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Creole vs French in Haiti | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5262 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 1 of 16 24 August 2011 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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I saw this article on the BBC website this morning Should Creole Replace French in Haiti's Schools
Article Preview: "Creole is the mother tongue in Haiti, but children do most of their schooling in French. Two hundred years after Haiti became the world's first black-led republic, is the use of French holding the nation back? "The percentage of people who speak French fluently is about 5%, and 100% speak Creole," says Chris Low. 'So it's really apartheid through language.' Ms Low is co-founder of an experimental school, the Matenwa Community Learning Center, which has broken with tradition, and conducts all classes in Creole. Educating children in French may work for the small elite who are fully bilingual, she argues, but not for the masses. Most linguists would share her view - that education in vernacular languages is best - says Prof Arthur Spears, a linguist and anthropologist at City University in New York, and an expert on Creole." 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| liddytime Pentaglot Senior Member United States mainlymagyar.wordpre Joined 6229 days ago 693 posts - 1328 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Galician Studies: Hungarian, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic (Written) | Message 2 of 16 24 August 2011 at 3:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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Most of the teachers in Haiti attempting to teach in French do not speak French themselves! This was the main
complaint about schooling in French that I heard when I was working there. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| AriD2385 Groupie United States Joined 4850 days ago 44 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 16 24 August 2011 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I understand the problem of having an educated elite speak a different language than the masses. I felt the same when looking into doing work in Morocco. However, Haiti is a very very small country and it would probably be better for the students to learn French for professional and academic purposes and use Creole with their families and friends. But I suppose that learning French and being taught exclusively in French are two different things.
I met a relief worker who said that the issue was that the schoolbooks are in French--they aren't available in Creole. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6011 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 4 of 16 24 August 2011 at 7:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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The United States is a not the world's biggest country and it would probably be better for the students to learn Chinese for professional and academic purposes and use English with their families and friends.
I'm sure you disagree with that!! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4859 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 5 of 16 24 August 2011 at 8:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Let's meet halfway - learning in both, Creole and French.
I know one school in Hungary (or Croatia? I'm not sure, to be honest, i only know that they have exchange with my former high school). They learn in 3 languages, while having history lessons they only learn in native language when they have the history of their own nation one. And what? It works perfectly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tritone Senior Member United States reflectionsinpo Joined 6120 days ago 246 posts - 385 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, French | Message 6 of 16 24 August 2011 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Drop french!
One of the major things that developed Europe, and brought education/literacy to the masses was the start of scholarship in the vernacular languages instead of Latin. Haiti should follow suite. Creole is already a standardized language, so it shouldn't be hard to switch over, and they can study french (or some other language - doesn't have to be french!), just as a foreign language. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4859 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 7 of 16 24 August 2011 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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On the other hand, how is it that in very prestigious schools the subjects are taught in foreign languages (mostly English)?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6011 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 8 of 16 24 August 2011 at 8:57pm | IP Logged | ||
...because they can afford fluent speakers, even native speakers, as teachers, perhaps? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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