re: Cajuns are keen to preserve their identity.

quote:

---

Same. My parents and grandparents all spoke it. They were too lazy to teach us.

---

I don't think they were too lazy. Couple of things, Cajun boomer generation was brought up as "Americans." Coming out of WW2/Korea, early childhood education forbidding Cajun French in schools. Also, my parents lived busy enough lives without having to put time aside to teach me a dying language.

I miss hearing my older relatives talk it, but you aren't going to France and speaking with the locals. I remember my Cajun French teacher telling us how her visit to France was difficult because the French hear Cajun French and can barely understand you, and probably think you're an idiot (unless you explicitly tell them where you are from).

Also, being "Cajun" wasn't always en vogue. Society used to look down on Cajuns. It's easy to see why it's nearly dead.

I do appreciate the Cajun revival and the fight for our culture, but I do not resent my parents for not making more of an effort to pass it along to me.