Quote:
Originally Posted by Capsicum
What is it like talking with the Cajun community of French speakers in terms of vitality of the language?
Do most people who do speak it, feel comfortable with it as a home language and the language they feel at ease in? Is it mostly the older people who speak it with the younger generation losing it in the manner that say, allophone immigrant kids talk to their immigrant parents in Toronto or something, or is there a sense of fear that the next generation will lose it, as opposed to people fiercely proud of it, and willing to revitalize it among the younger crowd?
|
This is actually two questions. Lucky for you guys - I can answer both!
In terms of the renaissance of French down there, my sense is that it's only a small uppity but influential minority of the Cajun population that really cares. However they have been successful in creating an organization called CODOFIL and implementing either bilingual or immersion curricula in most of the Cajun areas of Louisiana in recent decades. These are places where almost no French instruction existed before, so this is definitely a step forward.
The large passive majority probably doesn't feel strongly about it and is too busy living a typical American lifestyle, dreaming of playing in the NFL, singing country music or landing a bit part on "Swamp People"...
But they'll go along with it as they don't see any harm in their kids learning French since after all it is the language of their not-too-distant forebears.
One issue though with the expanded teaching of French in Louisiana is a critical shortage of locally-trained teachers. So a lot of the teachers have been from Quebec, the Canadian Maritimes and even France. As a result some people have complained that there is a disconnect between the French taught to Cajun kids and their people's historical variant of the language.