Purangi wrote:You know that feeling, right? When you get to a point where you finally start enjoying not only the process of learning the language, but actual things in the target language. This is an amazing feeling. If scientists could find a way to capture it and sell it as a narcotic, I would surely become addicted overnight (as many others on this forum would, I think).
As someone who used to cycle a lot, I can only compare it to the pure joy and relief you feel when you finally approach the end of a long climb: slowly but surely, the gradient starts to diminish, you can feel your bike coming into a horizontal position, and you reach that high plateau you’ve been looking at for so long. I am starting to feel this in Spanish. I will take quite a few more weeks before I get there, but I already know I will, and it’s great. Just a few more thousands repetitions to go!
I envy you being able to experience that high while studying more than one language. As soon as I try to study two modern languages at the same time, I lose my automaticity in both languages. As soon as I choose one language and purposely isolate myself from the other language for about a week, I gain automaticity in the one I choose to keep.
I think the brain handles just native and "other" much easier than juggling three or more languages. Maybe if I was just patient and kept trying to juggle 3, eventually I would make the breakthrough of being able to juggle in general. But that high is addictive. It is possible to have the high quickly in just one language. Yup, addiction. I get it.
Just in case you do not know, Amazon unlimited is offering a 3 month subscription for 99 cents. There are several Haitian Creole books available. Teach Yourself Haitian Creole comes with a link to audio files that you can download for free.
Decidida wrote:I envy you being able to experience that high while studying more than one language. As soon as I try to study two modern languages at the same time, I lose my automaticity in both languages. As soon as I choose one language and purposely isolate myself from the other language for about a week, I gain automaticity in the one I choose to keep.
I'm glad you enjoy my log and i hope you can find it useful. I absolutely can relate to a previous post of yours in which you talk about "learning fatigue". But I think much has to do with my linguistic background. Learning Haitian Creole and Spanish for a native French speaker is a different experience than for a native English speaker. That might explain why I can "juggle" with both languages without feeling overwhelmed or tired.
But at the end of the day, I totally concur with people arguing for focusing on solely one language at a time, especially if you want to maximize efficiency and results -- at least from a theoretical point of view. From a personal point of view, "juggling" between two languages is precisely what keeps me from feeling bored, thus increasing efficiency (in the long term). At least that's what I am telling myself.
Over the past few days or so (after the New Year vacations), my average daily study schedule looks something like this:
Spanish - 1:30-2:00 (FSI, Radio Ambulante, reading the news, Democracy Now) Haitian Creole - around 0:45 (Atravè Labib, DLI) Others (Papiamentu, Korean, depending on the day) - around 20 min.
I exclude TV and music in foreign languages, as well as Mandarin and English, as they are part of my daily work.
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In Haitian Creole this week:
While surfing on Lavwadlamerik, I came across an interesting fellow: Kenneth H. Merten, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. He also served as the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti from 2009 to 2012. He is reportedly fluent in French and (as can be seen in the video below) in Haitian Creole.
His mastery of HC is really remarkable, although I do feel he is relying a bit too much on French grammar sometimes (in some way, that might bring him even closer to educated HC speakers he might come in contact with in diplomatic circles...). You can find a couple of his interviews in HC on YouTube. Beyond his spoken skills, what amazed me is his confidence. To my knowledge, only a handful of U.S. or Canadian officials would take the risk to speak a foreign language live on TV and radio. If they do, they might confine themselves to small talk, but you need to be pretty confident in your vocabulary to give interviews on serious topics as he does. One can only imagine the consequences that could result from a slip of tongue. I know that Kerry and Romney speak good French, and that Rice has a good basis in Russian, but I don't recall them giving formal interviews in those languages (?). Of course, there are many native foreign speakers such as Canadian Freeland, who is perfectly fluent in Ukrainian.
I am slowly but surely progressing into Atravè Labib. I finished the first 9 shows. I usually skip the introductory prayer and go straight for the content, which means about 25 min of pure HC content on average per podcast. I haven't done much - about 4 hours or so in total of reading-listening - but do feel it’s useful, although there is more and more repetition. I get a very similar feeling as to when I was reading-listening 1984 in Spanish, especially when it comes to my word and sound recognition, which is much better than before. Going forward, I hope to find a more action-packed part of the Bible to continue learning, to avoid material fatigue from setting in.
Same thing for the HC DLI course: slow but steady progress. As I wrote before, I don’t actually use the tapes. I make sure I understand 100% of the vocabulary and grammar points, I read aloud the dialogues and then I move on. There is much review from previous materials at this point, although some expressions introduced are new to me. What I love most are the cultural notes, which appear to be very well informed. I wish to discuss two of them specifically here.
First, the class and social stereotypes associated with both French - the prestige language - and HC - the people's language - in Haiti. DLI basically says: When asking for information to someone on the street, it is wiser to start with French and then switch to HC if your interlocutor doesn’t speak French. Otherwise, if your interlocutor speaks French, but you persist in conversing in HC, he might take offense. I have never been to Haiti so I cannot comment on this. But I did encounter something like that among Haitian people in Montreal. Some hold a negative attitude toward HC, and would be reticent to use HC with non-Haitians.
I remembering reading similar comments from Spanish learners here on the forum. And I myself experienced much difficulty when trying to learn Tatar about 10 years ago. Almost every time I approached a native Tatar speaker, there would be a moment of hesitation, and as soon as they confirmed I was not Tatar, they plainly refused to talk to me, immediately switching to Russian. There are many reasons that could explain their attitude (one of them being that my level in Tatar was probably that of a toddler at best). But it discouraged me from pursuing my studies. I don't think this is much of a problem in Haiti itself. From what I get, most HC speakers in Haiti are very open to foreigners speaking their language, but stereotypes are unavoidable.
Another question, perhaps more sensitive, is the use of the word nèg. Now, the word literally means guy and his used as such in HC, without implying any skin color differentiation. Of course, we live in a complex society and some people may not have the same opinion as to what connotations this word imply. DLI basically says: Foreigners should best avoid to use this word (perhaps substituting it for yon moun instead?). A related word is blan, which again may or may not have racial connotations depending on the context, but is mostly taken to qualify any foreign person or thing.
I will need to further investigate these two questions in the future. Those with real life experiences about those two topics are welcome to share them!
I am following the Facebook page of Le Nouvelliste, Haiti's oldest newspaper. While the newspaper it self is in French, their cartoons are in Haitian Creole. I find them an entertaining way to approach the language. Some of them are self-explanatory, if one is acquainted with the general political events on the island.
"What direction should we give to the country in 2019?"
"It is not my fault, my friend. It is the weight that is too heavy for me."
"Director, did you believe it when you said the country did not have a fuel problem?" "Correction, my dear friend! I said I did not have a fuel problem."
Although it get the irony, I must admit that the joke often escapes me. But judging from Facebook comments, these are absolutely hilarious.
I also found two video podcasts in HC worth considering for more advanced learners. It is called Sa Se Biznis Pam (That is my business) and consists in interviews with Haitian business leaders. I have only listened to bits and their Creole sounds clear and the topics are interesting.
Another TV show is Haiti Sa Kap Kwit (What's cooking), another interview show with guests from a wide range of backgrounds.
Finally, I have started reading some pages in Sezon sechres Ayiti, an Haitian Creole novel about life in Haiti’s countryside. The book is available on Potomitan. The prose is hard — much harder than academic or news texts I tackled before. But the good news is it comes with a Haitian Creole-English glossary, so I really have no excuse not to finish it.
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In other news, I am fast approaching the last few FSI lessons in Spanish (I use the Platiquemos version, and I will write a detailed review as soon as I am done with it.) and I have been considering what to do next. I am not sure if I should continue with my two-track approach - about 50% of my time spent on audio drills and didactic materials, 50% on native materials, or go all-in in a Spanish-only environment, basically immersing myself in podcasts, articles, youtubers and books.
After reading some discussions on this forum, including on the limits of comprehensive input, I believe my approach is probably the best for the time being. I am aware that speech will not emerge naturally just from CI. As one of my goals in Spanish is definitely to be able to speak the language, focusing too much on CI now would be counterproductive. I need to force myself to speak (and by that, I mean talking to myself while walking to work), especially given the fact that I have zero opportunity to speak Spanish in Beijing. So I need to find a new, audio-focused Latin American Spanish resource going forward. I am considering Cortina Spanish, FSI Headstart for Latin America, or some other product from the DLI-FSI galaxy, as I am more than happy with their materials. Recommendations are welcome!
I also started listening to Conclusiones, a CNN Spanish podcast about Latin American politics. I am surprised by how much I can understand, although my comprehension varies depending on the guests. This is one of the CI resources I plan to use going forward.
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As we are approaching Chinese New Year and the Year of the Pig, pigs have taken over the city. They are literally everywhere to be seen. I will use my 春节 vacations to visit a couple of new countries in the coming weeks, namely Indonesia and Singapore. None of them are interesting to me from a linguistic point of view, although I was tempted to learn a bit of Hokkien just for fun, espcially after cming across what looks like an excellent resource posted by Seiko. That was before reading about tone sandhi and remembering just how difficult it is to have a conversation in a language other than English as a tourist.
I might get to go to Korea for personal reasons in the next couple months as well, and so I wish to at least be able to show some progress in Korean - even marginally - to my family in law. For this purpose, I purchased Real Life Korean Conversations for Beginners from TTMIK. A short term goal for Korean would to complete the book - nothing more, nothing less. I figure if I can learn to understand and (optimistically) say these 20 shorts dialogues, I will have made a huge step since my last time in Seoul. I have also started reading a few lessons on How to Study Korean. I love the way the author presents grammar - in a systemic, step-by-step approach. Much of what I didn’t understand became clear after just a few chapters.
In other news, Kim Jong Un was in Beijing. He stayed in Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, which basically means we were neighbors for a couple days - another reason for showing some progress in Korean is that I might bump into the Dear Leader in 西城. Just kidding.
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I had some free time this weekend and so I took a number of vocabulary tests on ITRTD (receptive vocabulary!). Results are below. Two things: I am surprised that I can remember so much in Russian, a language I have basically neglected after 2011. I am also a bit disappointed by my result in Spanish, especially because I lost more points than I expected in the 2000th-3000th word category. Anyway, I will use it as a reference to track my progress going forward.
- 100% in English - 98% in Mandarin - 98% in Russian - 85% in Spanish
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As some of you might have noticed, I took the liberty to change my log’s name. I didn’t feel the name actually reflected the content anymore, as I talk more about Mandarin and lately Korean than Papiamentu. The new name should be more accurate!
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To finish, as per tradition, as Kreyòl song entitled Panama mwen tombe (My Panama hat has fallen), by Lakou Mizik (kudos to iguanamon for having introduced me to the group!). A short, simple song but with a much deeper meaning. Let me quote from the blog Eritaj Kreol :
"Panama mwen tonbe" is an Haitian folk song which talked about the death of ex-Haitian President Florvil Hyppolite on March 24, 1896. Florvil Hyppolite mounted his horse leaving Les Cayes, and was heading to Lavallee, experienced intense fear when his hat flew off his head and hit the ground with a soft plump on a perfectly still day. He knew then the he was doomed to die. As every Haitian know when one's hat flew off one's head and hit the ground on a perfectly still day is sign of bad omen. As in death is near, circling above, preying on a soul. The President sighed, blatantly ignored the bad omen. He mounted his horse and left Jacmel. On his way to Jacmel, Hypolite suffered a heart attack, fell off his horse, and died on impact.
Hence the lyrics:
Panama mwen tonbe My Panama has fallen Sa-ki-deye, ranmase li pou mwen Whoever is behind, pick it up for me
Reading your posts takes me back to when I was learning HC. You are following a similar path to the one I took and as Yogi Berra said "Its like déjà vu all over again" for me! At least some of the audio on the DLI HC Basic Course is usable, but HC is an easy language to pronounce and once you learn how to pronounce it, the audio isn't all that necessary. Still, when it was listenable, I listened.
Purangi wrote:First, the class and social stereotypes associated with both French - the prestige language - and HC - the people's language - in Haiti. DLI basically says: When asking for information to someone on the street, it is wiser to start with French and then switch to HC if your interlocutor doesn’t speak French. Otherwise, if your interlocutor speaks French, but you persist in conversing in HC, he might take offense. I have never been to Haiti so I cannot comment on this. But I did encounter something like that among Haitian people in Montreal. Some hold a negative attitude toward HC, and would be reticent to use HC with non-Haitians.
Since colonial times Kreyòl has been denigrated and described as "bad French" and "not a real language" even amongst native-speakers. There is all kinds of baggage that comes along with this for French-speakers, I'm sure. I met a Haitian online on a whatsapp group and we talked for a few weeks. When I first started chatting with her she was intrigued that I, as a "blan", had learned HC. She asked me what other languages I knew besides English and HC and I told her. She was shocked that I did not and could not speak French! It's funny that one of my good friends is a teacher of French and another one is French. Whenever I hear the two French-speakers chat, I can pick up quite a lot listening but I have to concentrate.
Here, and in Puerto Rico and on the mainland US, I've never had a Haitian not respond to me in HC. Their general reaction to me speaking HC is almost always one of surprise at first, followed by smiles. The annoying thing for me is when I'm on the train from the Miami airport, I can't tune out and have to listen to the train announcements at every stop in English, Spanish and HC.... aaaargh! Multilingualism does have a downside!
Purangi wrote:Another question, perhaps more sensitive, is the use of the word nèg. Now, the word literally means guy and his used as such in HC, without implying any skin color differentiation. Of course, we live in a complex society and some people may not have the same opinion as to what connotations this word imply. DLI basically says: Foreigners should best avoid to use this word (perhaps substituting it for yon moun instead?). A related word is blan, which again may or may not have racial connotations depending on the context, but is mostly taken to qualify any foreign person or thing. I will need to further investigate these two questions in the future. Those with real life experiences about those two topics are welcome to share them!
I've heard Haitians describe any non-Haitian as a "blan" even other blacks, so skin color isn't critical in this consideration. Using "nèg" to mean a "guy" is a normal part of the language and no Haitian I've talked to thinks it racist. Still, having been sensitized to racial issues as a Caucasian American from the Upper South and now living as a minority in the Caribbean, the word comes out of my mouth somewhat reluctantly. I have been called a "nèg" by Haitians and there's no racial connotation to it at all. My advice is to take your cue from your speaking partner always taking into account the baggage that comes along with our ethnicity.
Ambassador Merten's Kreyòl is quite good but it is indeed heavily influenced by French. You're right, his confidence in speaking makes up for a lot of sins. I think he illustrates well that confidence in speaking is an important part of language-learning and is often overlooked here and seen as less important in the process. I think it is at least as important as vocabulary and grammar acquisition.
As to the Bible in HC, I enjoyed the stories of Joseph in Genesis and Moses in Exodus. Right now I'm reading about King David in 2 Samyèl and it's a good narrative. Sezon Sechrès is a good read and I benefited a lot from the glossary too.
Thanks for the facebook cartoons! I don't do facebook myself. I know I'm probably cutting myself off from a good tool, but I have issues with facebook.
Haitians tend to date events by who was president of Haiti at the time the event occured. Very few of them have completed their terms and left office in an orderly transfer of power. I'm reading a book in Kreyòl translation about Papa Dòk Divalye (Duvalier) right now. I think a knowledge of Haitian history and familiarity with vodou go hand in hand with learning HC. When you're ready, the parallel text vodou interviews with Hebblethwaite are a gold mine.
As to Spanish, instead of a next course, you should probably think about conversing in Spanish (using that Ambassador Merten confidence!) either through chat, free language-exchange or even a paid tutor. There are two online schools in Guatemala that charge $10 US an hour for conversation classes (not italki)- PLQE.org is one. Even an hour a week will do wonders for your Spanish. I know there is a small Spanish-speaking community in Beijing, if you search you mind find a meet-up.
It's great to see you making such rapid progress with HC! I always thought that a native French-speaker would have a much easier time than I did with the language, keep up the good work! Bòn chans, zanmi'm !
Thank you for the input, iguanamon! When it comes to this kind of sociolinguistic questions, it's one thing to read from books, but nothing beats personal experience.
Thank you for sharing this link, Decidida! I watched the clip in question as well as some of the others. DeGraff basically confirms what has been said in previous posts. The other clips mostly focus on "The fallacy of Creole Exceptionalism", which is related to the article I quoted before.
One thing leading to another, I found a very interesting interview given by DeGraff and Gourdet on Kalfou, a Haitian Creole show available on YouTube. I highly recommend this interview to anyone interested in HC - DeGraff and Gourdet are very articulate speakers and put their point across eloquently and intelligently.
DeGraff and Gourdet address a number of interesting questions not only from a linguistic point of view, but also very down-to-earth issues, such as how can raising Haitian Creole's status in Haiti can help develop the economy and bring some money into Haiti. I was surprised to learn, among other things, that Haitian Creole is not an official language of CARICOM (!). DeGraff refers to this struggle many times a the new “Batay Vètyè”, i.e. an existential issue for Haiti's future.
The show also allowed me to discover Frantz Gourdet, a France-based professor. He mostly talked about his Association LEVE, an awesome initiative that seeks to translate world literature into Haitian Creole. They have already translated books such as Camus' The Stranger and Dany Laferriere's L'odeur du café. You can purchase the books on the website. They also train HC translators to increase the body of literature translated into HC . Le Nouvelliste carried a story about him and Yon nonm apa.
(The bitter irony is that most of their website is in French.)
The show on which they appeared is called Kalfou, with host Kompè Filo, on Tele Ginen. I have watched two other full episodes and I think it is quite good. Unlike some other HC shows, the host gives a lot of room to the guests, sound quality is good and clear, and -most importantly- guests don't talk over each other. It doesn't have that many views on YouTube, especially compared to other HC channels, but the content is definitely very informative.
A few notes to myself:
- DeGraff uses the expression vin maton, which means to become good at, proficient in something. - I cannot help but chuckle every time I hear someone use pa fouti in a serious discussion. The very same expression is used in French, but has a very rude/vulgar connotation - not something you could imagine a MIT professor use live on TV.
In other HC news, I did an exercise I never did before for of my other languages: I took a random Haitian Creole clip on the web and tried to transcribe it with 100% accuracy. I chose an easy one to start: an official speech by Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. As I expected, it went mostly well - except for about 5-10% of the content -- the small part that makes all the difference. It took me some 5-6 times to produce the draft included below, and even now, there are some parts (in bold) that I am still not certain. (I have included the transcribed text to discuss some of the parts I didn't understand, but please do not use it as a reference, as there is probably a ton of typos.)
Pèp ayitien, frè-m ak sè-m yo, jodi-a fè 9 lane depi yon gwo tranbleman detè te pase nan peyi a. Sa te simen anpil dèy ak dezolasyon. Nou te pèdi pitit, manman, papa, sè, frè, tonton, matant, kouzen, kouzin ak zanmi.
Ayiti te fè anpil defisi ekonomik ak social. Nou pa janm obliye jou sa a. Nou pa janm obliye moun sa yo ki te chè pou nou anpil, men ki te pati twò vit, ki te pati nan move kondisyon.
12 janvye 2010, se te yon gwo frap nou te prenn nan men lanati. Pesòn pa te epanye, anyen pa te epanye. Palè Nasyonal la, ki se yonn pi gwo senbòl leta, tombe. Palman, Palè Jistis, anpil gwo batiman piblik ak prive efondre.
Nou te mete men ansamb. Nou te fè yon gwo chenn solidarite ki te soude nou yonn ak lòt. Se sa ki te pemet nou kanpe djamn nan moman kote nou pa gen anpil lespwa. Nan okazion sa a, mwen gen yon pense ak yon mo espesyal pou chak ayisien, chak ayisièn ki jou sa a te bliye tèt yo, pou rete pense ak yon lòt. Gen anpil nan nou ki la jodi a, se paske yon fanmi, yon kamarad, yon vwazen, yon kolèg, yon etranje te kanpe rentre anba dekonb aloske tè a te kontinye ap souke pou fouye, pafwa ak men-l, riske lavil, pou sove lavi pa-n.
Nou ap pwofite moman sa a pou n salye zanmi-nou nan kominote entènasyonal la, ki te fe gwo jefò solidarite ak nou. 12 janvye 2010, nou te montre lemonn antye nou se yon gwo pèp. 12 janvye 2010, deviz nou, l'union fait la force, te pli gwo repons nous te kap bay lanati.
Pandan mwen mem ak tout lòt ofisyèl leta yo ak koube nou byen ba devan memwa moun ki mori yo, pendan nou ap salye moun ki andikape yo ak tout famni sa yo ki nan dèy. Pi bo jèst nou kap fè pou selebre lavi yo, se korige fason nou konstwi, fason nou trete espas n'ap viv yo, fason nou jere moun tout kote nan peyi.
Nan mwa oktobre ki sot pase la, yon tranbleman detè te frape department nò, nò lwès ak Latibonit. Se te yon rapel pou fè nou sonje, pou nou pa janm obliye nou ap viv nan yon peyi ki ekspoze ak tout kalite malè.
Nou ap kontinye renfoce strikti repons ki eksiste yo, prepare bon jan pla jesyon risk ak dezas epi mete en plas destrikti kote ki pa genyen. Jodi 12 janvye 2019 sa, se moman pou nou salye tout moun ki mori, pou gen yon pense espesyal pou sa ki te blese, sa ki te janm retabli nan lespri yo, ak moun ki te andikape yo.
Mwen ap invite tout moun, tout ayisien, ayisièn, patriot, sitwayen, sitwayèn angaje, pou nou mete men pour konstwi Ayiti ansanm, Ayiti nou reve a.
Viv solidarite yonn ak lòt, viv yon Ayiti miyo, pou tout ayisien ak ayisièn, viv pèp ayisyen, viv Ayiti.
Here are some of the parts that still puzzle me:
- nou kanpe djanm -- this expressions apparently means to stand firm/strong/steadfast, but it is spelled sometimes dyanm, djan'm - tout kalite malè -- All kinds of misfortunes? I am not sure that's what he said, I guessed from context. -mete anplas de strikti -- It should be just strikti or mete strikti anplasi, not sure why he added "'de" (interference from French des?). - Ayiti nou reve a -- the Haiti we dream of? Not sure that's what he said, I guessed from context. - viv yon Ayiti miyo -- A better Haiti? It makes sense from the context, but I am not sure why he didn't use Ayiti pi bon.
Like I said, this is not something I usually do when learning languages, but I found the exercise very useful. Most likely, if I had just listened to his speech with an "intensive-listening approach", my brain would probably have just skipped over these parts, without really impacting my overall comprehension. Approaching a text or a clip with a "slow-learning approach" - with the aim of grasping 100 percent of what is being said, is an entirely different experience. I do believe it will pay off to take the time to stop and reflect on these "bumps on the road", especially for a language like Haitian Creole where a single adverb particle can change the whole meaning of a sentence.
Interesting bilingual texts are not easy to find in Haitian Creole, that’s why I was so happy to see that AyiboPost had published the translation of a recent New York Times editorial by Jake Johnston about Haiti and the Petrocaribe corruption scandal.
I don't know who is the author of the translation, but it looks pretty accurate, enough to make a parallel text. Here are some of the interesting expressions I found:
pran jarèt = has been growing je l mare = blindfolded bay la bourad = promoting ateri nan lari = hit the streets bay yon pinga ak = has been a remarkable challenge to te pran beton = hit the pavement fè kòripsyon layite kò l plis nan peyi a = perpetuate the corruption (in the country) yon sistèm ki chita sou ti pas kout = a highly efficient patronage system te gen 3 jou deblozay = three days of riots a riske pa kenbe = is currently under threat bat bravo = welcomed fè Ayisyen yo rekwè nan li = re-establish some trust with the Haitian people
In other news, Haiti's National Education Ministry announced its decision to make Haitian Creole a mandatory requirement for all high school students. See for yourself:
Although I saw it as a good news, many comments posted in HC on Facebook were skeptical about the new measure. Indeed, many pointed out the irony that both the header and footer of the official announcement put out by the Ministry were in French, not in HC.
Ta sanble yo gen yon problém ak kreyôl la menm, gade antét sikilé a nap konprann sa mwen vle di a. Si yon elév fé yon egzamen moso kreyôl moso franse Mwen ta swete nou bay pwen pou sa.
which translates roughly as
It seems [the Ministry of Education] has a problem with Creole. Take a look at the header and footer of the announcement to understand what I mean. If a student writes his exam half in French half in Creole, I hope they will give him points anyway.
But then - plot twist! - it appears that it was some sort of fake news. HC was actually removed from official high school exams on September 7th, 2018 by the same Ministry due to lack of budget and teachers. Apparently these problems have not been resolved. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! Meanwhile, let's take a look at a few cartoons.
-You're always poking your nose in things that don't concern you.
-Send the Petrocaribe affair to the Trial Court -Assign judges to Lilavwa (Lilavois) and Gran Ravin (Grande Ravine) affairs
-I wonder if it's the Devil who stole Petrocaribe money!? -No, the devil is the one who gives money!
poudi - I wonder if...
I continued with my transcription exercise this week. I picked an extract from the show Kalfou mentioned in last post, with Kompè Filo, Michel Degraff and Frantz Gourdet. Again, I encountered no major problems except for a few words as noted below. Transcription starts at 16:25 and end at 20:18.
KOMPÈ FILO: Eske lefèt ke Ayiti pov pa fè nou neglijans sou lang nan ? Paske ou oblije al aprann Japonè paske Japon se yon peyi ki devlope, ki gen anpil richès, donk yon nèg bezwen Japon oblije konn lang Japonè la, Chinwa menm bagay, Angle la ak menm bagay.
FRANTZ GOURDET: Ou imajine si ou t’ap kontinye, yon moun ki nan Ayiti ta ap oblije aprann tout lang sou latè, donk se pa yon bagay ki posib.
An reyalite, se sa tout peyi fè. Olye, yo ale aprann yon lang lòt moun, ti pati moun nan popilasyon ki kap aprann lang lòt moun wi, men tout rès popilasyon, olye yo ale aprann lang lòt moun, yo apiye sou yo sou travay pasè de lang, sou travay tradiksyon, ou bien filiè patisipe sou… e itilize tradiksyon lòt moun. Pa egzanp, en 2014, ou te gen Almay, ki tout kote, nan tout anbasad li te afiche : nou rive depase 10,000 liv etranje ke nou te tradwi en Alman. 2 zan apre, 3 zan apre, nan soti literè 2017 la pa egzanp, Franse te atenn 12,447 liv, nan memwa m konsa, e yo te byen kontan di, nou tradwi liv ki sot tout kote an Franse.
Donk, just, ou pa gen tan pou aprann lang tout moun, men ou gen tan pou tradwi tout sa te soti lòt kote la lang pa-l pou moun la kap ouvri sou la konèsans.
Donk, konsa, Kreyòl la se pa anfèmen li ye, se ouvèti li ye, menm jan tout lang. Ke se swa pour chak lang sou latè, chak lang se yon anfèmen, men yon lang tankou Angle, si ou prann Angle, ou Globale, ke tout moun pale kounye-a, men si ou te unikman pale sou tè Ameriken yo te okupe ke sak di an Angle, ou pa kap konnen anpil bagay, ou pa kap konnen tout pri Nobel sa ke genyen nan, sak fon tout pri Nobel sa a. Se ke Ameriken yo menm avèk lang pa yo, ki deja devlope, li tradwi yon pake de liv, yo kap tradwi tout sa ki veni nan tout domèn lang Angle pa li a. E se sa nou ap eseye fè, nou amose avèk pwojè fòmasyon LEVE a.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Frantz, kesyon di de ouvèti sous lemond, mwen se rapele m de peyi Fenlann, paske mwen te ale konferans an Fenlann, e sa te frape m pou mwen ke, en Fenlann, tout timoun yo jwenn materyèl en Fenlanndè. Se te yon konferans lingwistik te yon sesyon sou egzakteman tradiksyon, e nan sesyon sa a, yo t’ap pale de jan li enpòtan pou Fenlanndè yo tradwi zèv ki soti toupatou an Fenlanndè. E te gen yon konferansye yo, ki t’ap prezane travay li sou Edwidge Danticat, donk imajine w, nan Fenlann, gen a pe prè 4 milyon moun konsa, donk bokou mwens ke Ayiti, et an Fenlann yo ap tradwi Edwidge Danticat en Fenlanndè alosk pi fò Ayisyen pa jwenn travay Danticat an Kreyòl.
Donk Lafenlann, apati de lang nasyonal yo, yo fè ouvèti ??? sou Ayiti, gras a Fenlanndè. E an plis, sa ou wè an Fenlann, ti moun yo, sou baz lang manman yo, yo aprann Syèdwa, yo aprann Alman, yo aprann Angle, anpil ladan yo biling, miltiling, donk lide ke Kreyòl la pral fèmen nou dan yon geto lingwistik, lide sa a pa gen okenn baz sientifik.
pasè de lang = passeur de langue? lit. lingusitic smuggler/ferryman filiè patisipe = filière / sector / industry sou tè Ameriken = sur les terres américaines? On American lands? fè ouvèti ??? sou = ?
In other news, I continued working with HC FSI. Today's lesson included a very interesting cultural note about bargaining, explaining that a potential customer should go through vrè pri (the real price), jus pri (the just price), then ask for the dènye pri (the last price) before settling on the pri pa'm (special price).
I have also been reading through J'apprends le Creole Haitien, by Damoiseau and Gesner, a HC textbook for French speakers. The book focuses on reading and has the advantage of introducing large number of words useful for daily life. It also takes time to contrast French grammar with HC grammar. For example, I just learned today that seafood in HC is bètlanmè, lit. bêtes de la mer/beasts from the sea.
At one episode per day, I am currently at episodes 20 in Atravè Labib, meaning about 9-10 hours of exposure in total. At this point, I still believe the process is useful. Until now, I basically read while listening to the recording. This is perhaps not the most effective approach, but it definitely helped with me getting used to the phonetic spelling. Today and yesterday, I only listened to the recording, pausing and looking to the transcript only when I failed to understand. Overall it went well, and I had to pause only 4-5 times in 28 minutes. Each time, I knew the meaning as soon as I saw the written words. I will continue focusing on listening only for another 20 or so episodes before reviewing my approach.
(I was raised a Catholic and I never went to Bible school nor did I even know there was such a thing as Bible classes until I started meeting friends from South/Midwest U.S. a few years ago. They talked a lot about Bible school and I couldn’t really relate to their experience until now -- it's interesting how I had to go through Haitian Creole to get a deeper insight into American culture...)
While I was down the rabbit hole on YouTube, I made an unexpected discovery: tons - and I really mean tons of fiction content in Haitian Creole. I am talking about hundreds of entire movies and TV series, hours and hours of native content in HC produced in Haiti, Miami, New York and Montreal.
There only two downsides: sound quality is (more often than not) mediocre. Background noise makes it almost impossible to use the content as material at my level. Secondly, HC subtitles are non existent, but some clips have English/French subtitles, which can be useful. Here is my selection below. I tried to pick shows/movies with subtitles or with usable audio quality.
My first contact with this content was also a wake-up call: my understanding of fast-paced spoken HC remains much lower than I thought it was. Many characters speak way, way too fast for me. I think the fact that I exposed myself to mostly written media - such as news and academic texts - with occasional news, talk shows, and podcasts - gave me a distorted view of my own level. I really need to work on understanding just normal everyday conversations, and that means exposing myself to more native content. I need to adapt my strategy to address this issue.
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In Spanish, I finished FSI Platiquemos. Overall, I found it much more useful and comprehensive than Assimil Spanish. I loves how the content was organized in a systematic approach. The fact that units are focused on one or two precise grammatical points makes it easy to review and really work on a point until it is fully mastered. Units are not in order of difficulty, meaning things that might trip up learners such as (present and past) subjunctive are introduced in the middle of the course, not at the end, giving enough time to review and drill the material before finishing the course. More often than not, a very complex unit will be followed by easier material in the next one. In fact, the last unit was a complete breeze. About the dated content, I didn’t find anything that was overly out of date. Some things may be missing such as email, computers, etc., but that is to be excepted.
In other news, I finished reading Homenaje a Cataluña. Despite the military and political vocabulary, it went well and fairly fast. I already started a new book, with a goal of reading ten Spanish language books before summer. Already four down, so it should not be too hard.
I started to expose myself to Spanish YouTubers. I proceed in “two rounds” - first I watch an episode with subtitles on, making sure I understand 100% of what is being said. I then wait a few days and rewatch, this time without subtitles, making sure my understanding remains if not perfect than quite high. I find both Luisito Comunica and Alan x el Mundo quite easy to understand, perhaps too easy... I suspect that are slowing down and adapting their Spanish to their international audience and refraining from using overly Mexican expressions, except for the occasional ¡ay güey!
I found a good Univision podcast called Epicentro. The host León Krauze is alone and talks about recent political events in the U.S. His speech is crystal clear and talks about complicated issues using simple words. Podcasts come in a short 20-minute format, making it a perfect content for daily consumption. Highly recommended!
I have been ready much news about Venezuela through Runrunes (a blog run by journalist Nelson Bocaranda) and La Hojilla (a lunatic pro-Maduro television program).
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Let’s end this unnecessary long post with a Haitian pop song, as per tradition: Lanmou se lanmou by Boston-based Rebecca Noelle Zama.
Lanmou se lanmou men tout lanmou pa menm Love is love, but not all love [stories] are the same Mwen resi jwenn yon lanmou ki vle monte avè m I succeeded in finding love that wants to go up with me San diskriminasyon, ou ban mwen lanmou ki satisfè m Without discrimination, you give me love that satisfies me Lanmou konplè san manke anyen Complete love, with nothing missing
