The U.S. state of Louisiana has a unique history. When the Acadians, French-speaking settlers who lived peacefully in the Canadian Maritime provinces, were forcibly expelled from their homeland by the British, many made the long trek all the way down to Louisiana, where Louisiana’s famous Cajun culture blossomed. The Cajuns had brought their Acadian French language with them, which they continued to speak even after British settlers also came to the area. A creole language based on Louisiana French later surfaced when African slaves speaking various native languages learned the local language to communicate.
Today, around 10,000 people in Louisiana still speak Louisiana Creole. It’s important to distinguish Louisiana Creole from Louisiana French, which has between 150,000 to 200,000 native speakers, as they are different languages with different vocabulary, grammar, and structure. Louisiana Creole has been designated as an endangered language given the rapidly dwindling number of speakers, and confusion between Louisiana Creole and Louisiana French only serves to exacerbate the situation. In an effort to provide resources for this precious endangered language, we at TranslationServices.com are proud to have put together our own Louisiana Creole translation team.
Quotes for our Louisiana Creole translation services are completely free and available to anyone who asks!
So what is Louisiana Creole like, anyway?
Most Louisiana Creole speakers live in Louisiana (obviously), specifically in St. Martin Parish, Natchitoches Parish, St. Landry Parish, Jefferson Parish, Lafayette Parish, Pointe Coupee Parish, and New Orleans, although small communities of speakers can also be found in Southern California, East Texas, and Illinois. Though the language has faced historical repression and stigmatization, today there are efforts to revitalize Louisiana Creole, although Louisiana French tends to garner more attention.
As a French-based creole language, Louisiana Creole shares a lot of its grammar and structure with French, including the gender system, and uses the same subject-verb-object word order. However, unlike French, which generally uses a complicated system of verbal inflection to indicate tense, aspect, and mood, Louisiana Creole uses particles placed before the verb, as is common in creole languages. Most of the vocabulary in Louisiana Creole is derived from French (specifically Louisiana French), but the language also features a number of borrowings from languages indigenous to the area, particularly for flora and fauna. Most remaining vocabulary comes from West and Central African languages.
Whatever you want translated to or from Louisiana Creole, we can help.
We’ve looked all over Louisiana for the top Louisiana Creole translators, native speakers who are proud of their heritage and passionate about ensuring the continued survival of Louisiana Creole. We’ve made sure to hire translators who can translate both into Louisiana Creole and from Louisiana Creole, allowing us to seamlessly accommodate the various translation needs you may have. Say you have a historical document in Louisiana Creole that you need translated into English—we’d be happy to oblige! On the other hand, there may be a range of documents you might like to translate into Louisiana Creole, such as educational materials that will allow Creole children to learn in their ancestral language or entertainment content—such as books, websites, apps, poems, and games—that boost the profile of this endangered language and help more people acquire and enjoy it.
Are you ready to get started with Louisiana Creole translation services? We are—just message us to start the process!