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Kreyòl Ayisyen (Haitian Creole) | ||
Tags: Haitian Creole | Creole | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ewomahony Diglot Groupie England Joined 5667 days ago 91 posts - 115 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian, French, Afrikaans | Message 1 of 13 02 June 2010 at 2:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Haitian Creole is perhaps one of the most intreguing languages of the world.
It is the spoken by an estimated 7-12 million people around the world. The majority of its speakers are from the ex-French colony and first black republic of the world, Haiti. Although Haitian Creole is the most spoken language of Haiti, it is seen as the language of the poor, and unfortunately is not seen to be as sophisticated as French. This has resulted in a split in the language of the Haitians, with the upper classes tending to speak French, whilst the less well off prefer to speak Haitian Creole. Fortunately, Haitian Creole has now gained official status in Haiti, and the language is undergoing a resurgence in the country, with more Haitian Creole literature being written now than ever before. The language came to be as a mixpot of the languages of the slaveowners of Haiti (French, Spanish) and their slaves (Western African languages) as they sought a means to communicate. Due to the language's origin as a creole, there is a common perception that Haitian Creole is a simplified version of French, or a dialect of French. This could not be further from the truth, as the language's development has distanced itself from French, although retaining some similarities with the language. Examples: Bwe - Boire - To drink Chwal - Chaval - Horse Peyi - Pays - Country Liv - Livre - Book French and Haitian Creole are certainly not mutually intelligiable! Kreyòl ayisyen: Mwen te anndan joupa mwen, m t ap pare kasav mwen; Zéphir vin wè mwen, epi li di m li renmen mwen, e li ta renmen mwen renmen li tou. Mwen di li mwen gen yon mennaj deja e mwen pa kapab genyen de mennaj. Li di mwen li merite lanmou mwen pi plis pase matlòt li. Mwen di li se posib men li poko genyen li. Lè sa a, li di mwen l ap vin pran li, epi san m pa atann li plonje sou mwen… Ou konnen jan nèg sa a gen kouray! Èske ou panse se fòt pa m! Bon Dye nan syèl la temwen, dombo cheri, mwen inosan e mwen se yon mennaj fidèl! French: Moi étais à la case à moi; moi étais après préparer cassave à moi; Zéphir venir trouver moi, li dit que li aimer moi, et qu’il voulait que moi aimer li tout. Moi répondre li que moi déjà aimer mon autre et que moi pas capable d’aimer deux. Li dit moi, que li mériter mieux amour à moi que matelot à li. Moi répondre li, que li capable de mériter li mieux, mais que pas te gagner li encore. Li dit moi que li va gagner li, et tout de suite li faire moi violence…Ah, toi connais comment li fort! Juger si gagner faute à moi! Le ciel témoin, cher dombo, de l’innocence et de fidélité à moi. Personally, this language fascinated me and has captured my attention ever since I learned of it. If there are any Haitian Creole speakers on this forum, I would love to hear more about this beautiful language! I hope that this thread can be used to inspire others to take an interest and attempt to learn this great language like myself. Mèsi! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7188 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 2 of 13 02 June 2010 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
It's worth pointing out that this "French" is also put forward (by its original author) as Haitian Creole. The quote is lifted from Voyage d’un Suisse dans différentes colonies d’Amérique by Justin Girod de Chantran. This is what the author has to say on the matter: Le langage créole de cette colonie n'est autre chose que le français remis en enfance. On y trouve presque toujours l'infinitif du verbe précédé & suivi de pronoms personnels; peu d'adjéctifs et beaucoup d'adverbes, sur-tout de ces adverbes amplificateurs, comme très, trop &c. The letter is dated 1781 from Saint-Domingue - the French colony on Hispaniola which became Haiti. Edited by Andy E on 02 June 2010 at 4:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ewomahony Diglot Groupie England Joined 5667 days ago 91 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian, French, Afrikaans | Message 3 of 13 02 June 2010 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Very true. I would describe it as the Haitian dialect of French at the time.
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| Wise owl chick Senior Member Ecuador Joined 5403 days ago 122 posts - 137 votes Studies: English | Message 4 of 13 02 June 2010 at 4:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
Those are possible to understand I think, especially spoken. I've never heard this creole, unfortunaetly but if you read those words and pronounce them, it;s not such a big difference. The longer texts are little bit orhtographic trick! If you impose the French spelling on those words (I don't mean that it would be better at all, I like the Haitian version), many would be immediately comprehensible but of course not everything. Probably if you take the time for disocver the connections and patterns it would be ok.
I fidn it interesting as well :) I hope also that a native-speaker will write here! Edited by Wise owl chick on 02 June 2010 at 4:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6524 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 5 of 13 02 June 2010 at 4:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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They're really not easy to understand spoken. "Faith comes by hearing" has the New Testament in Haitian creole, and it's quite incomprehensible.
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| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 6007 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 6 of 13 02 June 2010 at 6:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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If you want resources for Haitian Creole, "Ann Pale Kreyol" is a good introduction to the language. It's like a course. If you do some *ahem* searching, you can certainly download it.
My local bookstore has a Haitian Creole dictionary. I've often thought about learning Haitian Creole because many people in my area speak it, but the lack of materials and literature is discouraging. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6524 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 7 of 13 02 June 2010 at 6:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
The lack of materials is an issue. There doesn't strike me as being a lack of literature though: it's small, and most is recent, but it exists - do you have more detailed reasons for saying this? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7229 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 8 of 13 02 June 2010 at 7:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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An earlier thread listed some resources for learning Haitian Creole:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=18825&PN=1&TPN=1#208072 1 person has voted this message useful |
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