The Languages of Jersey

No, not that Jersey. The Balliwick of Jersey, a crown dependency of the English monarch and part of the Channel Islands that maintains a close proximity to the Norman region of French. The Jersey language is one of the many "patois romans" or “regional dialects” of France.

The two main languages spoken in Jersey are French and of course, English. However, there is a French variant called Jèrriais (also known as Jersey French or Jersey Norman French). Jèrriais is based on the ancient Norman language. Jèrriais is one of the langues d'oïl (languages of “yes”) and is related to Norman, Dgèrnésiais, Picard, Gallo and Walloon. Never heard of any of them? Neither have I.

There are now approximately 87,000 people living in Jersey, and 20% of them are of British descent. Most of the Norman-descended population now speaks English as well. English is spoken by 94.6% of the population.

Dgèrnésiais, similar to Jèrriais, is spoken in nearby Guernsey. The language spoken in Sark, called Sercquiais, is a descendant of the Jèrriais language brought by the Jersey colonists who settled Sark in the 16th century.

In Jersey today, the Section de la langue Jèrriaise works to promote study of the language and its literature. Jèrriais classes are very common in elementary schools.

Here is a sampling of the Jèrriais language (thanks to Omniglot). As anyone who speaks French can see, it is similar to Parisian French but the spelling is quite different.

 

English	Jèrriais
Welcome	Séyiz les beinv'nu(e)(s)!
Hello	Salut / Bouônjour
How are you? I'm fine, thanks. And you?	Coumme est qu'ous êtes? (frm/pl) Coumme est qu' tu'es? (inf) Comment va? (vinf)
	Jé sis d'charme, mèrcie, et té/vos?
What's your name? My name is ...	Tch'est qu'est vot' nom? (frm) Tch'est qu'est tan nom? (inf)
	Man nom est ... / Jé sis ... / Jé m'appelle ...
Good morning	Bouônjour (à matîn)
Good day Good afternoon	Bouônjour
Good evening	Bônsouair
Good night	Bouonne niet
Goodbye	À bétôt, À bi, À la préchaine, À tantôt
Good luck	Bouonne cache / dés crouaîsis (fingers crossed)
Cheers/Good health!	Bouonne santé!