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Learn Jèrriais

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About Jèrriais

Jèrriais, or Jersey French, has been spoken in Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, for more than 1,000 years. It is descended from the Norman language, which originated in northern France. Although it was once Jersey’s main language, the number of native speakers began to decline in the 19th century and it is now considered to be endangered. The Government of Jersey is leading efforts to revitalise the language; it has recently declared Jèrriais one of the island’s official languages, alongside English and French, and has also helped add it to the uTalk app.

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Where is it spoken?

Jersey

Number of speakers

500

Language family

Indo-European

Italic

Romance

Germanic

Fun facts — Jèrriais

To ‘sleep like a porpoise’- ‘dormi comme un pourpais’- means to sleep well.
Ask a Jèrriais speaker how they are and they might reply ‘comme un vyi’ (like an old man) or ‘comme lé temps’ (like the weather), or ‘comme eune pouque mouoillie’ (like a wet bag).
The Jèrriais expression ‘cow-coloured’ - ‘couleu d’vaque’ - means the yellow-brown shade of a Jersey cow, a breed native to Jersey.
During the German occupation of Jersey in World War II, locals used Jèrriais to communicate secretly between themselves.
Jèrriais is closely related to Guernésiais, spoken in neighbouring Guernsey, and is very closely related to Sercquiais, spoken in neighbouring Sark and descended from Jèrriais.
Black butter, called ‘lé nièr beurre’ in Jèrriais, is a Jersey speciality made of apples, cider and spices but no dairy!

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