The differences between French and Walloon?

I almost took French as a foreign language back in my high school days, and ever since I have often wondered how and how the Walloon language differs from French.
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“The written language of the Walloon is French. The Walloon language is better preserved in this country than in Belgium because in Belgium it has too much French mixed in it”

A Young Look At Old Green Bay 1970 Inverview with Louis Ropson Pg 109
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I stumbled into this written by a French guy (Bruno Gremez):


"It took time but succeeded in Wallonia, at the expense of Walloon dialects. Nowadays, Walloon dialects belong to the folklore and the past. Only insignificant numbers of Walloons still understand and speak some dialects. One should note - by the way - that Walloon dialects are not so close to French, contrary to what man people believe, and they are hard to understand even for native French speakers. I am French-speaking, and I do not understand more than 5 to 10% of what elderly people say if they - still - speak in their dialects."


The official Languages of Belgium today are French and Dutch.  It's my personal belief that the language morphed in Belgium to slowly become more like French.

I say this really only based on logic and that now that I look into what I heard, some of it was more French than Walloon?

"How are you" I recall hearing the French way.  But then again that was 25+ years ago, and I really don't know things would sound based on the text below (excerpts taken from one of the attached Belgian newsletters)

> How are you?
> French: Comment allez vous?
> Walloon: Comint va-t-I l’ome?

> I don't know
> French: je ne sais pas
> Walloon: dji n' sé nén (Rifondou spelling )

Welcome

First some background.  In the 80's and 90's my family would make many weekend trips to Door and Kewaunee County to visit my grandfather.  And even after he passed away in the later 80's, we'd continued to visit other relatives in the area.

My father is the youngest of his siblings, so he really has less Walloon under his belt compared to his older siblings.  Never the less, in these weekend trips and visits to the Pines Tavern, Chaudoirs Dock, Chris & Jack's Belgian Bar, I heard some Walloon.

For many years I assumed some of what I heard in Walloon was things the grown-up's didn't want us kids to understand.  So the name of this blog is sort of a spoof on that.  It turns out now (at age 40), I am finally starting to look into what I heard, my parents and relatives aren't as vile as I would have guessed back then.

But the "Pardon My Walloon" title is catchy, so it will stick.  In future entries I will explore some of the more common Walloon phrases that I can remember hearing.  The problem of course is trying to figure out how to spell them.

There is a professor from UW-Eau Claire, Kelly Biers working on documenting the language, but so far I haven't seen much shared, online at least.  So that is where this blog comes in.  To try and share the very little I do know, or can find out to help the next person.  To me that is what life is about, and is what great about the internet.