“Third cities” and “Fourth towns”

“Everybody goes to the same handful of sites. If you just go to those sites, you’re going to have a trip that is shaped by crowds. Or you can break free from that and realize that you can study the options and choose sites that are best for you. You can go to alternative places that have that edge and that joy and that creative kind of love of life. ‘Second cities,’ I call them.”
”

— Rick Steves, Travel Guide Writer & TV Host, excerpted from The Atlantic

If you’re a parent or guardian of a teen for whom a trip to France would mean a first trip overseas, chances are good that that trip will be a seminal experience. So that prompts a question: what sort of experience should that ideally be? Nobody would suggest that first-time visitors to France shouldn’t try to see such must-see landmarks as the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, or Versailles. But during the summer, Paris is invaded by throngs of tourists. Visitors spend hours waiting in long lines and often have to jostle their way through the hoards, trying to keep from getting pickpocketed. It can be just as exhausting and frustrating as enriching. Many tourists can’t wait to get home.

A QBE expedition makes for a different type of European exposure. Most of our destinations are the “alternative places” Steves talks about—small ports where a traditional way of life still survives: folkways, local cuisine, architecture, even traditional languages: e.g., Breton in Brittany, Jèrriais (Jersey French) in Jersey, and Guernésiais (Guernsey French) in Guernsey. And that’s part of what makes a QBE expedition such a unique—even once-in-a-lifetime—adventure. Still, as we’ve suggested before, there’s no reason you can’t have your gâteau and eat it, too. Just tack on a few extra days to visit a cultural capital as well the provinces.

Jèrriais—Jersey’s indigenous language

​In addition to French and English, there are a few under-the-radar indigenous languages spoken in our sailing area. Most people have heard of Breton (Brezhoneg), the ancient Celtic language still spoken—or at least understood—by an estimated 500,000 people, mostly in rural Brittany. And there’s Cornish, spoken in Cornwall, which some people are familiar with. But most people have never even heard of Jèrriais, the traditional Romance language of Jersey. A close cousin of French, there are fewer than 4,000 people who still speak it. But around 15 per cent of the island’s population claim to have some familiarity with it.

Take a look:

Jèrriais fast facts:

• it was once Jersey's first language

• it proved to be particularly useful during the wartime Occupation; locals could talk without being understood by the Germans

• it is still evolving: new words are regularly added to the Jèrriais lexicon, just as new coinages are constantly popping up in contemporary French and English

The baliwick’s government believes it’s important to maintain Jèrriais as a living language. By teaching it to the island’s children, they’re working to make sure it has a future. From their website:

There are very few parents able to teach their children the language, so it's important that it's taught at school. It's common throughout Europe to teach and learn through lesser-used languages.

Before the 1960s there was no Jèrriais education in schools. Now, Jèrriais lessons are offered in all States primary schools and some private schools, too. Children can continue learning in secondary school if they choose.

Jèrriais lessons in primary schools start in year 4; however, because of a shortage of qualified teachers it's not possible to offer lessons in every year at all primary schools. In secondary schools, children will be able to study to the TGJ, the Jèrriais equivalent of GCSE [“The General Certificate of Secondary Education” a set of high-school exams taken in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and other British territories.]

There are many benefits to teaching Jèrriais to children:

• it helps their intellectual development, mental agility and alertness

• it makes it easier for them to learn other languages when they are older

• it helps them understand their cultural identity as Jersey citizens

• it helps them respect people who speak different languages

• it introduces them to a rich tradition of prose, poetry and music

To read more about efforts underway to revive Jèrriais, click here.

If you’d like to hear what Jèrriais sounds like, click here. And if you want to practice your own Jèrriais, go to Twitter and type in #ADitonADayKeepsTheVirusAtBay. If a Twitter tab is already open on your browser, click here. There’s even an Office du Jèrriais tp promote the language.

Ah—but here’s our favorite link: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” in Jèrriais!

More about Breton and other indigenous languages in future posts.