Hi Jim. You might hear the Cajun French sounds more clearly when there's no music. Do you know Jim Léger's website? You have written texts and he reads them.

http://cajunlanguage.net/

Also, a story by Félix Richard (and its transcription) here:

http://www.codofil.org/english/lafrenchlanguage.html

And the online LSU glossary has a little audio clip, by native Cajun French speakers, for each word.

http://appl003.lsu.edu/artsci/frenchweb.nsf/$content/Cajun+French+Glossary?OpenDocument

Christian

Jim call me and tell me how to do skype and I read the words for you. Love Bridge is a little tricky in a couple of places but my wife has learned to sing this song and she is from Portland Oregon.
Le Piquant

Christian- Thanks for the links :)

Jerry- Skype is free, all you have to do is download.

Ann Savoy's book has the words and pronounciation (p.185-6). It's not a good as having a Cajun French speaker teach you the words but it is somewhere to start.

Leslie, yeah I've had that book, since I've had a real accordion. Doesn't help much, though!

A suggested way to use the Savoy book is to:

A. Read the section on how to pronounce the phonic sounds. Commit these sounds to memory. It's not hard.

B. Type all the phonic lyrics for a song into a Word Document, blow it up to a size 24 font, print it and put it put it into a binder for a fake-book.

D. Copy a CD that has the song you want to learn onto Windows Media. Play the song over and over while reading the words from the fake book page. Eventually, your brain will match the pronunciation with the printed word.

E. Try singing along with the singer while reading from the fake book. You don't have to be perfect with this.

A good CD to start with is 'Cajun's Greatest; A Devinitive Collection- Iry LeJeune'. All the words in the Savoy book correctly match the lyrics Iry is singing.

The fake-book will help you remember the correct pronunciation of the word and also you won't have to completely memorize the words.

Not as complicated as it sounds, and a lot easier than trying to learn the entire French Language in the Louisiana Acadien dialect.

JB

"All the words in the Savoy book correctly match the lyrics Iry is singing."

Except at least one, La Valse De Grand Chemin has a wrong line in it, the Yellow book has it right.

Hey Christian, I went to Jim Leger's site, but couldn't navigate anywhere on it. Is it still current?

Jamey,

I have Jim's site listed in my 'Favorites' pull-down, but you are correct;
Jim has had his problems keeping the site working, and right now it is not.

JB

Jamey, I don't know what's going on. I hadn't visited his site for a few months. I suppose he will fix it when he's settled in his new house.

Jim's articulation is very clear and his texts are interesting because in each one he gathers a lot of words on a theme. You really learn something every time you go on his site.

Christian

This isn't OT, because many braves also love to sing the cajun songs. It should be great if some of the braves from LA can do something here.
They can show us the way how to pronounce Cajun-french in a song.

JB- Excellent ideas my friend, excellent :) Will do. I was thinking of working with Iry's versions to start out with. I totally forgot I had Ann's book, too. Thank you!

Two additions to JB's suggestions, Jim:

1)Use Audacity to get Iry's songs (some of which are in odd keys because of tape drag) into the key you want.

2)Use a slow-down program on hard parts to get what they're saying and the correct pronunciation. Everything's always easier when you go slower . ..

What about Reno Waltz on you tube that I posted last year? There is no accordion just singing and Judy playing guitar. The lyrics are exactly how Lawerance Walker wrote and sung the song. It is a lot easier to sing then Love Bridge. Iry had a way of putting the singing the words to fit the music. Just a thought.
If not then tomorrow I read the lyrics to Love Bridge without instruments. If someone wanted me to.
Le Piquant

Iry's always gonna be a tough one to use for lyrics, he's very hard to understand because of the recordings themselves. When trying to get lyrics, using someone else's version maybe easier, especially if just trying to hear the pronounciation.

I would think getting that pronounciation, especially for certains words, is hard for anyone that didn't have the Cajun accent. Even French folks have a hard time with it, just like I can't duplicate an Arkansas accent very well, might fool everyone cept those from Arkansas, kind of thing. Rick Reid does a hell of a job with it when singing.

The books can be only a rough guide, because some sounds just can't be written. I haven't been able to figure out how to write a rolled R, and it's apparently hard for some to do.

If you've lived in South Texas all your life, rolled RRR's just come naturally.

Try saying Roberto Ramirez Rodriguez, real fast, in correct Espanol.
Kind of sounds like when you give the gas to a Weed-Eater.

Again, what kind of accent can Rick duplicate , Cajun or Hillbilly?

JB

He, think you're right JB. That's one of the places I've heard many have problems. Another thing so common in Cajun that often doesn't come out on the transcriptions is our affinity for contractions. We throw out as many vowels as we can, which as opposed to standard French as is often written, makes for a lot less syllables in a song line.

Rick has a knack for duplicating exact sounds as he hears them. He doesn't speak French, but uses some lyrics that were written for him, and I guess they pronounced it for him, and he picks up the little nuances in pronounciation that you rarely hear in people in that position.

I agree with you Bryan. Iry LeJeune isn't always easy to understand. His son Eddie also. For me the old singers as Jo Falcon are easier. Why? Maybe the decline of cajun French language in families or the transmission. Have you another idea Bryan?

Marc.

Not sure. I do know that some areas of La speak a French that is closer to Standard in pronouncian than others, maybe that is some of what you're hearing.

Dad and I once were talking about how so many things are pronounced differently in different places. He thought that with his generation the older folks realized that English was coming and they didn't worry as much about correcting the inevitable mispronounciations of an oral language as when French was the only language. That is very possibly part of it.

I will try to help out with this tomorrow! I will slow it down and try to articulate my words as best I can. I truly think I can help. And, I have more to say tomorrow!! Tired!!!

If you want to learn the "R" as we say it in Louisiana French, go here

http://terrebonneparishfrench.wordpress.com/pronunciation/the-rolled-r/

Here are the sound files that are linked in the article because they're no longer on the original site and the blog hasn't been updated with the new links.

http://www.saumatre.com/frenchclass/audio/courir.WAV

http://www.saumatre.com/frenchclass/audio/crabe.WAV

http://www.saumatre.com/frenchclass/audio/parade.WAV