Bouônjour! Coumme est qu'ous êtes? My name is Josh, and I'm currently a student of History and Modern Languages with an emphasis on Romance languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Currently, I am studying Jèrriais, which is a language spoken on the Channel Island of Jersey, and is derived from the Norman language spoken in Normandy. Jèrriais is the sister language of Guernésiais, which is spoken on Guernsey, another Channel Island.
It has not been easy to procure texts in Jèrriais, and books on the literature, history, and culture of Jersey. It is very expensive to ship books off the island of Jersey, and I recently went through the nightmare of ordering books from the Société Jersiaise. Initially, they cost me only £178+. However, with shipping, that cost would rise to £263+. I thought that was the end of my troubles, but Jersey Post charged me an extra £78+ not just to ship my parcel off the island, but to ship it internationally to the United States. All this cost me a whopping total of £341+, about US$433+. That was quite a blow to both my wallet and pocket, and as a student, I don't have much money.
This setback has not dampened my wish to further my studies in Jèrriais, Guernésiais, and the other languages spoken in the Channel Islands and Mainland Normandy. I would also like to improve my French. But I do need some help. With the money I've just spent, I could've bought a plane ticket from California to the United Kingdom, and sailed by ferry from Portsmouth, England to St. Helier, Jersey. Or I could've taken a plane from London to St. Helier (perhaps after lunch or dinner with my UK family), which is cheaper. Once in St. Helier, I could've bought all the Jèrriais books I needed to my heart's content, then flown back to the United States after a short tour of the Channel Islands.
The books I bought were only a pittance of the books I needed for an extensive study of Jèrriais. Could you please help me on this journey of learning such a unique language? In 2025, I would like to travel to the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey and stay there for a month or two. I'd like also like to briefly visit Normandy and Brittany in France, and perhaps Galicia in Spain. I'd also like to take a day trip each to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin. Your help in defraying my expenses, such as my round-trip plane ticket, food, lodging, travel, and my purchases at the Société Jersiaise bookshop would be immensely appreciated. To travel to the Channel Islands and to France would be a dream come true, and if you can be a bit more generous, God willing, I'd like to bring a travel buddy to make this trip more memorable. Your help would mean so much to me.
I hope that with this meaningful experience, I will be both an efficient historian and translator, setting off a career in what I've always wanted to do. I'm excited by the prospect of reading medieval texts in Old French, Old Spanish, Old Occitan, Galician-Portuguese, Latin, Old Irish, Greek, and of course, both the insular and continental variants of the Norman language! I'm also terribly excited to speak with Jèrriais speakers and will definitely seek out chat groups organized by L'Office du Jèrriais, the Jersey Museum, and Jersey Heritage!
Although my goal is $8,500 for a little leeway, this is a rough breakdown of my expenses:
Accommodation/rental: $ 3,000
Airfare/International Flights: $ 1,600
Local Travel Expenses: $700
Medical/Travel/Accident Insurance: $500
Special Courses/Language Programs: $500
Backpack: $60
Food, tea, groceries, dining: $600
Wind coat: $120
Hiking boots: $130
Guide books: $50
Luggage: $100
Phrasebook, dictionary: $30
Digital camera: $160
Other travel necessities: $200
Toiletries, diabetes supplies, etc.: $200
Total: $7,950
Any and all help will be appreciated! Mèrcie bein des fais! Thank you very much!
