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Which languages did Jack Kerouac use as a child?

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Portrait of Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet, looking over his shoulder in a collared shirt, circa 1965. — Jack Kerouac American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac, c. 1965.

As a child, Jack Kerouac was raised in a French Canadian family in Lowell, Massachusetts, and spoke joual, a Canadian dialect of French. His education reflected this bilingual background, as he attended a French Canadian school in the mornings and continued his studies in English in the afternoons. This unique upbringing contributed to his perspective as an American who often viewed his own country as if he were a foreigner.21