Renney Morneau, the president of the Berlin Historical Society, is walking among the graves in Berlin’s Mount Calvary Cemetery, pointing out the French names on the headstones: Croteau, Morin, Garneau. It’s just one of many legacies left by the waves of French-speaking Canadian immigrants in this region along New Hampshire’s northern border. But while these old inhabitants of the city are long gone, they left traces in the local language. It’s a legacy that still lingers, Morneau says, if you know what to listen for.
“A lot of times, what we’re speaking now is, they call it ‘Franglais,’ which is a combination of French and English,” he says, “and that kind of developed over time.”
During the peak of the North Country’s timber industry a century ago, people from all over the world moved to Berlin, to work in the paper mills or to log the surrounding woods. There were Russians, Irish, and Greeks, but the largest group came from just north of the border, in French-speaking Quebec.
In addition to incorporating both French and English words, New England Franglais has generated its own, Morneau says.
“Sometimes they’ll say, instead of ‘le bureau de poste,’ they’ll say, ‘la post office.” So sometimes they’ll take a word and they’ll kind of Frenchicize the word that’s an English word.”
Morneau says that there are also regional variations to pronunciation: “In the Berlin area, a lot of times the A’s became O’s. We’re talking about Saint Anne’s Church, Sainte Anne, a lot of times we say ‘Sainte Ohn.’ ”
Berlin is not the only place in New England with French-Canadian influence. Between 1840 and 1930, textile mills across Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island drew close to a million French-speaking Canadian immigrants. The French language shapes life in New Hampshire in new ways, as well. In recent decades, immigration from West Africa and the Caribbean has brought new populations of French speakers to the state.
But in Berlin, there’s a new effort to build on the impact that French speakers had on the local culture.
One of the people behind that push is Rick Alger. Like many descendants of Francophone Canadians in Berlin, Alger didn’t grow up speaking French. But, he recalls vividly the first time he heard his father speaking the language.
“We were in Lewiston, Maine at a restaurant, and he spoke to the server in French,” Alger recalls. “I was just a little guy then, probably four or five, and I started crying, ‘Mama, what’s wrong with Papa?’ I’m still trying to solve the mystery.”
When Alger retired as an English professor at the White Mountains Community College, he decided to learn the language. Since 2023, he has led a monthly French language practice group in Berlin. About 15 people usually show up.
To group members Jerry Riendeau and Sharon Stephenson, practicing French is more than a hobby.
“It’s our heritage,” says Riendeau. “We shouldn’t lose it.”
“That brought me here,” Stephenson adds. “I was afraid to lose it, because who do you speak with? Your grandparents are gone, and your parents are gone.”
Some local young people are working to keep French alive in their own generation. Zalee Baker, a high school sophomore and French student in Gorham, just next to Berlin, said learning French is an opportunity to discover more about her family’s background and to understand their culture.
Zalee’s great-grandmother is 98, and is originally from Canada. Zalee says that with age, her great-grandmother has forgotten a lot of her English, but continues to speak her first language: French.
“My connection with her has definitely grown, because I understand what she’s saying a lot more, along with just being able to connect,” she says. “If I have a question [about French class], she’s able to help me.”
Whitney Bouchard is Zalee’s classmate. Like Alger, her parents speak French, but she didn’t learn it growing up. Whitney and Zalee study the Parisian dialect of French in school. It differs from the Canadian dialect that their families speak. Though specific words and pronunciations vary, the basics remain the same. Whitney says that being able to understand French has practical advantages, particularly around her parents:
“The only time they really try to use French is when they want to talk about something that I shouldn’t be understanding,” she says. “But now, I can pick up more, and I can be like, ‘Hey, I know what you said.’ ”
In the North Woods, a language that crossed the border generations ago continues to find its voice.
