Submitted by AfraidToLoseMyJob t3_118p88f in newhampshire
I'm a native french speaker, the political landscape of NH (liberty minded socially liberal) is really difficult to find elsewhere in the country. I'm looking around for land and houses and know that some areas have more french speakers. Is there anywhere in the state where people generally converse in french in public?
Yeah I didn't really mean accommodations, I'm fluent in english. I just meant a place where I'm more likely to talk to people in french on the sidewalk or at a cafe. I have hung out in northern New Hampshire, I found the people to be very nice. I dont know where the "cold" thing comes from. I have lived on both coasts and I long to comeback in the North East where I feel people are genuine.
I personally don’t find us cold either but just a little bit less likely to strike up conversations with strangers, though I personally am a bit of a chatty Cathy. I would imagine there’s Facebook pages and I also know there’s a few Franco-American clubs though most of them aren’t exactly cultural hubs lol
Haha New englanders have always gotten the reputation of being cold and unfriendly. But in my book, it's always a matter of minding your own business and being in that sense tolerant of your neighbor. Their business over there. Growing up gay in New England for this reason was no big thing in the late '60s for me. I travel a lot, I am in California now , Los Angeles for the winter. Oh God I hate Florida.. I think the distinctions however, the mobility of everybody on the planet especially in the US, the internet, YouTube, etc etc Netflix whatever has lessened all of these distinctions, better or worse. Not only a US level but on a global level. I see it especially in Europe the homogenization the globalization more and more
We are genuine, but also not naturally conversing in French either. Especially in some of the more rural parts of this place
A generation or two ago, you'd be able to find French speakers in lots of places. I'm in my late 40's and my mom, my aunt, and grandparents on one side of the family are all fluent, but I'm the only one of my generation that even studied it, and I'm far from fluent.
The city of Manchester once had a very large population of French speaking Canadians. The West Side of the city was well known for it. But the population is old and shrinking.
Google to see what you find: masses, social clubs, Franco American club, etc. Good luck.
I've encountered this more in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom or NEK. It's a lot of the outflow from Quebec.
Yes. This
Hampton gets a lot of French Canadian visitors in the summer.
No place in the entire state where people generally converse in French in public. You would have to go to Canada for that. There are many French-speaking tourists from Canada. Immigrants / children of immigrants who speak French aren't exactly rare. However, you can't work or get by day to day w/o speaking English, I would say.
The West Side of Manch has a few old timers left - but that population has largely died off (and most folks if given a choice would move somewhere that isn't Manchester.)
You are going to be disappointed.
As close to Canada as possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcVMe5HLF_Q
Leaving this here in case someone gets the reference
Not exactly what you're asking, but a thread on where to find the French community in Boston was posted a couple days ago. Not quite a town where people speak everyday, but if you end up in Southern NH, there are some suggestions for places you could go down and check out.
The west side of Manchester is French-Canadian. There is a Franco-American Center as well.
My memere and great aunt use to swear at us and talk about us in French when we were being "little shits". But that was usually at the house over coffee, not in public, in public we just got beat.
Portsmouth library has a monthly french language meet-up. (also German, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese and spanish if ppl look for something in these languages) So you might be able to find native speakers there. Also the app meet up, check for native french clubs.
There's a weekly French mass at St Anthony's in Manchester.
hehehehe, you may find some french Canadians around Jajajaja
Yeah that's what I'm looking for
I speak French and live around Lake Winnipesaukee area and have seen people in the town before that are native French speakers. Though not sure if they were just passing by!
Sent you a dm!
Bonjourno
The Franco-American center in Manchester may help connect you to other fluent speakers.
Unfortunately, the usage of French has been dwindling year by year in New England, even in places like Madawaska. I have heard the French speaking population went up in the past few years in Portland, Maine, due to refugees and immigration from French speaking countries.
Your best bet is joining a club for French speakers. Also, there's always the Quebecois or Acadien tourists during that season. There seems to be a steady stream of French speaking tourists in Salem, MA.
There's a persistent myth that people in Berlin speak French but its not true, not within my lifetime at least. The main language of communication in all of NH is English, even in parts with the most French ancestry.
I worked at St Vincent DePauls nursing home and many of the residents there spike french.
The main language is definitely English, but when I lived in Berlin in the early 2000s you could still hear French a fair bit among the older people. We even had a neighbour who was a younger guy and who insisted on speaking to my dad in French when he found out he was from France.
That said, Berlin French is atrocious.
warpedaeroplane t1_j9ilyd6 wrote
Not really. We have a relatively sized Quebecois community but nobody is out conversing in French at the grocery store with the cashier. The further north you go in the state the bigger the French speaking population seems to be though that’s likely my personal experience only.
However, folks here are kind by the by if not a little cold. I can’t imagine anybody gives you a lot of crap if you speak English with an accent (most people get a kick out of “oh you speak French!”) , but I wouldn’t expect to be accommodated hardly at all with French speaking service almost anywhere. I’m sure there are individuals and businesses who have staff who speak French but it’s definitely not common.