Vouaïe-Voice_2019-01-11_PLL01_1-min_30-secs
Peter Le Lacheur
(0 – 30) secs) PLL01 says his name:
Peter Le Lacheur, and that he has spoken Guernesiais (G) for almost fifty years, since he was around two years old. His mother and father spoke G and English (E) amongst themselves, this is how he learnt both languages at the same time. But the biggest advantage (30 secs -1 min) he had was that his father’s grandparents lived in the same house as he did, they were in their eighties and were born at the end of the nineteenth century, because of this they spoke almost no E. If anyone wished to speak with them, it had to be in G. PLL01 says that when you are amongst people speaking another language all of the time, you learn (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) it too. Now PLL01 has a daughter of his own who he is trying to teach her G, but it’s not that simple, his wife doesn’t speak it so his daughter doesn’t hear people speaking it. When he tries to speak with her, she repeats what he says, but doesn’t know how to reply. It’ll come with practice.
Vouaïe-Voice_2019-02-04_JB01_Recorder_JM01_2-mins
John Bourgaize
(Jean) (0 – 30) secs:. JB01 says his name:
Jean Bourgaize, and that there are many people with this name. He says when and where he was born (DOB (08/01/1938), (near St. Saviour’s Church). JB01 talks about a lad from his school days (30 secs -1 min), the lad was older than him. JB01 and some other pupils used to taunt the lad with a rhyme about a small cart with which they could go to St. Malo. The lad used to get angry and wallop them! Sometimes JB01’s brother used to tease him with a rhyme about being hungry, if so then eat hay! (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) JB01 talks about his first day at school, when they couldn’t speak any English (E). The teacher told him to sit down in E, he didn’t understand her but copied what the other pupils did so he sat down. She then said something else in E which he didn’t understand, and he said, “Eh?” (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) She told him, “It’s not, eh, it’s pardon?” He said, “Eh?” again because he didn’t understand, she repeated what she had already said. This happened three times, then she slapped him across the mouth. JB01 didn’t understand why she had slapped him. Then another teacher, Miss de Garis, arrived and asked him if he couldn’t
speak E, he said, “No.” She explained this to the other teacher.
.
Vouaïe-Voice_2019-04-03_RD01_Recorder_JM01_2-mins
Roland Duquemin
(0 – 30 secs) RD01 says his name:
Roland Duquemin, and that he grew up in lower St. Saviour’s at Perelle where all of his neighbours spoke Guernesiais (G). RD01’s family spoke it at home, the only place where he spoke English (E) was at school. RD01 says the year that he was born (30 secs -1 min) and his age: 86, he says that his birthday is on the same day as St. Patrick’s Day (DOB: 17/03/1933). All went well [when he was young] as everyone spoke G and got on well. Later when he was a little older the German Occupation happened. They had an officer from Germany that came to (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) stay in the family home, it was a period they had to get through. RD01 married, he used to plant potatoes, his father and the old people had many funny sayings. His father had a saying about one day not being like another as it rains everyday. When RD01 was planting potatoes his neighbour, (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) Mr. Collenette, came and asked if he was planting them with the eyes down, RD01 replied, no, but rather with the bottom up in the air. The neighbour used to be there when RD01 was digging the potatoes, he would say all sorts of things like, “Do you find that
the small ones are big this year?”, as children they found this amusing.
Vouaïe-Voice_2019-04-04_PC01_Recorder_JM01_1-min_53-secs
Peggy Collenette
(0 – 30 secs) PC01 says her name:
Peggy Collenette, and that she is from St. Pierre, she also says when she was born (DOB: 18/07/1930), and that she lives at Rue des Vicheris where there will soon be orchids, they’ll be out in April. At the end of the month there will be orchids everywhere. (30 secs -1 min) PC01 tells a short amusing tale about her late husband who bought a car in town and it broke down on the way home near Fort George. The car stopped, the pedal/ball had become detached, and he got out to fix it. (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) He got on his hands and knees in the road to take a look. He had put on the brake, but it rolled away with him on his hands and knees going after it, PC01 and their daughter were laughing. PC01 says that when she was first married, she was once with her husband and he (1 min 30 secs – 1 min 53 secs) asked where was the comb (déboutcheu). She asked him what he had said. She told him that they didn’t say it like that, and that she would say comb (démêlaeu). He disagreed insisting that the word (déboutcheu) was correct and was what he
called it.
Vouaïe-Voice_2019-01-24_JDG01_Recorder_JM01_1-min_56-secs
Jean de Garis (0 – 30 secs) JDG01 says her name:
Jean Rachel de Garis, née Robin, she married a ‘de Garis’. She will be 90 soon (DOB: 1/2/1929). She is from the Câtel, she now lives at Les Plats Pieds in the Câtel, (30 secs -1 min) she born at Les Fontaines in the Câtel. JDG01 was brought up to speak Guernesiais (G), everyone she knew spoke it, people in the country (parishes) spoke it when she was young. (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) At school they [the children] weren’t allowed to speak G, they had to speak only English (E) to the school mistresses. JDG01 and her sister could speak E and G, at school they didn’t have as much trouble as some pupils who never spoke E. They all had to write and speak E. G wasn’t wanted (1 min 30 secs – 1 min 55 secs) by the English, nor was any other language. She married a man who spoke G, they used to speak it, they didn’t know which language they were using as they switched
from one to another without thinking..
Vouaïe-Voice_2019-06-03_JM01_Recorder_JM01_2-mins_1-secs
Jan Marquis (Yan)
(0 – 30 secs) JM01 says his name:
Jan Marquis (Yan) and when he was born (DOB: 04/07/1968). He now lives near to St. Peter’s Church, but his family comes from Torteval, and town. When he was a child, they [brothers & parents] didn’t speak Guernesiais (G) at home, but they [brothers & JM01] used to go to their (maternal) grandparents’ house, they lived (30 secs -1 min) in Torteval, because of this they heard a lot of G around the house, in the greenhouses and in many other places besides. Unfortunately while they heard a lot of G, at that time they were discouraged from learning it, so they didn’t speak it. People thought it would be better to learn (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) English (E) and what they called ‘Good’ French; however, JM01 doesn’t know why, but G interested him; so one day after he had finished college he decided to learn it. He used to speak to the old people, and in this way after a short time he was able to learn it [G]. Now JM01 is glad that he did (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins), he is all the more glad to have the chance of teaching it to others. JM01 realises that in order for there to be G in the future, it is necessary for people to learn it today. In finishing JM01 wishes to encourage those learning it, and thanks them for listening to him.
Vouaïe-Voice_2019-04-24_EB01_Recorder_JM01_2-mins_30-secs
Enid Batiste
(0 – 30 secs) EB01 says her name:
Enid Batiste, her address at Vazon, and that she has lived in Guernsey for many years. EB01 was raised in St. Pierre, but in 1938 she moved to St Saviour’s. They moved to the current address when she married. (30 secs -1 min) EB01 says when she was born (DOB: 16/04/1931). She has always spoken Guernesiais (G), except that when she married, her husband couldn’t speak it because he was evacuated to England during WWII. EB01 talks about what she has done this morning: she got up, fed the cat and went to see the birds, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) gave them some seed, she had breakfast and JM01 arrived, the dog barked a lot because he didn’t know him. Last Sunday was Easter Sunday, they had a lovely church service and she went with her daughter to see her granddaughter, (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) they had a cup of tea and went to see her beautiful garden. There aren’t many people who speak G nowadays, it’s a shame. The people who were evacuated came back and didn’t speak it, that’s why there aren’t many speakers today. (2 mins – 2 mins 30 secs) EB01 talks about G classes for people who wish to learn, there are some people that are very interested, but it’s difficult, they don’t have the same accent as them [the native speakers]. When EB01’s parents were alive she always spoke to them in G, but her children didn’t like it as they thought that EB01 and her parents were
talking about them.
Vouaïe-Voice_2018-12-07_KL01_2-mins-11-secs
Ken Lainé
(0 – 30) secs:
Ken Lainé gives his personal details and says where he lives at Perelle, he has lived there for just over a year. KL01 says that he likes living at Perelle because he used to play on the beach there (with Eustace Bourgaize) when he was a lad. He was raised, (30 secs - 1 min) and used to live nearby on the road that leads to Fort Richmond. KL01 was brought up by his grandparents, that is why his likes living there. The sea water comes over the sea wall sometimes, but it cannot go in the house because the house is high up, and there is a meadow behind it which is six feet lower down. (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) He says his age: 74. He thinks Guernesiais (G) is a beautiful language and enjoys speaking it, and is happy that he knows it. But it is not so often that he can speak it nowadays. KL01 says that people are beginning to forget words, or they struggle to recall them. (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) He talks about what is he is doing today: he is going to the meat draw at L’Érée Hotel where he knows someone who knows G but doesn’t use it. (2 mins – 2 mins 15 secs). When asked if there will be G in 10/20 years time, he replies that it depends how long he lives!
Vouaïe-Voice_2019-04-25_BLJ01_Recorder_JM01_2-mins_11-secs
Brenda La Joie
(0 – 30 secs) BLJ01 says her name:
Brenda Grace La Joie, and when she was born (DOB: 05/04/1930), she has just had her 89th birthday. She used to live a little further down the road, she wasn’t born there. They lived at La Grànd Rue in St. Saviour’s after which her father built the house here where they came to live. (30 secs -1 min) When she met her husband, he built a house opposite the bunker, she has lived there since then, they haven’t really moved out of the area. BLJ01 talks about what she has done today, when she got up, not as early as her sister [GB01], she got washed, dressed and after that she had her breakfast. She then talks about yesterday: not much happened, they [BLJ01 & GB01] normally go shopping, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs ) but they didn’t go yesterday, at least not early. They had to pick up some tablets, or as BLJ01 jokes, “.. some ‘sweets’.”. BLJ01 says that they never had any trouble learning Guernesiais (G) because their parents spoke it. Things changed after WWII when they started to go back to school, the children who had been evacuated returned from England, it was all in English (E). (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) BLJ01 believes that people learning G will have trouble as there aren’t many young people/children speaking it now, it will be difficult to bring it back. When they were children they went to school where they spoke E, but back at home their parents spoke G, it’s not the same for children today. BLJ01’s sister [GB01] suggests that it’s their fault (2 mins – 2 mins 11 secs) as they didn’t speak G to their own children. BLJ01 says that they [their children] weren’t really interested, and at school it was all in E.
Vouaïe-Voice_2019-04-25_GB01_Recorder_JM01_2-mins_30-secs
Gwen Pearl Batiste
(0 – 30 secs) GB01 says her name:
Gweneth Pearl Batiste, when she was born and her age: 83/82 (DOB: 07/11/1935). GB01 talks about today; she got up at quarter past seven, had her breakfast, she didn’t have a bath, she had a shower. (30 secs -1 min) GB01 says that time passes, and that they don’t do as much as they used to, not because they don’t want to, but because they cannot, time passes, they see people. On Easter Sunday they didn’t go to Church or Chapel, they had a picnic instead. The weather was very fine and the children had a good time. She came home in the evening. (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) GB01’s father was arrested during the German Occupation for having a crystal set, he was supposed to be sent to France, but the Germans had Greenhouses at the Green Lanes (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) and he worked there. They were lucky that GB01’s father wasn’t sent away as they had heard that people that were sent away were not treated well. GB01 went with her mother, on her bike, along with GB01’s uncle, to visit her father (2 mins – 2 mins 30 secs) (in prison). The little prison near St. James’ was demolished, GB01 wonders why. She talks about the big guns (Mirus), and wonders what might have been if they had also been kept. GB01 talks about a time that a German came to say that they were going to fire the big gun, GB01 went with her father, on the hedge, by their house to see it being fired.