Thankful pour vous...
The first of many notes from moi!
Welcome to “Can I be Franc?” a newsletter where I wonder out loud if I’ll ever be French enough to live up to my last name. Ha! But seriously, I left Cajun Country for New York for work over a decade ago but still pine for a closeness to my culture. After 10+ years as a writer and producer, I’m digging deep to reclaim my roots through words. Yep, I’m learning our native language to hopefully keep Louisiana French alive in my family. I hope to teach my children one day. Right now, we only have a grumpy cockapoo named Chewbacca, no human child. Though he is learning Louisiana French commands!
With this newsletter, I’ll be doing what I do best: oversharing. On how I’m learning the language, who is helping me and what you can do learn too. I’ll also share anecdotes. Lots and lots of anecdotes, which I’ve found help me SO VERY MUCH as a mnemonic device as I learn new words in French. After all, a lot of these words aren’t totally new. I grew up hearing a lot of them at home and at school thanks to CODOFIL. Now, I want to cement their sounds and meanings into my stubborn adult brain.
First thing’s first: Momma Mary ( ma mère) is on a plane from Lafayette, Louisiana to NYC as we speak to celebrate Thanksgiving with me (her only child) and my boyfriend (a Brit) in Brooklyn. I can feel a shift in the air. Ah, yes. Hurricane Mary Boudreaux Broussard is set to hit land at 3pm EST. She loves it here, and we love having her, and it has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT WE WILL FORCE HER TO MAKE CHICKEN SAUSAGE GUMBO IN OUR TINY APT AND FREEZE LEFTOVERS FOR US. We just want some good family time. IN BETWEEN HOLDING HER HOSTAGE BETWEEN SIMMERING POTS AND WELL-SEASONED PANS.
Jk, we will take her out of the house from time to time. Mary never misses the Macy’s Day Parade and this year Cher is performing! Oh mon dieu! It’ll be quite the show.
Bonne Fête de Dinde (that means Happy Thanksgiving in Louisiana French) to you and your famille. Here are just a handful of things I’m thankful for this season:
Un: Facetime, without which I wouldn’t be able to see my mom’s forehead, and only her forehead, on a daily basis.
Deux: Amazon’s swift delivery of flash cards so that I can keep up with my Standard French language courses I’m taking at Coucou.
Trois: Dr. David Cheramie, my Louisiana French tutor who is also an extremely talented poet!
Quatre: (no pronouncing the “re” at the end of that word in Louisiana French, don’t you DARE!) This Ragin’ Cajun seasoning meal!
Cinque: VOUS! All of you. (Or, as I’ve explained to my boyfriend Rick the Brit, “all y’all” sometimes pronounced “all-uh-y’all”. He’s catching on.
For those of y’all wondering what prompted this whole language/cultural journey in the first place, et voila:
Here’s how it all started:
When my favorite movie of all time (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) turned 20 years old, it hit me that my maw maw LeBlanc is the last generation who lived with the Louisiana French language. That made me sad. Real sad. So I wrote “The Last of the Ya-Yas”, a personal essay for Marie Claire which went viral because of YOU!
Then I couldn’t stop writing about it, met a man from across the pond who loves soccer and realized there are so many other groups just like us fighting to keep their language and cultural identity alive around the world…and that’s so cool. I wrote about that here:
“Welcome to Wrexham Made me Rethink My Connection to My Cajun Identity” (PopSugar)
Here’s how it’s going:
I’ve already learned such mind blowing things about us as a people while learning the language that I never knew. It’s funny. Sometimes, you have to move away from home to fully appreciate it, and that’s exactly what happened to me and so many of you, too. Feels good not to feel alone. Here are a few things I’ve already learned along the way:
If you’ve ever used the word “haunt” you’ll be intrigued by its origin: “Honted: a closer look at the Cajun word for ‘something like shame’ ” (Country Roads)
Did you know there’s a place where you can get news in English and Louisiana French? They’re letting me share my journey in “Ça c’est quelque chose” my bilingual column for Le Louisianais via Tele-Louisiane. Check them out!
Here’s what’s next:
Let’s be bons amis on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook…whatever floats your social boat (pirouge)! Oh, and something fun with Southern Living is a-brewing…talk again soon, cher.
I feel your pain of not learning Cajun French when I had to perfect teachers my parents!! Who are both gone now. So I listen to music and radio programs in French
The only French speaking programs I know of are on KRVS Public radio station on the UL campus I have listened but not regularly