Both students at Bowdoin and in Toulouse recognize colonisation as the cause of French-speaking nations/ peoples outside France. I think it’s interesting how American students see the effect of diversity (many variations of spoken French), whereas the French students seem to see what unites them with la Francophonie (a shared language and culture). I’m curious: do you feel that culture comes with language, or can language and culture be separate (for instance, can Algerians speak French and maintain their own culture, or do they adopt French culture)?

Selon moi la culture ne vient pas avec le langage. Nous parlons la même langue, mais n’avons pas les mêmes traditions. Je dirais que le fait de parler la même langue nous permet d’échanger et d’apprendre sur les cultures des autres pays que la France métropolitaine. Nous laissons un peu de trace de notre culture, et en récupérons également des autres cultures. Par exemple, en Guyane les gens parlent français mais ont pour la plupart conservé le créole comme langue natale.

Je n’ai pas vu la Louisiane dans votre liste, en fait je ne connais pas grand chose de la Louisiane mais j’avais entendu dire que certaines zones de Louisiane parlent le “français”. Est ce que le français existe vraiment la bas ou s’agit-il plus d’une langue bizarre de redneck?
Je dis redneck mais je ne sais pas si c’est péjoratif ou pas, au pire vous des northerners haha, personne ne se sentira visé

Tiny rick, New Orleans, Louisiana is known to have a french speaking population and has some french influence for traditions like Mardi Gras. Aside from the Mardi Gras tradition, I don’t think this is a very strong part of the culture anymore. I don’t believe that Louisiana schools formally teach French, and I think that much of the state specific dialect is at risk for extinction. Maine also has a small french speaking population, but this is more influenced by our proximity with Québec and New Brunswick. Also, as far as the term “redneck”goes, I would say that for most people, it would have a derogatory connotation, but there is certainly a part of the US that takes pride in the label.

I totally agree with what Xaleis and Marie C have to say about language not defining culture. The Francophone world shares the French language but that’s about it, each nation celebrates its own cultural identity, you don’t see that many Haitians queuing up at boulangeries for fresh croissants I don’t think. Regardless, I find it fascinating that our Toulouse peers were few and far between to mention Africa in their responses though many noted their French-speaking neighbors Belgium and Switzerland.

I found it really interesting that most of the Toulouse students focused on France and language, while Bowdoin students wrote culture and other places that French colonization has touched. Maybe that is due to our different studies and what we have learned about in association with the word “Francophone”. I think it’s a very good point that culture does not come with language, but maybe it is our association of the word “francophone” going hand in hand with colonization that affects our thought about the culture aspect.

@Tinyrick

Louisiana is indeed part of la Francophonie, but, due to the prevalence of English in the nation, it has been extremely difficult to preserve Cajun French. In fact, CODOFIL, for instance, is one group whose aim is the conservation of Cajun French in Louisiana. For any misconceptions about Cajun French, this video (in the actual dialect) is very helpful: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=KL94vsWKD-k

It’s true that la Francophonie exists in America. There are many households where French is spoken as the primary (if not only) language. However, the majority of Americans do not consider French a dominant national language (Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese come to mind as the most popular languages beside English). Where I live (about three hours from Bowdoin by car), I actually encounter a lot of Russian and Vietnamese speakers, in addition to Caribbean dialects of Spanish. Because of the vast linguistic diversity of the United States, it is easy for us Americans to overlook the minority languages. As you can imagine, most public high schools in America teach French, but Americans tend to have a very Europe-focused notion as to who speaks French.

Merci pour la video Kayelisabeth, c’était interressant, du coup j’ai regardé des louisianais parler le français cajun. Ce sont surtout des personnes agées qui le parlent, et comme le dit le gars dans sa vidéo ce n’est pas un créole c’est du “vrai” français. C’est facile à comprendre quand on est français en fait, on pourrait totalement parler avec eux, comme on peut le faire avec des québécois. Il y’a juste des expressions et une grammaire spéciale mais les mots sont exactement les même. Alors que dans un créole il y’a des mots qui ne sont pas français.