In an interview in the Daily World, Cajun ambassador and French language advocate Warren Perrin presents a wide ranging discussion of the complexity of maintaining a living second language in Louisiana. Perrin’s book, Acadian Redemption: From Beausoleil Broussard to the Queen's Royal Proclamation, is being translated into French, a much-needed way to bring the Acadian experience to a larger audience. A second volume translated into French as well, Tabasco Company archivist Shane Bernard’s Cajuns and Their Acadian Ancestors: A Young Reader's History, will reach a young international audience.
Perrin touches on aspects of the struggle to maintain the French language, from the immigration problems post 9/11, of bringing African sub-Saharan teachers to Louisiana to teach French, to what he sees as an embarrassing stereotype of a Cajun character in Disney’s new movie set in New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog. To read the interview, click here.