Louisiana French at home Sept 2011 update

[The Angler]

Bonjour mes amis de Louisiane,

J'ai été trés presser tout l'été, et maintenant, c'est l'heure à
recommencer nos études du français louisianaise.

Tout les monde parlent un peu de français? Oui? Pas encore?

Last week, my son and I started our fourth year of learning
Louisiana / Cajun French at home. I've learned a lot by helping my
son, and I think he's picking up the basics. We try to use French at
home each day. Every little bit helps.

Unfortunately, I didn't grow up in a French speaking household, so I'm
having to rely on the books I've collected to learn what I can about
how to speak and write Louisiana French properly (or as well as I
can). Two invaluable books are listed on the "getting started" page
on my Cajun 101 web site:

http://donavanhall.net/books/cajun101/

Last year I found a copy of Faulk's Cajun French I and it's extremely
informative; the only drawback is the French words are written ONLY
phonetically. That helps with pronunciation, but makes it a little
hard to read.

Two other books that I added to my collection in the last six month
are "Cajun and Creole Folktales" collected and annotated by Barry Jean
Ancelet and "Cajun French: Dictionary and Phrasebook" by Bruce &
Gipson. Ancelet's book is helpful in that he gives the Louisiana
French and English versions of the folktales. The book has an
academic feel to it, but it still a fantastic resource for the home
learner. Bruce & Gispon's book has the advantage of being short and
basic, so it makes for a good introduction to Cajun French. The basic
grammar section is essential reading for anyone wanting to learn Cajun
French at home.

Also, I want to invite anyone to send messages to the group in French,
especially if you speak Louisiana French. The more we use our
language the better we'll get at it.

One more thing, I just noticed the other day that there is an open
group on Facebook called "Acadians-Cajun-Louisiana French Pride" with
almost 600 member, so of whom are French speakers. If you are
Facebook user, this might be a way to find more Louisiana French
friends. This link might take you there:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/2224509960/

Lâchez pas le français!
Donavan

[John Jeansonne]

Just want to say that I think what you're doing to help preserve our language is awesome. Thank you.

-John Jeansonne

[Donavan Hall]

Pas de tracas!  J'aime un tas le français louisianais.
---
Donavan Hall
donavanhall.net

2011/9/12 John Jeansonne <thefi...@gmail.com>