Ann Pale Creole

The main reason we were in the Bronx was not to venture around the city, but to learn Creole, one of the main languages spoken in Haiti along with French.  I did a little research (OK, I read the Wikipedia page) and apparently the word “creole” in and of itself means a language that was created from the joining of two languages through what is called a “pidgin stage”, which essentially means a form of a language that has been simplified grammatically.

We can have a history lesson later on, but right now, all you need to know is that by the end of the 1600s, France had colonized the island and named it Saint-Domingue.  They imported thousands of slaves from Africa.  Initially they were unable to communicate with their masters, but over time, communication improved and the French spoken by the white men mixed with African dialects and eventually became an entirely new language.

Although it is impossible to know everything about a language in three weeks, over the course of the lessons, we did make a lot of progress.  It gave us a great base.  Learning any language is hard work, but I had a slight advantage because I speak French.  A lot of the vocabulary is similar sounding, so I was able to pick it up pretty quickly and I could understand a little bit better when just listening.  The grammar is totally different than French though.

We were being taught by Sr. Vivian.  She was one of the original sisters that went to Haiti to figure out if they should have a presence there, 17 years ago.  She has been there ever since, so she speaks Creole very well.  She was an excellent teacher.  She kept things interesting and included her own stories and cultural lessons within the language lessons.  Below, I’m going to give you just a brief introduction to the language.

Basic Vowel Sounds:

a — sounds like “ahhh”

e — sounds like “ay”

è — sounds like e in “get”

i — sounds like “eeee”

o — sounds like o in “boat”

ò — sounds like ending in “saw”

Diphthongs:

an — sounds like “aunt” if you say it with a British accent

on — sounds like “bon” if you say it in a French accent

ou — sounds like middle of “group”

en — sounds like en in “Kenya”

in — sounds like in beginning of “Minnie”

Pronouns:

mwen/m - I, me, my

ou - you, your

li - he, him, his, she, her, it, its

nou - we, us, our

yo - they, them, their

Greetings/Conversation starters:

Bonjou:  hello

Bonswa:  good afternoon/evening

Bònwit:  goodnight

Ki jan ou ye? - How are you?

Ki jan ou ye jodi a? - How are you today?

M pa pi mal - I’m OK (literal translation = I'm  no worse)

M ap kenbe - I’m OK (literally I’m holding on)

**Haitians do not often say that they are good (M byen) because they believe that they can’t be fine when so many of their fellow countrymen are hungry or suffering.

Ki jan ou rele? - What is your name?

M rele ____ - My name is…

Kisa sa ye? - What is that?

Ki kote sa ye? - Where is that?

Important Verbs:

manje:  to eat

genyen/gen:  to have

ye:  to be

mache:  to walk

kouri:  to run

chita:  to sit

swe:  to sweat

wè:  to see

pale:  to speak

ale:  to go

renmen:  to like

If I kept going, my entire blog would just be vocabulary.  I’ll write a few simple sentences and there’s a picture of a story I wrote that, if you feel so bold, you can try to translate.

 M bezwen kèk manje.  M renmen mango yo.  (I need some food.  I like mangos.)

M te wè yon petit chat nan mache.  Li te ye nwa e blan.  (I saw a small cat in the market.  It was black and white.)

M prale lekol la e m ap louvri pòt la pou klas la.  (I will go to the school and open the door to the classroom.)

M ap soti senkèkaranttwa apre midi.  (I will leave at 5:43pm.)

Even though we had such a good basis in Creole, it has been incredibly overwhelming.  I can pick up several words people say, but the people talk so fast, slur their words and cut a lot of them short, so it can be very difficult to follow.  Yesterday, however, we went to the school for an errand and ending up hanging out with some kids.  I sat with a 5 year-old and she taught me some words and we reviewed some  that I already knew.  It was nice to work with a youngster because they speak a little bit slower and use less complex sentences.  We start Creole lessons again this week with a Haitian teacher and I’m really looking forward to getting more and more comfortable speaking and listening.

We had to write stories in class one day.  Our assignment was to randomly choose 5 words from our flashcards and then put them in a story.  This is my rough draft, so there are a few grammatical mistakes, but for all intents and purposes, it is alright.  

Translation:  My New Dress

Today, Monday, it was market day.  I went to the market with my mother and my younger brother.  We needed to buy some socks for school.  On the road to the market, we saw many things.  My brother found 6 purple flowers.  They were beautiful.  Also, we saw Jack.  He was planting wheat.

At the market, I found the socks.  I got a gray pair and my brother got a green pair.  My mother bought some fruit.  We were almost finished, but I saw a beautiful dress.  It was yellow.  I asked if I could buy it.  She said yes!  I was very happy.  I wore the dress all day.  I was sad when I had to unzip it before I went to bed.