Franco-Americans strive to keep the French language alive in Maine

[@curiousobserver97]

I have french ancestors on my mother's side of the family, but no one I know spoke French growing up. So, I took four years of French in high school (many years ago) and another year in college. After college I had penpals, RFI, and French movies to try to maintain it. It takes effort, but worth it. Thank goodness for the Internet connecting us all to practice.

[@albertaguilar662]

I’m proud of you , keep your language alive! A huge part of your identity!

[@mitchd4929]

So you know what it's been like for us that stayed in New France that became Ontario. Imagine being told to "go back home": everyday; when you've been there longer than any Anglo? Fun times. We never let go our French, lot's of violence between French and English kids. We shared a school and had to have separate lunch and recess breaks to prevent inevitable fights. (80's-90's)

[@QUINTUSMAXIMUS]

@@mitchd4929 Mets-en. T’as raison. Les gens ont appris de la haine contre les francophones. Ce n’est pas si pire de nos jours. C’est meilleur. Je suis anglophone et j’ai appris mon français au Québec. Reste debout.

[@jasonlargonaute8360]

Félicitations cher ami! Les français de France t’encouragent à transmettre la culture et la religion de nos ancêtres à nos enfants :)

[@mathewlee5712]

Félicitations. Je t'encourage pratiquer et améliorer ton français!

[@peteralbert1485]

Le français c’était la langue maternelle de mon père (né à Van Buren en 1926). Il l’a gardé malgré l’influence dominant de l’anglais à cet epoch, et il l’a appris à ces huit enfants, même après la famille à démangé bien loin de la Nouvelle Angleterre. On a toujours garder aussi nos liens forts entre nos vies d’aujourd’hui et nos racines Québecoises et Acadiennes, et je crois que la prochaine génération des Alberts va à continuer ces traditions. Bien que nous sommes loin de ce berceau familial, c’est toujours très proche à nos cœurs. C’est du travail d’en conserver ces traditions culturelles - la langue, les chansons, les histoires ancestrales- et il faut parfois des pèlerinages aux endroits comme Montréal et Québec. Mais disons donc que ça vaut la peine bien sûr! Comme ça la culture Franco-américaine de mon père continue à fleurir dans sa famille, et j’espère la même chose pour les familles franco-américaines comme la nôtre…

[@marcbouchard3674]

Votre témoignage indique aussi la perte de nos racines historiques canadiennes. Car c'est bien le conquérant britannique (George III) qui a créé le nom "Province of Quebec" le 7 octobre 1763. Le territoire du Québec avant la Conquête n'existait pas! Donc c'est une invention que de parler de racines québécoises. Le pays des colons sous le Régime français était le Canada. Et comme les habitants de l'Acadie se sont identifiés acadiens, les "habitants" du Canada, pays français, se sont identifiés canadiens, comme Louis-Joseph Papineau et les patriotes de 1837...Je me souviens?

[@jonathansgarden9128]

In Louisiana we are working to keep the language alive, too. My grandfather was punished for speaking French in school.

[@mikeyd7749]

I am a native New Yorker who lives in South Carolina and teaches English to elementary students whose native language is Spanish. I did teach for a short time time in New Hampshire back in the 1990s. Many of my students up there knew French or their parents did. I found this video to be VERY interesting! My native language is English, my second is German, and my third is Spanish. I know very little French but my mother studied it in the 60s and lived in Vermont where some spoke it.

[@user-mrfrog]

En tant qu'anglo-québécois, je trouve cela triste la perte d'une langue. Ma grand-mère côté paternel avait parlé allemand avant de l'avoir perdu. Évidemment, les générations suivantes n'ont jamais acquis cette langue! Je souhaite une résurrection du français dans le Maine. On est capable d'être à la fois Américain.e et francophone! Autrement dit, de marcher et mâcher la gomme en même temps! Courage!

[@jackfordon7735]

En tant qu'américain, je suis tout à fait d'accord avec toi ! Vive la diversité linguistique aux Etats-Unis et au Canada ! :)

[@brandongarcia2765]

My Memere and Pepere are from Canada and Rhode Island and they never taught my mom French. I remember being a kid and hearing them speak French and I learned what I learned but I never got past simple phrases. Now as an adult, I feel like it’s so important for me to try to learn French.

[@kennybeck5684]

More than half of English words derive from French. J'aime la belle langue! And I'm not Franco American

[@MrPillowStudios]

That is not true. Only 29% did. AND 29% *LATIN*. French came from Latin. And does not borrow much. English did not come from latin, or italic, or even proto celto-italic-hellenic! It came from Germo-Slavic, Germanic, West Germanic, and finally, Anglic. 96% of loan words in English are obsolete. 1 in 1.3 words spoken have Germanic origin.

[@retrobluemusic]

@@MrPillowStudios not even french is 20% english, breton, and Octavian and ya most of it comes from latin. ( this is what makes french so different from Spanish and Italian, is the Celtic influence)

[@cathd.8285]

@@retrobluemusic Octavian? Do you mean Occitan? Very few everyday French words come from Breton. Do you have examples? I know max 10 words that are commonly used Breton loanwords in French. Do you know more? Are you saying 20% of French comes from English? Sorry, but your comment is hardly intelligible.

[@marcafterdark1003]

I'm glad some people understand this unfortunately this is why English people thought the French people were talking behind there backs not understanding this fact

[@kless001]

Complete nonsense. Half of English words deriving from French? 😂 you edited your comment and still got it wrong.

[@swtv1754]

My family on my dad's side spoke New Mexico Spanish. This was the variety that was spoken in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. I always heard the stories of them getting paddled if they got caught speaking Spanish. I realized we to assimilate, but we can be bilingual at the same time

[@aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa790]

2:25 It's important to keep the chain of French speakers in Maine going, and it's important to preserve the Maine-French dialect, but French is not going extinct. They can always just relearn Quebec French if it breaks a generation. The Maine variety will be lost, but not the larger French language. This is a dying dialect looking for revival, but the translation suggests she thinks it's a dying language. Maybe it's just something said in the moment with the full implications below, but it's both the dialect and keeping the French around through continuing generations that's important.

[@joanebeaudoin]

I am literally crying watching this. This is a tragedy. This is a case of ethnic cleansing. The state of Maine needs to step the hell up.

[@jamiehershon]

a bit dramatic.

[@mitchd4929]

I hope you realize that the Crown act of 1774 giving the French in the Colonies the right to keep their language and religion was one of the "Intolerable Acts" the US Founder Fathers had a grievance against. Our continued existence was "Intolerable"

[@QUINTUSMAXIMUS]

It is kind of insulting since the French helped the US become independent. In Canada, French was sort of protected by law, but not in the U.S. It was bad enough in Canada with some protection in place. It wasn't protected in Ontario and Alberta in the old days.

[@inconnu4961]

@@mitchd4929 This is a misunderstanding. it was intolerable only in so far as the Colonies expected the British to unleash hordes of Catholics on the Protestant colonies to prevent them from breaking with British dominion. in fact, during the Revolution proper, Americans attack Britain via Canada! When the Revolutionaries had moved into Quebec they actively tried to draw the Francophone inhabitants to their side. They largely failed, but did have a handful of sympathetic Francophones. (Perhaps another reason that convinced France to side with the Revolution against Britain)

[@LewisC-g4i]

The Anglos are masters of ethnic cleansing and racism! That’s their modus operandi! They are pure evil!

[@elintocable0072]

French need to be oficial in louisiana and maine. And need to be a obligate language to learn from a young age.

[@newaddress456]

My family is from those two states. (Both have French ethnicity) Contracts should be in English and French in those places. There is no reason to lose opportunities and have just French. I was a professor in finance for many years in China. They made the effort to have contracts in both Mandarin and English. It is not that hard to make the effort..

[@elintocable0072]

@@newaddress456 and in some states like Florida, texas, nuevo México and California spanish need to be co oficial.

[@newaddress456]

@@elintocable0072 You expressed this far better than I. Yes, co-official ! Brilliant!

[@jamiehershon]

@@elintocable0072 What about the languages of other people? Why should French and Spanish be anymore important than Mandarin, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, and German? Why don't they matter?

[@ajorbista]

Louisiana has like a special status on French so they have a government agency that promotes french and some schools have French

[@renaud689]

3:19 « je porte des culottes bleues » 🤣

[@LisaSoulLevelHealing]

I'm learning French and looking for American spots to visit. I see Louisiana has it and northern maine. they are missing out on a key travel and tourism economy.

[@Aenygma_]

Banning the use of an entire language? Land of the free huh?

[@QUINTUSMAXIMUS]

Yeah, the US did that in Minnesota, Louisiana, Vermont, and Maine. Kids were often beaten for speaking French. Yet, the US Army was happy to use Cajuns to translate for them to help them understand people from France during WWII, and they were better than the guys who studied book French in college when dealing with rural French people. Believe me, a lot of the French taught in university only gets you so far. You have to understand tough accents.

[@inconnu4961]

@@QUINTUSMAXIMUS But we ostracized EVERY new people group to America! LOL I am on board with you with wanting to promote French language; but lets be careful we tell the story completely, lest we be discredited for lying by omission. Xenophobia has been part & parcel of our nation since its founding. All out groups were subject to some form of stigmatization, where language race or religion or even smaller concerns (smaller by numbers, not by importance).

[@PsychoPetro]

Freedom of speech right? Only where it’s allowed….

[@waywardson1663]

I remember that there was a children's TV show on PBS in the late 1970s and early 1980s that promoted the French language and Franco-American history and culture. They visited places like Maine, Louisiana, Michigan and Massachusetts and they had segments with 'magic' puppets who were supposed to be the spirits of original French settlers. Anyone remember that show or the name of it?

[@twentysevenb5024]

Ill be in maine nov 1st. Ive been studying french on an ai learning app for the last two years but ive been looking for an in-person experience to progress.

[@PsychoPetro]

I feel a bit lucky as a Gen Z living in New Hampshire there was a fair amount of Québecois French spoken in my childhood not a lot but some and we were encouraged to learn it and I am learning it. All 4 of my grand parents were first generation Americans.

[@Jacksirrom]

The richest country in the history of humanity, once again, supposedly cannot afford proper childhood education.

[@theghost-yj7kw]

But it can afford to waste trillions on wars and wasteful government spending

[@inconnu4961]

@@theghost-yj7kw LMAO! Do you have any fresh arguments? These are rather old & stale now! Wasteful government spending has been a thing in this country going back since before the Civil War! And the US is not the only country guilty of wasteful spending. Canadians are doing it, I have heard the Germans complain about their government. In fact a revolution in France happened because of t! Come up with something else please!

[@inconnu4961]

Jacksirron: public education is no longer interested in 'education' but in forming children to be good wards of the state. So they impose their preferred values instead of teaching children to be good at thinking, understanding, reasoning. Their money follows their values, not the values of the parents who send their children there!

[@wackyruss]

It’s amazing how similar the situation in Maine is to what happened down in Louisiana with the Cajuns & Creole peoples.

[@lakebreeze6248]

And really the same group of people too. Weren’t able to maintain their culture no matter where they moved.

[@chefmitch6152]

True! We need to know where we come from and not to be ashamed of it. Learn the culture and language

[@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072]

5:55 Louisiana: non

[@marcbouchard3674]

Indeed, it is very sad. These ancient "acadien" and ancient "canadien" dialects, when they are lost, are lost forever. Because they are quite different from what may be taught today as standard or modern French.

[@osheenkelana]

I suppose 1919 - 1960 was a time of widespread racism and xenophobia in the USA, especially in Maine?

[@carolinatla]

Definitely, in Maine in the 1920’s the KKK terrorized French-Catholics (along with other Catholic ethnic groups) simply because they weren’t English Protestants.

[@inconnu4961]

Nope! There has always been xenophobia & racism! Furthermore there will always be xenophobia & racism going forward. its simply part of our human condition!

[@AlamoOriginal]

@@inconnu4961 this racism and xenophopbia is what keeps your languange being detained, friend

[@jasonlargonaute8360]

Courageux ! Il faudrait que les descendants de français de cet État s’allient et se rapprochent effectivement davantage des français canadiens et de franco-Louisianais ! Vive la Nouvelle-France royale et catholique ! ⚜️⚜️⚜️✝️

[@inconnu4961]

Et Protestante!

[@Miami799]

I said this in another video years ago and I'm so glad that at least 2 people are coming from Quebec to help. I know it is hard but I'm sure they can get volunteers if cost is what the state complains about. Please keep French alive.

[@sammexp]

Not Quebec, New Brunswick, they speak French there too

[@makeyyyy7890]

What about getting french teacher from France

[@americanminotaur2518]

The language these people are talking about in this video is probably referring to Québec French, or québécois which is a different French dialect from French spoken in Europe. :)

[@QUINTUSMAXIMUS]

Well, it's easier to get Quebecois or New Brunswick people as the French they speak is closer to what people in Maine speak. French from France is quite different, and it's not cheap to get a bunch of French teachers from France. They should build more camps, immersion centers and teach the kids when young.

[@halfthefiber]

Getting someone from Europe to emigrate to the United States requires more resources than someone from Quebec commuting from Canada. On a fundamental level, French is the same everywhere. I wouldn't be too preoccupied with how different Acadian- and Quebecois French are with Parisian French especially at the level that the students will learn. It's more important that the students learn French, full stop.

[@inconnu4961]

@@halfthefiber If i understand correctly, even in Quebec they are taught the universal metropolitan dialect of French in school. My ex wife studied French immersion in Canada, and even the native francophones from Quebec taught metropolitan French!

[@halfthefiber]

@@inconnu4961 The Academie Francaise sets the rules when it comes to teaching the language to foreigners, so it makes sense that everybody is taught Metropolitan French. So there is no need to bring someone from Europe when our Quebecois neighbors can do the same thing.

[@jazzchristineart]

I would love to speak my language. I am french!

[@curiousobserver97]

I would love to have a pen pal.

[@marchauchler1622]

Just like so many other immigrants including their offspring (Italians, Polish, Dutch, German etc.) you have become an Anglo-American and are disconnected to the French culture. This can be ascribed to pressure of assimilation in order to be part of the Anglo-American culture. Would be great if more people like you had the desire to study the language of their ancestors which would pose culturally and economically a big advantage for society. Bon courage!

[@QUINTUSMAXIMUS]

I could teach you and a few others. I studied it in university for many years. Not 100% fluent, but I can manage in France and Quebec.

[@inconnu4961]

@@QUINTUSMAXIMUS Congrats on learning it and having such a good command of it! My ex wife taught me french when we were together! I am of French-Canadien heritage, although we were never taught about it! I had to go on this journey once i became an adult to discover where i came from. Good luck, i hope you keep your proficiency in French and your passion for it!

[@timetravelinghistorian]

very interesting to consider, now I do not know if any of what I am about to say is true or not, but this is what I heard. Supposedly it is more valuable for Americans to know Spanish as a second language rather than French, I believe this might contribute to the cause of French not being able to survive as a foreign language in the US. I remember right before high school in the mid-2000s, the high school had the choice of three languages to take: Spanish, French, and German. I wanted to take French because it sounded interesting and my mom was a French minor in college in the 1970s. However, my uncle strongly recommended that I take Spanish due to it's eventually usefulness in the future. Fast forward to today, I currently have a Spanish minor at a university I am going to. Although I heard that with Francophone Afrique (Africa) growing economically, internationally, it is best to know English and French, especially if you want to do international business within that region.

[@kenster8270]

The traumatizing educational practice of beating and shaming children into abadoning their own ancestral language is a familiar story. It's been done to the Cajuns and to almost every single indigenous people across North America, as well as to French children from Occitan, Breton, Basque, Catalan or German-speaking families. Some would call it cultural genocide.

[@lucasprestenbach8521]

I know that man did not just say "Maine is the most francophone state in the United States."

[@PsychoPetro]

Considering its massive border with Québec this wouldn’t shock me and as a new englander I will attest there’s a lot of French Canadians up here. Are you saying it’s Louisiana? I heard a lot about its French heritage and as a French Canadian myself it makes me really want to go down there and check it out.

[@marcafterdark1003]

My grandfather was French Indian and back in his day it was bad enough to be French let alone be Indian he grow up in Lewiston maine it's sad racism is alive and well🙄😪

[@Rayjack-m9o]

This is America do these people wish to divide America like Canada is currently divided by language and long past origins.

[@lolagpk2306]

Je jure allégeance au drapeau des États-Unis d'Amérique et à la république qu'il représente, une nation unie sous l'autorité de dieu, indivisible, avec la liberté et la justice pour tous . 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@inconnu4961]

Merci bcp!

[@eicelandicchicken484]

3:43 something is sus

[@fernandez3841]

Sad

[@davidsoto7114]

white people my mexican brother. no pride in their roots, no pride in their ancestors. unlike us we keep our pride high just with our language

[@fernandez3841]

@@davidsoto7114 sorry, wrong race. I am blonde haired blue eyed European from Spain

[@twentysevenb5024]

This is the most beautiful language to have ever been spoken across all time; it will never die

[@JT-ok6re]

It's terrible how cultures are completely destroyed! I always say if you want to get people to assimilate take their language away, because then the rest of their ways of life will end. At the same time, I think the United States government and state government is afraid. That French culture would want to be recognized, and they would break off into autonomous sections similar like Quebec.

[@inconnu4961]

Perhaps? I had never heard that before,; although I know Franco-American loyalty was constantly scrutinized! What Americans failed to learn was: the elites back in Canada were ALSO hostile to the francophone immigrants to America for leaving for a better life! So Francophones were damned either way. It was in fact easier to stay in US & become American!

[@JT-ok6re]

@@inconnu4961 If Latin America would have spoke French instead of Spanish we would be accommodating French Instead of Spanish, but French is the least language spoke in the Americas. But there's more of a stigma on it.

[@inconnu4961]

@@JT-ok6re You are absolutely correct. But im sure you realize that the stigma was born of the heated rivalry between the English & French until very recent times! At least a 1000 yrs where the french & English were rivals & siblings!

[@twentysevenb5024]

My goal is to renounce english and never speak another word of it but we will see

[@vikingkrigare5329]

What, think about the 5-10 million Swedes living over there that has lost there language completely, why??

[@inconnu4961]

Wrong post, my friend! if you want to promote Swedish language, kindly find a different video! This video focuses on the loss of the French language! Good luck!

[@chefmitch6152]

Viva la Langue Francaise

[@TheMamaMiaArchive]

Oui!

[@marchauchler1622]

If there is such a high demand...Why not hire French teachers from overseas???

[@mirekpilsudski]

@@JosephNoussair There are more than enough native speakers of the Acadian dialect. It comes down to funding more than anything.

[@mirekpilsudski]

Funding. The area is super rural and there isnt that much funding. The shame though is that we dont need to hire them from over seas. Just over the bridge in New Brunswick they all speak French. We could easily try to bring in some from there or even have our kids cross the border for language programs and immersion.

[@mirekpilsudski]

@@JosephNoussair honeslty I never even thought of that. The French govt even said they were willing to help and Quebec has offered the same. Now is the time for us to start doing something because if we don't the only French that will be spoken here will be on the other side of the bridge.

[@mirekpilsudski]

@@JosephNoussair it isn't for sure. But at this point the resources couldn't hurt.

[@richardmossy5540]

Louisiana imports French teachers from every French speaking country. There's more funding for it in Louisiana.

[@jeancharland3858]

Deprimant !

[@comosediceesoo681]

It's frowned upon because people think is elitist i don't know if that's true but I mean look at Quebec.

[@inconnu4961]

Under-educated people think its elitist! they were not told we have had French-speaking ancestors since the founding! French is a founding language like English has been! But people were never taught the whole truth.

[@PIANOPHUNGUY]

Most foreign language areas have secession movements if they keep their language. Look at Quebec. Look at Belgium. Look at Rwanda. What about German speakers in the Sudentenlland in Czechoslovakia? Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine and in Crimea? German speakers in Alsace-Lorraine?

[@Mocky035]

Imagine if French still had high numbers in Maine and Louisiana . . Crazy

[@cathd.8285]

@Michael Holmes Same reason we rooted out all the East Coast Natives and death marched them to Oklahoma...yeah good old days Michael!

[@maxrolland3148]

There is no german speakers in Alsace or Lorraine. The historical language of Alsace is Alsatian (a language related to German but different). But most Alsatian’s native language is French. And for Lorraine, there is two historical languages being Franconian (a germanic language) and Lorrain (a french-related language). And most of the population there have French as well as a native language.

[@MCKevin289]

@@maxrolland3148 The France did the same thing we did to French speakers in Maine and Louisiana to the German speakers in Alsace-Lorraine.

[@natio927]

@@maxrolland3148 les alsaciens n'ont pas le francais comme langue maternelle. Ils parlent le francique langue proche de l'allemand.

[@CanoeToNewOrleans]

The law didn't stop parents from teaching their children French at home. The single biggest reason the language wasn't passed on to kids is because the parents didn't want to teach them. It was easier to speak English.

[@mirekpilsudski]

Parents basically wallowed in self pity and said "well I dont want my kid to get yelled at for speaking French".

[@marcbuisson2463]

It's also a big consequence of the influence of KKK in Maine. Back in the 1920's, there was strong anti-french, anti-catholic sentiments and the klan had it's largest proportion of all US states in Maine, against the franco-canadian and irish immigration. Discrimination got very harsh. Hopefully, it was not as extremist as against black americans in the south, but yup, it was enough to make people understand that french speakers would get no jobs, and have no future.

[@CanoeToNewOrleans]

@@marcbuisson2463 I didn't know that about Maine. Thanks for sharing.

[@inconnu4961]

@@CanoeToNewOrleans Because NO ONE discusses it because Race-ism against caucasians is not only accepted, but even at times encouraged!(edited a few words so it would not be banned. An obvious misspelling in hopes the bot wont censor the entire comment, Hope this works! Merci @CanoeToNewOrleans)

[@CanoeToNewOrleans]

@@inconnu4961 Unfortunately, your comment doesn't show up under the video. It only shows up in notifications. That type of censorship proves your point.

[@erichansen3641]

I was punished in 1st grade for speaking Californian in Texas schools when we moved to Texas in Nov of 1966. I was locked in the closet in the classroom by the teacher until I conformed. I was not allowed to say, "Thu apple". I was told I had to say, "The apple". And so on. I am in favor of no Spanish speaking in the United States.

[@inconnu4961]

I was made fun of for my Vermonter accent when i moved to Pennsylvania! i was even humiliated by a teacher when asking for a particular school supply. i didnt use the word the teacher wanted to hear, so was asked by the teacher at least 5 times, while the entire class waited for me! i feel your pain, mon chum!

[@xeixi3789]

Among Us

[@libyanmapping5408]

i spent ages looking for this oml

[@angusmackaskill3035]

Nobody in maine speaks french

[@Aukrenchi17]

Now Mainers speak Telugu instead

[@rishabhk1964]

Are you serious?

[@rishabhk1964]

If Telugu or Hindi becomes the main language of Maine, I'll go and kill myself.

[@jinjysbro]

@@rishabhk1964 What's wrong with Telugu or Hindi?

[@inconnu4961]

@@jinjysbro Its tough to understand if its not your native language! Whats wrong with Christianity in Hindu India? So why have so many Christians been killed for simply being Christian? See how this goes? Everyone is xenophobic, on some level or another!

[@LuisMiguel-sm5hr]

Really who cares , in Quebec they don’t like English.

[@inconnu4961]

They would care IF they werent afraid of losing their unique identity! We celebrate diversity when it involves non-white people or white people who identify as non-straight. but when it comes to celebrating white cultures beyond the host culture, is becomes an anathema!

[@terioze9]

In English KKKnada, they always HATE French. Why do you expect the Quebecers to love the language of the KKK/Orangist Order?

[@Ahmed-ob6ec]

@@inconnu4961 European language and cultures aren't even native to North America though. I would understand preserving them in Europe where they originated. In North America if anything actual Native American languages should be promoted and preserved.

[@tankisaconquistadorthewayh8791]

This is America! So sick of catering to all these people who want to be something else. Go to France, Canada or some other colony and do that.

[@user-wv9zk2ni6i]

America is a landmass and English isn’t native to it.

[@TheMamaMiaArchive]

What your saying is very disrespectful. Especially since the US and France are great Allie’s of each other. Plus, France is a beautiful language and more Americans should (and a lot of them want to) know how to speak it.

[@americanminotaur2518]

The US unlike some other countries, doesn’t have an official language. It is probably because the US is a melting pot of many different cultures. I disagree that someone should be stripped of their language. My French-speaking great grandparents came to Maine looking to work in the mills, not because they wanted to leave their heritage behind.

[@QUINTUSMAXIMUS]

Your comment is ridiculous. These people were French North Americans before the United States existed. Hello. The country came to them FYI. They're Americans who happen to speak French just like there are Pennsylvania Dutch German speakers. Did you know that President Martin Van Buren spoke Dutch as his first language? Dutch has died out, but it was spoken in some parts of Jersey and New York until maybe the early 1900s. Roosevelts were Dutch Americans. Wall Street gets its name from the Dutch. I believe in the word Yankee comes from the Dutch language. We're diverse and always have been.

[@inconnu4961]

@@TheMamaMiaArchive Please dont shame him! this doesnt further the cause in ANY WAY! Be kind and be patient and simply teach them! This is how we win others over to our ideas! if you can not return kindness for their unkindness, and respectfully ask you to stay silent. We win them with kindness, and nothing else!

[@mounirelardi9170]

English is the language of science :)

[@terioze9]

Every single language can be used in science... And French is a more "précise" language than English. That's why it used to be the language of diplomacy.

[@PIANOPHUNGUY]

Learn English and become American. Don't be a perpetual foreigner. Nothing wrong, of course, in speaking French at home. Learn American culture. Don't be Fifth columnists. Americanize the French in Maine lest they ask for independence or start bombing like in Basque region or Quebec. Look at Cataluna in Spain. Separatists who speak Catalan want independence.

[@mirekpilsudski]

We always spoke English and considered ourselves American first so telling us to learn English and American culture is beyond parody. We lived in northern Maine for over 200 years speaking French as our ancestors did for 200 years without setting off any bombs or ever starting an independence movement. We also fought in every American war. Our patriotism doesn't get to be questioned. In exchange for our loyalty what we got done to us was nothing short of cultural ethnic cleansing. In the meantime, the only actual attempt at secession in America came from other English speaking Anglos.

[@bonnieinla]

Ridiculous. There are French immersion classes in some Acadian (Cajun) schools in Louisiana. Those folks are just as American as everybody else. They're not bombing anyone. Many serve in the US military.

[@QUINTUSMAXIMUS]

Dude, learn history. French North Americans predate the United States. Speaking French doesn't make them foreigners. Cajuns in Louisiana never asked for independence. Never have French speakers in Minnesota asked for independence. There's nothing wrong with speaking another language besides English. President Martin Van Buren spoke Dutch as his first language. Nothing wrong with that. General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard spoke French as his first language, but both of them were fine Americans. Switzerland has French, German, Italian and Romansch as official languages. None of them want to separate. It's not always the case. Dutch speakers in the US when they existed in larger numbers never tried to separate.

[@DK-cy5mt]

Are you a bit of a thicky?

[@shalenah]

This comment explains so much what is wrong with America and exemplifies one of the many reasons why this country is falling so far behind. In other countries young people graduate fluently speaking any where from 2-4 languages from home life and what they learned at school. To be able to speak more than one language is not only a gift but can provide you with so many more opportunities economically but also who you can connect with. I’m so thankful for diligently studying Spanish and having become fluent in it after living abroad but man do I wish I could have started in kindergarten like people do in other countries. One of my good friends is Swedish and another German and they both speak English like natives thanks to their education. My Swedish friend’s boyfriend is Moroccan and to listen to him effortlessly slide between English, Arabic, and French is amazing. Anyways not speaking English doesn’t make someone a foreigner. America doesn’t even have an official language. “American” culture will forever be a melting pot of culture and looks different depending on where you from Miami to Iowa to Idaho. And let’s not forget the Native Americans who lived here for thousands of years and had their languages previously to colonization. I hope you can expand your world.

[@hirampriggott1689]

My favorite French word is TABERNAK.

[@turnip5359]

lmao mine too, they love it in quebec

[@femtoservants]

If you are speaking about the swearing, it's TABARNAK with an A not an E.