Do
people in New Orleans expect tourists to speak
French?
Mais non! We don’t speak French
in Louisiana, but you will hear folks throw in
a “c’est vrai” a
lot. C’est vrai, pronounced the usual way (say vray) means
“that’s true”, and we use it a lot. Otherwise, anyone who has learned
high
school French will be appalled at how we talk. Mostly, the
nasality in Cajun
French comes from us being southern more than
using the classic pronunciation,
but we don’t sound as bad as the
Quebecois, who really sound funny. Our
English, by the way, is
spicier than the southern accents you hear on TV and it
can be a
little difficult to understand sometimes. But don’t worry, we expect
you to be confused, and we’ll never correct your
French.
Here’s a brief list of French Quarter street names and the
way we say them,
just so you’re not too confused when you
visit:
Vieux Carre (literally “Old Square”, but it refers to the
French Quarter. In New
Orleans, no one actually uses the French
name but you’ll see it a lot on signs):
Voo ka
RAY
Dauphine St.: DOW fin
Burgundy St: Bur GUN
dee
Milan St: MY lan
Decatur St: dee KAY tur
Chartres
St: CHART ters
Tchoupitoulas St (we’re not totally sure if this is
a French word): Chop a
TOOL us
New Orleans: As a visitor,
calling it New OR lins will be fine. But we’re OK if
you can’t
help calling it New Or LEENS. Calling it Nawlins only sounds good
if you’ve been doing it all your life.
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