If you are a Cajun French baby boomer, or younger generation, it’s likely that you grew up with parents or grandparents who spoke the Cajun French Language. Chances are you grew up like me and were exposed to much of this language. I can remember hearing them speak and wishing I understood what they were saying. As it were, that was their intention. When they spoke Cajun French around me, it was because the didn’t want me to understand. Later, I realized that many of my friends grew up in similar environments.

Somewhere between these three generations, our language, the core of our heritage, seems to have lost ground. Few Baby boomers have picked it up. Fewer are fluent. The Gen-X’ers are less fluent. And the Millienials… I haven’t met any who speak the language outside of local catch phrases like Laizzes les bon temps rouler. The following table outlines the percentage of Cajun French speaking people in Louisiana, as of Febreuary, 2008.

Ranked by percentage French-speaking population (over 5% only)

Name of parish	Total population 5 and over	French-speaking population 5 and over	% French-speaking	Map
Louisiana total	4,152,122	194,115	4.66%
St. Martin	44,779	12,290	27.44%
Evangeline	32,454	8,345	25.71%
Vermilion	49,842	12,410	24.89%
Lafourche	83,518	15,984	19.12%
Acadia	54,114	10,310	19.04%
Avoyelles	38,468	6,789	17.64%
Assumption	21,713	3,819	17.58%
St. Landry	80,668	13,475	16.70%
Jefferson Davis	28,844	4,660	16.15%
Lafayette	176,051	25,300	14.37%
Iberia	67,374	8,089	11.99%
Cameron	9,279	1,075	11.57%
Terrebonne	96,309	10,275	10.66%
Allen	23,571	1,468	6.22%
Calcasieu	169,745	10,170	5.98%
St. Mary	49,345	2,685	5.43%

Data provided by Wikipedia

There’s Still Hope

If you’ve noticed, we’ve categorized this post under “destinations.” Why? Because we believe you should click over to Jim Leger’s blog, where he’s working hard to keep the cajun french language alive. If you are interested in learning the language, we’d like to point you to this wonderful, free service he’s offering.

A Quote From Jim’s Blog

My name is James Leger (call me Jim). I am a 67 year old native of Louisiana and i give free tutorials and advice for those interested in the Cajun language. I also discuss customs and history related to the Cajun heritage, and would be happy to entertain your questions.

I taught Cajun French in Lamar University’s Continuing Education program in Port Arthur, Texas. I was raised with Cajun French as my first language. I speak fluent Cajun French and can speak and read standard French as well.

I plan to talk about how the Cajun language has been mistaken as a crude form of standard French, as well as other misconceptions about the language. Cajun French is actually a very complicated language, and has both formal and informal conversational dialogues. I will show you both the similarities and differences in standard and Cajun French, and many other characteristics of the Cajun language that you probably never knew!

Sign Up Today

We’ve signed up for Jim’s cajun french language lessons. Although we have a lot of ground to make up, we are very optimistic. Thank you very much, Jim. You’re providing a wonderful service to the community.

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