Conversational Cajun French.

Includes 3 audio CD discs ( = 2 hours, 11 minutes), plus an 80-page textbook. For over two hundred years, Cajun was learned and passed along in Louisiana by word of mouth. Only in recent years have efforts been made to write down the speech patterns of the language. The Cajun authors believe that the learner will be able to speak Cajun well enough from this program "to converse with Cajuns or at least enough to stay out of trouble in south Louisiana." Some working knowledge of French is helpful. MAIS, SA C'EST QUELQUE CHOSE QUAND MEME! Cajun French is still widely heard throughout Louisiana. However, the survival of this language-spoken by the descendants of the exiled Acadians-has by no means been assured (it was even illegal to speak it at one time), and even today the teaching of Cajun French in schools is a controversial issue. Now, the publication of Conversational Cajun French I, the first systematic approach to teaching the language, makes Cajun French accessible to those born outside Cajun families. Authors Randall Whatley and Harry Jannise, Cajuns who speak fluent Cajun French, originally developed this handbook for a series of informal conversational Cajun French classes for the LSU Union in Baton Rouge. As an introduction to Cajun French, this course is extremely practical. Conversational Cajun French I focuses on everyday words and common phrases that can be understood everywhere the language is spoken, despite the various dialects and sub-dialects. It teaches the Cajun words for the days and months, holidays, parts of the body, number, clothing, colors, rooms of the house and their furnishings, foods, animals, fruits and vegetables, tools, plants, and trees. In addition, there is a section of useful expressions and a list of traditional Cajun names.