Renewing the identity of French in New England
There ARE Two Sides to This Story!
There ARE Two Sides to This Story! From Victim to Proactivist
For years I’ve listened to Radio Canada’s interviews and programs on the status of the French language in the country. Over the years I’ve read one article after another in l’Actualité on the same. And finally, I’ve done extensive research on line. As a Franco-American, I’m well versed in our history, language and culture. I did not grow up speaking French, but got a taste of it from my late grandparents as a child. I appreciate the memories and the “jump start” that I got from them, but I’ve had to work at learning the language like some of you reading this.
This past September, 2009, I spent two weeks in Quebec and spoke with a lot of people. This was the first time in my life I’ve been able to do that. Minnesota is just a little too far away to go there for a long weekend, if you know what I mean. And like everyone, I only get a limited amount of vacation away from work per year; so this was a real treat for me.
All in all, I feel with the knowledge and experience I’ve acquired over the years up to this point in my life that I’m in a position to make the following public statement. (Keep in mind as you read this: I am a French-Canadian American, but I am not a native French speaker.)
We French-Canadian Americans and French Canadians have been oppressed by the British, the Americans, and even by the French in the past. Yet to this day, we whine about this fact and how it has affected our lives. Although the complaints of the past are justified, just how long are the British, the Americans, and the French going to be the bad guys? How long are we going to be the victims?
We want our culture and language to endure, to be respected and even embraced and throughout our history, there have been a lot of fine people who have made great gains for the French-speaking people of this continent, but…
But?
But I am really annoyed that as a Franco-American who wanted to learn his heritage language that I was "forced" to learn European French simply because there were no resources available. But wait! Why am I using past tense here? In essence, the biggest—perhaps most important resource for any language—is STILL not available to me as a Franco-American—that being a North-American English to North-American French/ North-American French to North-American English bilingual dictionary.
Quite frankly, I could give a rat's ass what they say in London or Paris! My reality is NOT of the European continent; I am North American! So it's the Third Millennium, 2009, and it's never occurred to a single North-American French speaker to create the type of dictionary that I'm talking about?! And yet we continue to whine about the decline of our presence in North America?! Just HOW exactly are the people wanting to learn Canadian French going to accomplish this? Berlitz? Watching Tête-à-Claque videos?
Restating this in a slightly different way, here's the vicious cycle as I see it today:
• We (North-American French speakers) are mad at you—the outsiders—for not learning our language (and your ensuing lack of respect for us), but we're not going to provide you with the most basic tool to learn our language—that being a bidirectional bilingual dictionary.
• You, the outsiders, will just have to use a European bidirectional bilingual dictionary and figure it out somehow. Yes, we're different, but we're not going to tell you how we're different. You can toil through the frustration of those European resources being totally inadequate.
• At this point, the outsiders get frustrated and even angry and say stupid things like, "Well, they don’t even speak French anyway. They speak slang. They speak a patois. They speak back-woods French."
• Now we get angry at the inane insults thrown our way.
• Now they, the outsiders, bring in REAL French speakers from France to teach the "proper French."
• In retaliation, we then…
Wow! What insanity!
How many of you North-American French speakers are getting your English-language instruction material from London in preparation for your move to Houston, Texas?
We live in the Third Millennium and I can't go into a bookstore anywhere in North America and buy the one basic tool to learn North-American French because out of the 7 plus million French-speakers in North America, not a single one of us has taken the time to create one. (And I’m not talking about some little phrase book you can pick up at customs on the way into Canada.) Incroyable !
As my Mémé used to say, "There are two sides to every story." There ARE two sides to this language issue in Canada, in Maine, in North America. It's time to stop being les victimes! The fact that you are here, reading this, means you're a part of Chez Yankois, a simple yet powerful step in the right direction to reclaim your heritage and language. Chapeau à vous !
There's a lot more work to be done.
Thanks, Joseph, for creating this site! Chapeau à toi !
-jon
For years I’ve listened to Radio Canada’s interviews and programs on the status of the French language in the country. Over the years I’ve read one article after another in l’Actualité on the same. And finally, I’ve done extensive research on line. As a Franco-American, I’m well versed in our history, language and culture. I did not grow up speaking French, but got a taste of it from my late grandparents as a child. I appreciate the memories and the “jump start” that I got from them, but I’ve had to work at learning the language like some of you reading this.
This past September, 2009, I spent two weeks in Quebec and spoke with a lot of people. This was the first time in my life I’ve been able to do that. Minnesota is just a little too far away to go there for a long weekend, if you know what I mean. And like everyone, I only get a limited amount of vacation away from work per year; so this was a real treat for me.
All in all, I feel with the knowledge and experience I’ve acquired over the years up to this point in my life that I’m in a position to make the following public statement. (Keep in mind as you read this: I am a French-Canadian American, but I am not a native French speaker.)
We French-Canadian Americans and French Canadians have been oppressed by the British, the Americans, and even by the French in the past. Yet to this day, we whine about this fact and how it has affected our lives. Although the complaints of the past are justified, just how long are the British, the Americans, and the French going to be the bad guys? How long are we going to be the victims?
We want our culture and language to endure, to be respected and even embraced and throughout our history, there have been a lot of fine people who have made great gains for the French-speaking people of this continent, but…
But?
But I am really annoyed that as a Franco-American who wanted to learn his heritage language that I was "forced" to learn European French simply because there were no resources available. But wait! Why am I using past tense here? In essence, the biggest—perhaps most important resource for any language—is STILL not available to me as a Franco-American—that being a North-American English to North-American French/ North-American French to North-American English bilingual dictionary.
Quite frankly, I could give a rat's ass what they say in London or Paris! My reality is NOT of the European continent; I am North American! So it's the Third Millennium, 2009, and it's never occurred to a single North-American French speaker to create the type of dictionary that I'm talking about?! And yet we continue to whine about the decline of our presence in North America?! Just HOW exactly are the people wanting to learn Canadian French going to accomplish this? Berlitz? Watching Tête-à-Claque videos?
Restating this in a slightly different way, here's the vicious cycle as I see it today:
• We (North-American French speakers) are mad at you—the outsiders—for not learning our language (and your ensuing lack of respect for us), but we're not going to provide you with the most basic tool to learn our language—that being a bidirectional bilingual dictionary.
• You, the outsiders, will just have to use a European bidirectional bilingual dictionary and figure it out somehow. Yes, we're different, but we're not going to tell you how we're different. You can toil through the frustration of those European resources being totally inadequate.
• At this point, the outsiders get frustrated and even angry and say stupid things like, "Well, they don’t even speak French anyway. They speak slang. They speak a patois. They speak back-woods French."
• Now we get angry at the inane insults thrown our way.
• Now they, the outsiders, bring in REAL French speakers from France to teach the "proper French."
• In retaliation, we then…
Wow! What insanity!
How many of you North-American French speakers are getting your English-language instruction material from London in preparation for your move to Houston, Texas?
We live in the Third Millennium and I can't go into a bookstore anywhere in North America and buy the one basic tool to learn North-American French because out of the 7 plus million French-speakers in North America, not a single one of us has taken the time to create one. (And I’m not talking about some little phrase book you can pick up at customs on the way into Canada.) Incroyable !
As my Mémé used to say, "There are two sides to every story." There ARE two sides to this language issue in Canada, in Maine, in North America. It's time to stop being les victimes! The fact that you are here, reading this, means you're a part of Chez Yankois, a simple yet powerful step in the right direction to reclaim your heritage and language. Chapeau à vous !
There's a lot more work to be done.
Thanks, Joseph, for creating this site! Chapeau à toi !
-jon
Comment
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Comment by Paul J. Gutman on October 30, 2009 at 12:06pm -
Bienvenue, Kevin, surtout parce que je ne te dis que la vérité. Si ton site avait vu le jour à peu près vingt-cinq ans passés, j'aurais certainement eu moins de mal (ou moins de misère?!!?) à expliquer aux Anglophones le fait qu'à la base, le français québécois n'est pas une langue séparée du français européen. J'en profite pour ajouter que les différences d'orthographe que l'on voit en anglais selon le pays où l'on se trouve, (recognize/recognise, center/centre, color/colour, et ainsi de suite!) n'existent pas (officiellement) en français.
Au fond, le français écrit (et soutenu) est très uniforme. Il n'y a que l'accent et nos expressions populaires qui nous différencient, et ces différences enrichissent la langue à mon avis.
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Comment by Jon Tremblay on October 29, 2009 at 5:35pm -
Kevin: I understand where you're coming from. What this boils down to, however, is TWO separate needs. The need for a bilingual bidirectional dictionary does not necessarily need to be subsequent to the creation of a normative dictionary. If we wait for two French Canadians to agree on what is "in" and what is "out," it will never happen. Quite frankly, I have to ask the question why the OQLF has not expanded its coverage to include EVERYTHING.
Paul: Moi? A revolutionary? Jamais… OK… peut-être un brin.
No guys, I'm sorry. There's just no acceptable excuse! Here is Minnesota we have a large Hmong population (from Southeast Asia), a people that did not even have a written language until recently. Guess what? THEY have a bilingual bidirectional dictionary! And no one can say the interest is not there. Kevin, your site is proof of that! Keep up the great work!
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Comment by Paul J. Gutman on October 29, 2009 at 11:38am
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Jon: I am glad to see that at last, somebody out there is (besides "ton serviteur/"Yours Truly") is enough of a "quirky revolutionary" with enough nerve to admit bilingual (French-English) dictionaries with a North American slant should be made available to North American Anglophones. There are NONE available in stores, as far as I know, and that's sad.
The French language as I know it, in its oral form, has not been respected historically. That's old news, of course, and it's not terribly surprising to any of us that negative and elitist attitudes toward North American French persist. Even here in northern Maine, right next to New Brunswick and also not far from Québec, careless (poorly thought out) comments about "slang French" are still common. During my College years, I often tried to explain to Anglophones that Francophones from Europe and Francophones from Québec spoke basically the same language and could normally understand one another just fine, especially if slang was avoided. Some Anglophones believed me, but many (most?) did not. As such, for the past thirty years, I have been convinced that something does indeed need to be done. I've just never been sure exactly where, or how, to start. Still, if we persist, we'll get there.
Kevin: J'en profite pour te dire "Bravo!" Ton site learncanadianfrench.com est excellent, et franchement, il est indispensable pour les Anglophones demeurant à notre bord de l'Atlantique. Comme on dirait populairement, entre amis et en famille, "Y est au boutte!" Longue vie à ton site, et longue vie à toi aussi, bien sûr! (Ou, «longue vie à toé itou,» mais ce niveau d'usage ne passe pas souvent à l'écrit, sauf dans des cas restreints.) Enfin, que l'effort continue. Il ne faut pas lâcher.
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Comment by Jon Tremblay on October 28, 2009 at 5:21pm
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
16:19
Messieurs:
Thanks guys for your participation in this discussion. I’m sticking to English because of the subject matter.
If the following comes to you as news, I’m really sorry as I thought I had mentioned to both of you at some point in the past that the following dictionary existed.
There IS a unilingual Canadian French dictionary! I bought it 25+ years ago in Sainte-Foy, Québec. Its name:
Dictionnaire Nord-Américain de la Langue Française (Bélisle, Beauchemin) ISBN : 2-7616-0013-4
And this is no little pocket dictionary. It’s 1,196 pages long! This dictionary is awesome! It has never let me down. Every word you’ve posted on your web site, Kevin, can be found in this dictionary. Mind you, words like: Internet, upload, CD aren’t in there, obviously. This is the dictionary that told me what maringouin and achaler meant, words not found in my huge RoberCollins. (If you already speak French, this dictionary coupled with the OQLF’s web site is all you would ever need.)
The problem? The problem is obvious; it was never translated into North American English—Canadian or U.S. Frankly, I don’t understand the whole “Franqus” project from this angle. A VALID dictionary already exists. Yes, it will be great to have an online resource like Franqus, but one could easily ask the question: “Why reinvent the wheel?!?!” (Imagine had their effort been put into providing the English side to this existing dictionary!)
Maybe, guys, you can understand my frustration a little more deeply now. Halfway there… sooooooooo close! But close only counts in dancing, horseshoes and hand-grenades!
-j
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Comment by Paul J. Gutman on October 28, 2009 at 11:04am
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Je suis tout à fait d'accord, Jon. For those whose command of French is shaky, (and also for those who for whatever reason cannot speak French!), here are a few quick remarks in English on the subject of North American French dictionaries. Do they exist? Well, yes, they do, but...
The North American French dictionaries that exist are primarily monolingual French dictionaries meant for those who have spoken, read, and written French since they were children. There is almost nothing for North American Anglophones. There is a useful (and very well written) blog out there titled Learn Canadian French that can be accessed by simply typing learncanadianfrench.com and clicking the Enter button, but I have never seen a North American French-North American English dictionary in any bookstore or library. Even close to the Canadian border, this is not to be found.
The result has been a double standard that says North American English is fully acceptable but North American French is not, and the more I think about it, the less sense it makes to me.La conscience collective des Francophones d'ici est endormie depuis trop longtemps. Il faut la faire brasser!
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