Oh Crappaud! Island faces big struggle to keep Jèrriais alive

Tuesday 28 June 2016

A team of Jèrriais teachers are struggling to find others to learn the language and keep our native tongue alive.

L'Office du Jèrriais need to recruit two new teachers by next summer but nobody is trained to do it yet and it will take them up to 1,500 hours to learn how to speak the patois.

Colin Ireson is retiring this summer and Tony Scott Warren, who has been teaching since 1999, is preparing to do the same next summer. That will leave Geraint Jennings as the only member of the team still teaching Jèrriais.

Mr Scott Warren, from L'Office du Jèrriais said: “We’re having a problem with recruitment, we were all Jèrriais speakers who learnt to become teachers but we can’t identify any Jèrriais speakers that can take over.

“We’re looking at recruiting teachers to learn Jèrriais and then to teach it, so there is obviously going to be an interim period. We’ve asked expert opinion from universities who say it will take between 1,000 and 1,500 hours, at least one year or two years' immersion in Jèrriais to become fluent, it’s a big ask.

“I will be teaching prospective teachers until I retire, but we really needed to have them starting last year."

The team is doing a series of presentations this week to States Members and others to drum up support for our own language and keep it alive for future generations.

Mr Scott Warren said: “The number of speakers is dropping all the time. There were 2,700 in 2001 and most of those were elderly, in 60s, 70s and 80s.

“We have a number of children who are interested but are not yet fluent in it and we have a fairly small number of adults. It was much more popular in the 1980s with 30 or 40 learning each term, now it’s dropped to about 15.”

Meanwhile Jersey Post have been working with L'Office du Jèrriais to translate the homepage on their website and revive and market the language, which has its roots in the language of William the Conqueror.

Jersey Post's Director of Postal Operations Andy Jehan said: “As a proud Jerseyman, I think it is vital that the Island comes together – businesses and individuals alike - to support and revive our native language. If we are not careful, we will lose this unique part of our history and culture forever, which would demonstrate both ignorance and tragedy.”