Online Jèrriais beginner course

A new Online Beginner Course will take place from Monday 15^th September to Monday 24^th November from 2pm to 2:45pm (UK time). 

 

The course includes 10 lessons of 45 minutes each and is free. 

 

During this course, you will the learn pronunciation and develop your conversational skills on the following topics: greeting and introducing yourself, countries, and nationalities; pets; describing objects; local festivals and traditions, celebrations; talking about family; asking and saying the time, talking about where you live and your house, your town etc..

 

Spellchecker

The Jèrriais spellchecker file has been updated (previous update was 2023) and can be downloaded heredownloaded here

Pathole.com

Pathole.com: A new basic vocabulary look-up tool for Jèrriais-English/English-Jèrriais (mèrcie bein des fais à Simon Sargeant!)

(Search hint: it's diacritic & apostrophe sensitive, but it'll return search strings within words)

Getting to know L’Office du Jèrriais: A Q&A with the team promoting the Jèrriais language

Getting to know L’Office du Jèrriais: A Q&A with the team promoting the Jèrriais language

 "Europe’s linguistic diversity is increasingly reflected in online spaces, where regional and minority language speakers and their communities leverage digital tools and media to preserve, promote, and revitalize their language heritage. In this spirit, Rising Voices’ online campaign @EuroDigitalLang has been curating a rotating X (formerly Twitter) account. Here, language activists and advocates narrate their personal stories in their own words, engaging directly with their audience and sharing ongoing challenges as well as successes. In this email interview, Rising Voices spoke to upcoming host Geraint Jennings of L’Office du Jèrriais, a public body which promotes and teaches Jèrriais —  the native language of Jersey. More info can be found at their X account: @le_jerriais"

Jèrriais: An endangered Island language in desperate need of more media visibility

 

Jèrriais: An endangered Island language in desperate need of more media visibility:

"In this text I would like to take a closer look at the efforts enabling Jèrriais visibility within the island’s various traditional and digital media. The relation between preserving minority languages and the media is inseparable. Imagine learning a language without being able to read it anywhere, without being able to hear it in music, or it never popping up on your social media feed."

 

Jèrriais spellchecker file

 The Jèrriais spellchecker file has been updated. Freely downloadable from here.

Soundcloud update

We're continuing to upload new pronunciation files for thedictionary  (as well as new items of vocabulary and phrases)

 

We've also decided to take the opportunity to revisit low-fi soundfiles made 3 years ago when we were working during lockdown without access to quality recording facilities.

 

We'll be re-recording dictionary examples at higher quality, but we're not planning for now to replace the existing files on Soundcloud (preparing for an exciting new project!)

 

Soundcloud update

 Latest uploads take online Jèrriais soundfiles past 41,000 - but there have been changes to searchability.

 

It seems that over the past few weeks Soundclound have been tweaking their search algorithm. I used to be the case that search was accent-insensitive but apostrophe-sensitive, so that searching for "baté jerriais" or "bâté jerriais", or indeed "bate jerriais" would serve the same results, but would not serve up results including l'baté or d'bâté.

 

Over the past few weeks it seems that Soundcloud's search has become fuzzier and will return results that are similar and not necessarily corresponding to text query, whether accented or not. It seems too that one needs to search both accented and unaccented text strings to find what one's looking for.

 

So the new Soundcloud search algorithm may help people (or not), but in any case, be aware of the change.

 

(We continue to work on a standalone Jèrriais hub with the capability of searching dictionary, soundfiles, & texts from one dedicated interface)

uTalk app

"Big step for Jèrriais as it is added to global language app"

LISTEN: Big step for Jèrriais as it is added to global language app: Islanders can now learn Jèrriais online via an award-winning app, following work by L’Office du Jèrriais and language-learning platform uTalk.

Adding the Jèrriais spellchecker dictionary to a MacBook

Here are some instructions for adding the Jèrriais spellchecker dictionary to a MacBook (this will only work for Pages, Mail etc and not external apps eg Word): 

•  Download jerriais.dic (spellchecker dictionary file) 
•  Open Finder > Go > Go to folder… 
•  then type (or copy/paste) ~/library/spelling 
•  open the file LocalDictionary (if it doesn’t open automatically use ‘open with’ TextEdit) 
•  open Jerriais.dic (if it doesn’t open automatically use ‘open with’ TextEdit) 
•  copy and paste all the words from Jerriais.dic into your Local Dictionary 

Previously advised: 

• for Microsoft Office on Windows, copy jerriais.dic file into proofing folder and select as dictionary in desired program e.g. Word; 
• for Firefox, copy contents of jerriais.dic file (it is a simple, if large, text file openable with e.g. Notepad) into persdict.dat file.

 

Stèrter - to start, start up

stèrter - to start (of machine, etc), start up, fire up, get going

Présent

jé stèrte

tu stèrte

i' stèrte

ou stèrte

jé stèrtons

ou stèrtez

i' stèrtent

Prétérite

jé stèrtis

tu stèrtis

i' stèrtit

ou stèrtit

jé stèrtînmes

ou stèrtîtes / ou stèrtîdres

i' stèrtîtent / i' stèrtîdrent

Googlier - to google

googlier - to google (for)

Présent

j'googl'ye

tu googl'ye

i' googl'ye

ou googl'ye

j'googlions

ou googliez

i' googl'yent

Prétérite

j'googlyis

tu googlyis

i' googlyit

ou googlyit

j'googlyînmes

ou googlyîtes / ou googlyîdres

i' googlyîtent / i' googlyîdrent

European Day of Languages/National Poetry Day

Commeunitchi ès Médias

Press release

Faithe d’eune pièrre trais coups – To make of a stone three blows

To kill three birds with one stone

This year, European Day of Languages (26^th September) is just two days earlier than National Poetry Day.  To mark both occasions L’Office du Jèrriais is encouraging hundreds of the Island’s children to enjoy a Jèrriais poem written especially for them.  At the same time a brand-new website www.learnjerriais.org.je with details of classes available for children and adults and learning material will be launched.

All children in Year 4 in primary schools, together with those in Year 7 of selected secondary schools, will receive postcards bearing poems in Jèrriais (with English translations) on Freedom, the theme of National Poetry Day.  The poems, composed by Jèrriais teacher and poet Geraint Jennings, are available together with audio versions on the learnjerriais website, along with explanatory notes for teachers.

Anyone who is not a recipient of the poems and who would like copies can contact L’Office du Jèrriais, or alternatively visit the website at www.learnjerriais.org.je to download or listen to the words.  Why not liberate your Jèrriais tongue?

For immediate release.

     

La langue normande à Jersey

Langue normande a bliodgi not' bliogue. Ch'est d'èrbliodgi la bliogu'thie don!

Langue normande has blogged about our blog, so we're reblogging it!

La langue normande à Jersey

Ya dé dequei luure byintôt touos les jouors de la semanne, et ch’est paé enniaunt du tout !

Mèrcie bein des fais!

Text of Tony Scott Warren's presentation at Cambridge University Language Endangerment: Methodologies & New Challenges Conference - 6 July 2012

Mesdames, mesd'mouaiselles, mêssieux, bouônjour. Man nom est Touènne et j'sis ichîn pouor vos prêchi un mio entouor l'Jèrriais et comme tchi qu'j'sommes à tâchi dé l'garder en vie et dé l'présérver pouor l'av'nîn.

Ladies and gentlemen, I thought that I should start by using a language that is not normally heard in England!

I am here to tell you something about Jèrriais and how we are working with the technology at our disposal to keep it alive.

Firstly I should declare that I am a practitioner in the maintenance of one specific language which is severely endangered, rather than an academic. I'd like to thank Mari for encouraging me to present a paper and for saying that I probably wouldn't be eaten by this audience! I hope that what I have to offer in this short presentation may give you some insights that will be useful.

I've already mentioned the name of the language, Jèrriais, but I had better locate it on the map.

Facebook en Jèrriais sus la BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-17740154

Facebook en Jèrriais!

Facebook est achteu mîns à jour en Jèrriais! Ch'n'est pon sus la liste des langues, mais nou n'a qu'en dêchèrgi et înstaller - l'pus sîmpl'ye est si nou-s'en faithe sèrvi auve Google Chrome.

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/130838

Facebook is now available in Jèrriais! Just download and install in Google Chrome - it's also possible to use with other browsers.