we had a foreign exchange student from France visit our house and my parents and him had a real hard time understanding what the other was saying.

Just an FYI

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by Audry524

Ditto what everyone else said but just reinforcing the fact that the French spoken in Maine is not the French spoken in France.

This is often stated. But neither is Maine (or American) English the same as British English. I've heard it said that the Maine accent, what little still exists, is similar to the English spoken in England at the time the English colonists left England. If you listen to British speakers today, for example, they usually drop their "r"s, similar to Mainers and some Bostonians. Similarly, the French spoken in northern Maine, Acadian French, was the French spoken mainly in Normandy in the 1600s when their ancestors set off for the New World. In those days, before TV and radio, regional dialects in European countries were more pronounced, also. Lewiston French is mostly derived from Quebec, is of different origins than Acadian French, and therefore is different again. It may be that French snobs are attuned to the fact that Maine French is markedly different from "Upper-Class" Parisian French and never was part of that distinctive and identifying dialect. Remember, class distinctions still exist in Europe. That might be the case, I don't know.

By the way, "francais" is spelled "francais", not "francias" - I'm sure it was just a typo, but just in case...