Haitian Creole

[Decidida]

Is anyone here studying Haitian Creole?

I think I want to study Haitian Creole as well as Spanish.

Over the next three weeks I will be finishing all my college classes and I am taking the summer off. I know I want to study math and Spanish, and I think I want to study some Creole, too.

I would also like to study Haiti's role as a Latin America country.

Does anyone have any good resources and tips to share? Sorry for such a vague question, but I don't yet know enough to ask more targeted questions.

My library has a subscription to Mango languages and they have creole. I see a ton of stuff on youtube that looks pretty good.

[Speakeasy]

It seems to me that member iguanamon is the forum’s resident expert on studying Haitian Creole. Hopefully, he will read your post and reply. In the meantime, you might wish to read through the following discussion threads which touch either directly, or indirectly, upon the subject.

M ta renmen pale Kreyòl ayisyen – HTLAL – December, 2012
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34741

Haitian Creole – HTLAL – January, 2010
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18825&PN=69

DLI Haitian Course – FSI yojik website
https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/DLI/DLI-Haitian.html

Our own FSI – HTLAL – November, 2013
http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=37293&PN=17

Haitian Creole Plan – LLORG – September, 2016
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3972

Iguana's Tale ... Haitian
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=797

[Decidida]

Thank you! I did a quick search and just was not clicking onto the right threads.

[iguanamon]

I wouldn't say I am an expert, but I did manage to learn the language. Resources are definitely not ideal. There are no dubbed series available online (at least that I know about); no netflix series; no Harry Potter translations; no fantasy or science fiction novels, no metal bands. That being said, there's plenty available for learners from courses to books, music, poetry... and a lot of it is free.

As to Haiti's position in Latin America, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. There are many historical reasons for this having to do with colonialism and racism that continue today. Haiti is an anomaly within Latin America as it's language is not Iberian. Both French and Kreyòl are official in Haiti but less than about 5% or so are estimated to speak French fluently, but all Haitians speak Kreyòl. Despite this the majority of students are educated in French (which even their teachers may have a poor command). Things are changing slowly. Haiti has difficult relationships with the rest of Latin America. The language barrier, poverty and racism play a certain part in this. Haiti has very uneasy relations with its neighbor the DR for the same reasons, and also for historical reasons.

I used DLI Haitian Creole Basic, but the audio is practically un-listenable to actually un-listenable in spots, maybe a third of the audio is not usable at all. I was an experienced learner at the time having already learned both Spanish and Portuguese to high levels. I had access to a native-speaker. I'd already completed DLI Portuguese and liked the course, so I used it despite its handicaps... to my benefit. The DLI Basic Courses are the most thorough courses I have ever used for any language. Still, the HC course may not be for you. Ann Pale Kreyòl (Let's Speak Creole) may be a better fit for you. It is available free and legally in pdf here. The accompanying audio is also available in several places, like here at Duke University.

There is also a short conversational course available free and legally at Kansas University called Ti Koze Kreyòl. This course is best used as a supplement to a more thorough course like DLI or APK. I also used the 30 lesson Pimsleur course, which Pimsleur offered for free during the 2010 earthquake. The Bible, especially Genesis, was and is extremely helpful. KU even has a learner based abridged book with audio called "Chita Pa Bay". KU also has a series of 16 small books of learner intended folktales, called "Ann Bay Lodyans/Let's Tell Tales" that I highly recommend. The Digital Library of the Caribbean, DLOC, has a "vodou archive" with parallel text transcripts of interviews with vodouisans (vodou-ists) which is a fun way to learn more vocabulary, practice reading and learn about the fascinating vodou religion and culture.

My Haitian journey is pretty well documented in my old log at HTLAL that Speakeasy linked to and here as well. HC is a relatively easy to pronounce language. Its spelling is phonetic. Once you learn how to pronounce it you can reproduce it fairly easily from its written form. There are no conjugations of verbs. Verb tenses are made with particles. There is no gender agreement except for a very, very few forms that transferred from French, easily learned. Of course, no language is "easy" to learn and Kreyòl has several ways to trip up a learner. Spelling is inconsistent, especially in older works. Looking up words in a dictionary may require splitting them apart, adding them together, dropping an "l" or substituting an "r" for a "w". You get used to it.

If you can't deal with less than ideal resources and limited access to media, then this isn't the language for you. If you want to broaden your mind and open it to a fascinating culture and history surprisingly intricately intertwined with the US (there's a reason New Orleans is what it is today), then it can be a quite rewarding language. Bòn chans!

[Decidida]

Thank you SOOO much. I have access to a native speaker that is pleased with any little baby babbles I make at him. Less than idea resources are okay. These are great!

I recently did a sociology field project paper on vodou. A student from Haiti helped me with it. All the resources are great including the vodou ones. The revolution is incredibly interesting! I included a little about that in my vodou paper.

There is so much that previously went over my head about discrimination and history. So, it is a pretty big deal when Haitian and Salvadoran groups are uniting over TPS issues, isn't it? I have landed myself into an interesting situation recently that I can tell is much deeper than I can yet comprehend. I feel all this subtle tension when talking to people about things that I am just innocently saying. The discrimination is really deep, isn't it?

My Spanish teacher said she is e-mailing me some stuff.

It is a lot of work to learn one language, never mind two, but ... with what I have learned already ... it doesn't seem like Spanish alone meets my goals anymore. I'd really like to try juggling learning both. The creole grammar fascinates me, when comparing it to Spanish and classical languages.

[Decidida]

Is there a thread or website or something that mentions studying languages with less than ideal resources?

Some of the hack techniques would be good ones?

[Decidida]

My library has Overdrive. There is a 6 video series for kids called Dino Lingo Creole for Kids, the first Pimsleur audio, and a couple ebooks.

[iguanamon]

Is there a thread or website or something that mentions studying languages with less than ideal resources?
Some of the hack techniques would be good ones?

Did you read my link in my last post about less than ideal resources? I wrote about it in a guest post at the main site. Basically, this is where language-learning experience comes in handy. A course is a good place to start for now. A combination of courses, comprehensible native materials and desire plus the ability to figure things out on your own is how you go about it once you have pronunciation and some of the basics down. There are enough courses freely available that I have linked to for you to start to learn the language, though I haven't seen any monolingual beginners on the forum learn two languages simultaneously to a high level yet. Most of these folks end up not learning either language.

[Decidida]

I read and downloaded everything that you linked to. Thank You! I found that post more inspirational than specific. I think I remember I book I read years ago on language learning that might be what i need to find and read.

I am thinking that without all the conjugated verbs, that HC might be easier to learn through flash card and vocabulary memorization than some other languages.

I am very worried about statistics of failure when spreading out to two languages. Very worried. I have all the experiences of others buzzing in my head right now. I have to balance the normal experiences with the knowledge that I am not the norm.

I do know that some people, that are not the norm and not in a normal environment, do learn multiple languages, but the key is that something not the norm is going on. There is a young woman in my Spanish class that knows 5 languages already and is now learning Spanish. We learned the word for bathing suit in Spanish and she did not know the word in English and she was giggling as we explained the English word to her. That was interesting to me.

[iguanamon]

There are several people here who learn multiple languages simultaneously, but most didn't start as monolingual adults learning multiple languages simultaneously. Over the years on the forums, I have seen a lot of people get excited about learning languages, get really into learning one and then decide, before reaching B2 to learn another and... it just doesn't happen.

The benefits of learning at least one language to a high level are many. You learn how to learn on your own, what works best for you, how a language actually functions. All of this makes learning the next language, or languages significantly easier. I couldn't have learned Spanish and HC at the same time. Spanish was the hardest language I ever learned... because... it was my first second language. I'm not saying you can't learn two at the same time. It's just that the odds are against you. Maybe you'll be the exception. Anyway, I wish you luck.

Yeah, I didn't provide specifics on learning a language with less than ideal resources. I'd have to write a book to do that and no one would buy it, besides there's no hard and fast specifics other than making the best of what you have. It's all in my logs. Mainly, get stuck in there with a course or two and just start reading, listening and speaking. The key is to make the best use of what you have instead of being frustrated with what you don't have.