That's because Ann spoke "Paris" french before she met Marc. He converted her.

It was a partial conversion at the time of the book writing I guess. For example she wrote", where in pronounciation we leave off the "v" (also in avoir). Trying to write Cajun will open up it's own can of worms no one can agree on, but when writing lyrics, especially phonetically, it seems to me they should be the way they are actually pronounced. In many songs the standard French pronounciation wouldnt work, they dont throw out as many syllables as we do.

Quoi est les penses des autres Francophones?

Anne never spoke "Paris " french , rather standard or international french.
(Parisians have their own dialect like everyone else and also speak a more neutral, international version of french when communicating with outsiders). Just like Pete Bergeron does when he reads the news on KRVS.
To a Canadian ear the differet varieties of cajun french are really not as different from other local varieties of french as many people seem to assume.
It is just as easy for a Quebecer to get an ear for cajun as for Baie Ste Marie french in Nova Scotia.

To be fair to Ann, if you look at her phonetics for the song "Chere Alice, just for example, she follows exactly the words sung by Lawrence Walker. The vowel sounds may lack some of the nuances of a cajun speaker, but thjey are pretty close. Also look at the word "grande" in the first sentence. She omits the d sound. or kind swallows it so it almost dissappears, just like a cajun speaker often might. wheras most European french speakers would definitely pronounce it much more clearly.

I think Ann did a reasonanble job at this, and give her credit, she had the inniative , drive and love for the language and culture to take it on at a time when no one else was attempting it, even if she wasn't born into that culture.

Oh, I didnt want to take credit away from her, she did a great job and I value the book. A problem with cybe communications is miscommunications. I was joking about her being partially "converted" because she wrote some phonetics the way they sound in the recording, and some things the way a non cajun french speaker would. It is my opinion that phonetics should be actual phonetics, but you know what they say about opinions.

No Problem Bryan
I'm not a language specialist but you are probably right that the international phonetic system like they uses in most language classes would be more correct, But, from my experience with a german course it's a bit of a chore to get a handle on. Anne's system is pretty approachable for native english speakers but maybe less so for prople who's mother tongues are other than english.
About the french issue I was referring partly to the previous blogger's statement that Anne spoke "paris" french before meeting Marc.
I speak pretty good french but I find you really have to listen carefully to try to get close to the nuances of cajun pronunciation, which is good fun.

LSU has this link::
http://appl003.lsu.edu/artsci/frenchweb.nsf/$Content/Cajun+French?OpenDocument

It is an interesting introduction to some of what makes cajun french different from other dialects of the language.
It could be of interest to some of the people who didn't grow up with french in Louisiana.

And I guess for most people, saying it exactly like in the song is not necessary. I've heard some non french speakers imitate the sounds understandably, if not perfectly. And that really is close enough in my book. I applaude anyone for trying, I dang sure wont attempt to sing, mercifully.

Guys, it really WAS "Paris" French. She went to college there for a year and lived there for a while...

I would never want to criticize Ann. I think it was on an album jacket where it said she spoke Paris french. I am sure they just meant "book" french as opposed to Cajun. Ann has done more to preserve and popularize Cajun music than anyone I know of. What a wonderful lady and a gift to all of us.

Paris French is often used in Louisiana to generically mean non Cajun French.

That's right, John. :) She has her degree in French from Mary Baldwin and lived in France and Switzerland as a teenager.

I created a Cajun French pronunciation guide with audio files that could help you get the hang of vowel and vowel cluster sounds. Check out Link #1.

---Roy---

Yes and that LSU Frencj Studies site lets you llook up words in a glossary and hear then pronounced on-line. About's Anne,s accent I am corrected!
her accent must have changed alot.

George, as far as learning to sing a Cajun song, here's what worked for me. Look in Ann's book for the song you want to learn, and then locate that particular version. For example, if you're wanting to learn Love Bridge Waltz, you'll find the lyrics in Ann's book in the section on Iry LeJeune. Get yourself an Iry CD (try Cajun's Greatest - The Definitive Collection) and listen to his version, which is sung exactly as Ann has it written. This gives you something to follow, so you can read the phoenetics and practice singing along with the recording. It's worked, and has helped not only with learning to sing the song, but with speaking and understanding some of the language as well. At this point, I could probably converse fairly effectively in Cajun French - as long as we were talking about love, misery or drinking!

Chere, cajuns don't talk about love they just take positive action!!!

>as long as we were talking about love, misery or drinking!

Okay, that's one subject...

Okay, one subject. And better to sing about it than talk about it!