where these languages persist,

是这些方言顽固地存在的地方
and I don't mean persist in a derogatory sense

我没有贬低方言的意思
but where they continue to thrive.

南部是方言发展得最好的地方
But this bilingualism will continue.

这种双语现象会继续
And also, a lot of the views of these sort of backward provinces

而且很多认为这些外省很落后的观点
are written by Parisians or by military officers, for example,

都是巴黎人或者军官们写的例如
who shop, and they find some peasant walking down the street and they say,

一个军官在街上遇到一个农民他问
"Hey you, can you give me this information?"

"你能告诉我什么什么事情吗"
And that person understands perfectly well what they want

而这个农民完全明白他在说什么
but they identify some person coming,

但他认为这个人
speaking French, as a tax collector

说法语一定是个收税官
or a military guy or something like that,

或是军官诸如此类的