The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-02-06

~
:, NOW that you have been informed of
the wonderful skill of Theses French Ca
adams tdrift wood spiksrs) we willsauote
another part Of Mr.. Hamilton's CORE
spondence. The French Canadian has
not learned and has no ambition to know
the language OF the conqueror (the Brit
isher)." / will not dwell long on that
point because there is another one more
important than it that / want to speak
OF. Suffce 1t to say that nearly all the
French Canadians in the cities of Que
bee and Lewis speak English enough to
make themselves understood anywhere.
1t is true their pronunciation is bad as a
rule, but bad as it is their English pro-
nunciation is ten times better than the
French spoken by nine tenths of the
English speaking population.
Given if you know French intimate
ly," says Mr.. Grant Hamilton, "how-
ever you may fare but poorly for con-
versation with the natives If you come
here for the carnival. Canadian French
is not Partisan or even the French of the
Ecole Berlitz. 1t is a patols filled with
strange local terms ana thoroughly intel
ligible to the natives only"
Mr.. Editor this is the biggest piece of
nonsense l ever came across in news
paper. 1t is simply disgusting to any
body who knows anything about the
French spoken in Canada. Nobody but
it out would have the cheek to make such
erroneous statements. What will come
next? l suppose some youngsters who
having spent a week seeing the sights OF
Quebec, VOLTS Cove, the heights of
Abraham the Falls of Montmorency,
then to the Indian village of Loretti, will
come with the information that the
French Canadians are all half breeds and
speak an Indian dialect. Why not? II
l knew OF such progressive historian i!
would give himsa note to the warden OF
the BEAUFORT lunatio asylum which is
half way between Quebec and the Falls.
He would undoubtedly he delighted to
add such rich specimen to his collec-
ton of looms. To give you history Of
the French language in Canada would
take too much space. 1 will only give
sketch of it, French is taught in Canada
as it is in France. In all schools and
colleges they use the grammar of the
French academy which is one of the
highest authorities or our language.
French spoken in Cana( Q is the French
Espoken in 1860 when the French troops
evacuated the country and the English
flag replaced the white flag on the walls
of the old citadel The only difference
existing between the Canadian French
and the modern Partisan French is mere
ly on the letters A, ID R., and T. A., is
pronounced softer, d and I are pro-
AouAOou very III uCu llk6 III III hlSllSu,
but 1t cannot be explained here, r is
pronounced heavier and sounds like
airrrr
Quebec is the place in Canada where
the best French is spoken. The illiterate
class has many patois (dialect) but the
difference between good French and the
so called patOis is not greater than be-
tween English as spoken by college bred
people In this country and the English
spoken by farmers and laborers.
Ii you want to hear patois which are
not at all or very little like. French 90 to
France and you will hear enough differ
ent dialects to puzzle you for years to
come. In Brittany, Normandy, Potion,
Auyerge,. Provence, ETC., from Havre
cy you will find quantities of French
people who speak dialects that neither
you or could understand unless you
were brought up with them, those swho
speak "argot" or prison slang. If you
want to know more about it read Lies
Miserables" by Victor Hugo and I have
no doubt that you will be perfectly salts
fed.
l readily understand that an English
man or American who thinks he can
speak French because he can read and
translate it from book after having
taken lessons during couple of years
from an Englishman or American
VINO mas studied three or four years in
sParee" or whose grandfather was
brought up there and who will go to
Canada in order to astonish the natives
with his elegant accent Partisan (second
hand would call it, ] upderstnd that
such party must form very poor opin-
ion of the French Canadians if he is not
understood when addressing one of them
| with phrase like this for instance,
"Bonnohiour, Mouschay, voh parl hounn
Franchu?" this means "Good morning,
Sir, do you speak good French.'' if
pronounced as it should be written, l. e.,
.Bonjour. Monsieur, parlez-vous bon
Francais. %
| No wonder then, if man who is full
of himself and who thinks he Is a first
class linguist, goes to Canada to cut high
| links and expect everybody to gobble up
his "accent Parisien," like sugar coated
| pills, 10 wonder if he gets sorely left
The poor Canuok is not in it with him.
would like some American people
who are conversant with the French Ian
guage and who have been through
France and Canada, to answer ne
! through the columns of this paper, and
say in which Of the two countries it is
| harder to get along. I am ready to dis
| cuss that matter, with anybody who
| knows anything about it.
Yours truly,
A A "