The Société Jersiaise of the Channel Islands has some pages detailing the Jersey Norman French language. Less than 5% of the populations of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark still speak the local patois, but now the governments of these Crown Dependencies are starting to teach it in the local schools.
Posted by jim at August 25, 2003 04:24 PM | TrackBackFantastic! I've always loved the very idea of translating Victorian nonsense into other languages. I must admit I like Gaberbocchus better than Iabrochius though.
Posted by: jim on August 25, 2003 06:24 PMI once had the misfortune to read the news on radio Jersey. Not a place I had ever visited previously. I had the dawn shifts (of course). So there was no one to ask about pronunciation. The switchboard reached meltdown only seconds after I made a brave stab at the name of one of the island's then senior legislators. Anglicising the Norman-French names is a major crime.
And the name? It was the same as this cricket umpire, and my pronunciation would have been a great pun. (Languages are, and always have been, my weakest point.)
Posted by: qB on August 26, 2003 01:57 AM