Lawmakers greet French visitors in their own language

Parlez-vous français?
At least six (six) state House members and deux (two) state senators do, and visitors from French-speaking countries who tour the Louisiana State Capitol while the Legislature is in session are happy to find that someone speaks their native language – even if it might be a bit antiquated.
The Cajun French spoken in South Louisiana is similar to the French spoken in other countries but hasn’t evolved since people with names like Boudreaux, Bourgeois, Breaux, Hebert, LeBlanc and Thibodeaux left France in 1632 to settle in Acadia, and in the 1700s moved to Louisiana.
“We speak the French taught to us by our parents and grandparents,” said Rep. Mike Huval, R-Breaux Bridge, and they learned it from their parents and grandparents. “Education wasn’t prevalent in early Louisiana, so everything was learned at home.
“I’ve spoken with some people from Haiti,” Huval said. “Haitian French is very much like Cajun French.”
Some English words have crept into Cajun French over the years “because we didn’t have French words for certain things,” he said.
Rep. Vincent Pierre, D-Lafayette, was recently recruited to communicate with a French couple on the way to Lafayette for the first time.
“I don’t speak fluently,” Pierre admits. “But I am able to communicate. I can carry on a conversation very well,” which came in handy on his visits to Quebec and Montreal and when francophones visit the Capitol during legislative sessions.
Pierre said the couple wanted to know all about Lafayette, especially the food, so he was able to tell them all about it in French.
“With my Creole background, I could tell them all about Cajun and Creole food,” he said. “I gave them information about the Capitol and about tourism in the state.” Brenda Wright, who manages the ground floor gift shop, among her other duties, called Pierre to talk with the couple. She also has called on other French-speaking lawmakers when needed.
“If I have a customer at the booth (the gift counter on the ground floor) who is visiting America from another country, I try to communicate with them,” she said. “If they speak French, I tell them we have French-speaking legislators and I look for who is available or nearby to come and speak. They are always willing to help.
“Last week, I looked for Montoucet and LeBas and heard about Falconer, but Vincent is who was available.”
She said she knows enough French to tell them hello and welcome to Louisiana.
“They’re excited that there’s someone to communicate with them,” she said. “We have so many French tourists here.”
Besides Pierre and Huval, Reps. Jack Montoucet, D-Scott, Bernard LeBas, D-Ville Platte, and Jerry “Truck” Gisclair, D-LaRose, converse in Cajun French. Gisclair has hosted a French radio program.
Rep. Reid Falconer, R-Mandeville, is a relative newcomer to the language and speaks modern Parisian French in conversations with visitors.
“I go to class on Wednesday nights, since 2003,” he said. “We have a bottle of wine and that helps the French to start rolling.”
He said a French couple recently visited the House and Huval asked him to speak to them because they spoke “‘real French.’ I’m expanding his vocabulary with Parisian French, but because I don’t do it every day, I have to get my mind set.”
A key phrase when speaking to people for whom French is their native language is “Tu parles trop vite pour moi. Lentement s’il vous plait,” Falconer said. It means “You speak too fast for me. Slowly please.”
Sens. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, and Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, also speak fluent French.
Although Sen Fred Mills, R-Breaux Bridge, has the thickest Cajun accent in the Senate, he confesses that he doesn’t speak enough French to carry on a conversation.
Huval says French-speaking visitors come to the Capitol “in spurts” and groups traveling the United States from other countries like to come to Louisiana because they can find other people who speak French.
They’re not all from France or Canada. French is spoken in many countries across the world.
Last month, a television crew from Madagascar came to the Capitol working on a series on openness of government in the United States. While attending a meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, Committee Chairman LaFleur was pleased to find that they spoke French, so the conversation and following interview quickly switched from English.