Reddit reviews Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities

Yes! I am attempting to collaborate with French teachers more as I really want to reach out to youth not only in Louisiana but all across the country to show them that languages are cool. (I speak Spanish other languages, too.) I hope to make more sillyish videos like this in the future to help with that Cajun in the Snow - Cadien dans la Neige (Cajun French/Français Cadien)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ-PLiot4aA Right now I'm a senior in high school so I've got a lot of work concerning applications and things going on so I'm a little bogged down.



(Not just a dictionary) https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Louisiana-French-American-Communities/dp/1604734035

https://books.google.com/books?id=2GxH9IVh9roC&pg=PA7&dq=cajun+french&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinj8zexv7OAhUG4SYKHaD0DU4Q6AEIHDAA

https://books.google.com/books?id=UAD1jOwP-CkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cajun+french&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinj8zexv7OAhUG4SYKHaD0DU4Q6AEINzAF

https://books.google.com/books?id=5q0qBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=cajun+french&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinj8zexv7OAhUG4SYKHaD0DU4Q6AEIRDAH

https://books.google.com/books?id=UmjEhn-Hop0C&pg=PA598&lpg=PA598&dq=if.i+could+twist+louisiana+creole+tongue+like+that&source=bl&ots=xddHaPjDde&sig=kiEVg_fr1JJaujSmmGdK8r9GY6k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzu-Owxv7OAhVBziYKHScgBgQQ6AEIHzAA

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Cajuns.html?id=3s3jJ4tAA68C

There are others that I'll add as I think of them.

For anybody who's serious about wanting to learn Cajun French, I cannot recommend this book enough:

https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Louisiana-French-American-Communities/dp/1604734035

Also, come on over to /r/CajunFrench

Thank you, this is how I've hears it, mer-men-taw.

And then #2 is a little tricky.
CHENE is said 2 ways, Bayou Chene I've heard said Shane but sometimes it's Shan, like Beau Chene High School. (though I've heard Shin also)

Check out this Apres Midi if you want to learn more on Bayou Chene

Edit: Clarification
I don't speak French and my knowledge is not the best on pronunciation if you really need to know (and if you are in the Lafayette area) you could go by the South Regional Library and check in their copy "Dictionary of Louisiana French" It's an impressive tome of Cajun French, the copy they have is not for borrowing so it should be there.

Alright, so. Put simply, there really isn't anything comprehensive to get you on your feet in Cajun French like Duolingo, though maybe that'll change one day. There was a small online program by Tulane called Allons! which served as that kind of thing, but it wasn't even close to actually teaching the language and only taught a few dozen words and phrases, and now it appears to be gone.

I find myself unsure of what to recommend a lot. Certainly, I want the Cajun dialect to be spoken, but trying to jump into Cajun French without any prior knowledge of French is really hard, not because you need to know Standard French to know CF, but because there is a big lack of learning resources on CF. The best way to learn it (talking with speakers and immersion) is getting harder to do, even for someone living here, since slowly native speakers are dying.

My recommendation (which is my own opinion) is to get a grasp of Standard French because the resources available make that much easier, nonetheless keeping in mind that differences between the dialects can pop up at any time. Duolingo, teaching SF, uses manteau for "coat" while Cajuns would probably say capot. SF uses voiture for "car" where Cajuns say char. Duolingo will use nous, "we," most of the time where Cajuns nearly always use on. It teaches savoir for "to know" where most Cajuns use connaître for everything, etc. etc.

That's not to say that they are hugely different. Cajun French is still French. To get in tune with these differences, there are a few resources I'd recommend. Principally, the Dictionary of Louisiana French (2009) is the most extensive and best resource put out on the dialect. It might honestly be the best money I've ever spent. Not only does it extensively reference works going back to 1930 on the dialect, it includes their own field work with thousands of sentences by native speakers showing how the language is actually used. Most entries include real-world example sentences, and it also includes copious derivative expressions.

Another one I use sometimes is Cajun French: Dictionary & Phrasebook (2002). Far less extensive than the DLF, but still useful as it has a more "educational" lean to it in the beginning, highlighting basic CF grammar.

There are also two books by Rev. Jules O. Daigle: A Dictionary of the Cajun Language (1984) and Cajun Self-Taught (1992). Now these books are a little more...we can say "controversial"? They aren't as good because Father Daigle was pretty biased against SF, believing that "the Cajun language is no more a dialect of French than French is a dialect of Latin," which, need I say, is wrong. Nonetheless his dictionary is useful sometimes when I can't find what I need in the DLF, and Cajun Self-Taught is supposed to be (as the name implies) a self-teaching tool, though a poor one, as it's little more than a word bank most of the time. He also includes a lot of example conjugation tables in CST which can be useful, but only once you know how the mechanics of French works.

I know I'm forgetting other resources, as I've been doing this for nearly four years, so much of the time I can't even remember where I learned what I know, from experience, a book, online, the FB group, academic papers, who knows. Of course, as others have said, there is /r/CajunFrench, which I tend, so any questions you might have, ask away. I also have a Discord chat for the sub if you'd want to join, which isn't super active, but nonetheless serves to communicate, practice, and ask questions. Obviously this is the type of question that I just can't seem to type only a little bit on, so if you ever have any questions, feel free to ask me.