French President Emmanuel Macron will end his trip to the US with a visit Louisiana on Friday where he is set to announce the creation of a fund to finance the teaching of French in the state. FRANCE 24 reports.
The visit is good news for speakers of Louisiana French who want to preserve their heritage. “We need, not just symbolic support, but practical support and funding,” says Will McGrew, founder of Télé Louisiane, the first entirely French-speaking media in the state.
McGrew will meet Macron on Friday alongside a dozen other members of the French-speaking community. Christine Verdin, a Pointe-au-Chien Indian descended from the first inhabitants of America who learned French from settlers in the 18th century, is among them.
As a child, French was the only language Verdin spoke and she still speaks French on a daily basis with her family and neighbours. She is touched that Macron is making the visit. “It's a privilege that he's coming here and taking the time not just to come to America but to come all the way to New Orleans to meet us,” she says.
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