Why record Jèrriais? An introduction to a recording project for 2017 by Dr Mari Jones (University of Cambridge) and Dr Julia Sallabank (SOAS, University of London)

Jersey is a fantastic Island because you’ve got a wealth of accents, a wealth of different words around the Island. We’re doing our best to speak Jèrriais, but you are the experts out there, and we would love it if you were willing to participate in our project to record the fantastic language that is spoken here. So if you, if your brother, if your child, if your grandmother, if your great-aunt Freda would be willing to come and help with the project, if you would be willing to get in touch with L’Office, we’d be very grateful.

We need people to help record, people for instance who want to learn some more Jèrriais and people who can speak Jèrriais: both sides will benefit from this. People can get together and continue speaking Jèrriais and improve their fluency.

And this hopefully will make a record of the language that can be helpful to learners of the future. And also it will keep Jèrriais alive forever which would be exactly what we want.

As Mari said: Keep a record of the richness of Jèrriais spoken in all the different areas.

You’re really lucky to have this language. We’re trying to learn it, you can speak it already. So please come and help us. Mèrcie bein des fais!