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I can't believe this crap

I just ordered that cajun dictionary and cajun phrasebook from Amazon. NEITHER one of them offers the pronunication of individual words. You only get a generalized pronunciation guide at the front of the book.

Which means anytime I want to look up a word, I have to go through the pronunciation guide at the front trying to figure out which rules apply to it. Would it be THAT difficult to add just one word per definition, phonetically spelled. Cripes.

I got the phrasebook first, and thought, surely, the DICTIONARY would have this.

These just might be going back.

What books are you talking about?

What books are you talking about?

Re: What books are you talking about?

The one I just got is the "Dictionary of the CAjun Language" by Rev. Jules Daigle.

The other is by Clint Bruce and Jennifer Gipson. Cajun French/English DIctionary and phrase book.

I can already say "Me Chercher Boudin".

Re: Re: What books are you talking about?

Get Rev. Daigle's Cajun Self Taught with cassettes.. it is fun. There you can get the pronunciation of words with the French word and a primitive transcription not using phonetic script but actual letters .. it is sort of a novelty dressed up as an actual dictionary.. I would call it a nice and friendly transcription/recording of someone who took the time to share the language..

G:

Re: Re: Re: What books are you talking about?

Gonna be hard to search for specific words like that.

I thought of that though.

You might as well bite the bullet.

You might as well bite the bullet and spend some time rote memorizing the pronunciation rules. It seems to me that this is the first and most critical step in this process, and anything else is a waste of time until you have mastered that.

Fortunately, the rules of pronunciation in French and Louisiana French are quite similar, and are in general much simpler and more regular than English. Spanish is easier though.

I don't think there is really any alternative at this point. If you are focussing mainly on Cajun and Zydeco songs, it would not be particularly helpful to rely on any Standard French dictionaries as that will throw you off just enough to be annoying.

-David

Re: You might as well bite the bullet.

Standard French and Cajun doesnt seem to similar to me. I have the Rev Daigle Self Taught book, he does have some good pronounciation guides in it.

On top of it all, the pronounciations change a little area to area, though Cajun French does share some common rules, for example in "tre" or "dre" endings, the "re" is not pronounced unless followed by a vowel or silent consonant. And Cajun French seems to eliminate as many vowels as possible in pronounciating, such as "je te.." becomes "j't'..".

Re: I can't believe this crap

Don't forget this ressource. It has been enriched and contains more and more words with their pronunciation.

Christian

Re: Re: I can't believe this crap

Yeah, I found that one in a search when I was trying to put useful stuff on my lyrics site. It is somewhat more useful than the dictionary.

Thanks.



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