How to Introduce Yourself to Someone

• 1. To tell someone your name in Haitian Creole, say Mwen rele or Non mwen se and then say your name.
• 2. To tell someone where you are from, say Mwen soti or Mwen sot and then say the place you are from.
• 3. To tell someone what you are, say Mwen se yon and then say what your role, job or assignment is.

Example 1

Saying what your name is

Mwen rele Ronel.

My name is Ronel.

Example 2

Saying where you are from

Mwen soti Ayiti.

I am from Haiti.

Example 3

Saying what you do for work

Mwen se yon pwofesè.

I am a teacher.

How to Ask Someone to Introduce Himself

• 1. To ask someone for his name in Haitian Creole, say Kòman ou rele? or Ki jan ou rele?
• 2. To ask someone where he is from, say Ki kote ou soti?
• 3. To ask someone what he does for work, say Ki travay ou fè? or Ki sa ou fè?

When asking where somone is from, you can be more specific by saying ki kote and then say the name of the area you are referring to.

Ki peyi ou soti?

What country are you from?

Ki vil ou soti?

What city are you from?

How to Introduce Someone Else to Others

• 1. To introduce someone else to others, say Li rele and then say the person's name.
• 2. To say where someone else is from, say li soti or li sot and then say where the person is from.
• 3. To say what someone else's job is, say Li se yon and then say the name of the job or profession.

Example 1

Saying what someone else's name is

Li rele Jenny.

Her name is Jenny.

Example 2

Saying where someone else is from

Li sot Canada.

She is from Canada.

Example 3

Saying what someone else does for work

Li se yon enfimyè.

She is a nurse.

Three Golden Rules You Must Know

• 1. Pronounce each sound firmly.
• 2. All letters have one sound.
• 3. Creole has no silent letters.

How to Pronounce Complete Words in Haitian Creole

Because Haitian Creole is strictly phonetic with no silent letters, you can easily pronounce words by using the steps below

How to Pronounce the Basic Creole Vowels

• Pronouncing Creole vowels is simple because you can find similar sounds in some English words.

The illustration below shows how to pronounce basic Creole vowels.

Focus on the green letters, because they will help you to pronounce the vowels correctly.

How to Pronounce Vowels that End with "n"

• A few of these sounds hardly exist in English (highlighted).
• Please watch the video to hear how to pronounce them.

Many Creole vowels end with n.

Try to notice the difference between an, en, in and on.

How to Pronounce Other Vowel Sounds

• Pay close attention to the sounds ay and anm. They are very common in Creole.

How to Say the Basic Colors

• Colors in Haitian Creole are the nearly the same as French. There are only slight differences in spelling and pronunciation.

How to Say the Colors When Speaking

• Always say the color after the object

Consider These Examples

Notice how the color appears after the object

1. Machin wouj — Red car

2. Fèy vèt — Green leaf

3. Syèl ble — Blue sky

How to Say Light and Dark Color Shades

• 1. Say klè for lighter color shades
• 2. Say fonse for lighter color shades
• 3. Say the color shade after the main color

Consider These Examples

Notice how the color appears after the object

1. Fèy vèt klèt — Light green leaf

2. Fèy vèt fonse — Dark green leaf

How to Use the Grave Accent Mark

• You can put the grave accent mark above the Creole letters a, e and o to create different sounds.

When the grave accent mark is placed above those letters, they look like this: à, è, ò.

Continue reading below to see how to pronunce them.

• Focus mainly on the accented letters è and ò.

The accented letter à is very rare.

Furthermore, the accented letter à never appears by itself. It always appears as àn in Creole text. (See the first example below)

How to Type Haitian Creole Marks on a Touchscreen

• Long-press the letters a, e or o, and then choose the one with the grave accent.

Note: Long-pressing the letters a, e or o also works for Mac computers.

If you're using a Windows PC, go to the taskbar settings and then enable the touchscreen Keyboard.

This allows you to choose the grave accent after long-pressing e or o.

How to Type Haitian Creole Marks on a Keyboard

• Press and hold Alt and then type the numbers (see image below).

If you have a laptop, you may have to press and hold FN and Alt at the same time, and then type the numbers.

Key Features of the Haitian Creole Alphabet

• The letters c and u never appear by themselves

1. You will always see the letter c next to h, in the form of ch.

Examples

Chalè (Heat), Chante (Sing), Chita (Sit Down)

2. You will always see the letter u next to o or i, in the form ou, oun or ui.

Examples

Out (August), Moun (People), Uit (Eight)

• The letters q and x don't exist at all in Creole.

1. Creole uses the consonant blend kw instead of q.

Examples

Kwè (To trust), Kwochi (Crooked), Kwonik (Chronic)

2. Creole uses the consonant blend ks instead of x

Examples

Tèks (Text), Klowòks (Bleach), Eksepte (Except)

3 Reasons Why Haitian Creole is Easy to Learn

1. It is easy to pronounce words. Haitian Creole is strictly phonetic. In other words, all words are spelled exactly as they sound and sound exactly as they are spelled.

For example, in English, the word live can sound differently depending if you are talking about a broadcasted event or about someone's residence. You won't have to worry about that in Creole, because the pronunciation is consistent.

2. Verbs are easy to work with. There is very little verb conjugation in Haitian Creole. For instance, the verb se or to be remains the same regardless of who you are referring to. (See examples below)

• Consider these examples
• Mwen se → I am
• Ou se → You are
• Li se → He/She is
• Nou se → We are
• Yo se → They are

3. No need to worry if a word is masculine or feminine. Like English, objects generally don't have a gender in Creole. In some languages, each object has a gender. For example, in French and Spanish, the word "apple" is considered to be a feminine object (French: La pomme, Spanish: La manzana). This is not the case in Haitian Creole, an apple is simply an apple.

When Christopher Columbus finally discovered the island of Hispaniola in 1492 after an exhausting voyage, he certainly did not see the indigenous people of the land speaking Haitian Creole nor did he see any Haitians for that matter. That is because the Haitian language and culture are relatively young -- less than 500 years old.

Yet, that was sufficient time for a new language to be born and a rich, new culture to come to existence. Inspired from Latin and African languages, the Haitian Creole language has a short, but intriguing history. This article explains how the Haitian Creole language formed, how it is today and how it might fare in the future.

Haitian Creole - How Did it Begin?

Every major language has its humble beginnings -- and Haitian Creole is no different. Coerced out of their homeland, many African slaves were imported to the western part of Hispaniola, which is now modern day Haiti. In addition to being maltreated by cruel slave owners, the African slaves initially had no effective method of communicating with each other, since they came from different parts of West Africa and spoke different languages.

The slaves strove to establish a common communication system among themselves by learning French. But, the French dialect that the slaves were trying to learn from the colonists was very different from standard French, which was spoken by the high or noble class of France. The colonists' version of French was similar to what is commonly referred today as slang.

What is more, Taino and African-based languages also influenced the formation of Haitian Creole. All of this led to this exquisite almalgam or fine mixture of languages -- the essence of a Creole language.

Because modern-day Haiti used to be the French-controlled west side of Hispaniola, the French language was the primary language that influenced Haitian Creole. In fact, the vast majority of the terms in Haitian Creole come from French.

But, since it was influenced by Argot or French slang and African-based languages, the grammar and overall language structure of Haitian Creole are different from standard french. In fact, native french-speakers generally don't understand Haitian Creole.

Haitian Creole Today - Growing in Popularity

The slaves strove to establish a common communication system among themselves by learning French. But, the French dialect that the slaves were trying to learn from the colonists was very different from standard French, which was spoken by the high or noble class of France. The colonists' version of French was similar to what is commonly referred today as slang.

When the stalwart conquistadors entered the new world, they not only decimated the indigenous peoples there, they also led to the extinction of many of their native languages. Latin America was once teeming with a vast array of languages. Now, the languages of indigenous groups are slowly declining. Stepping over to Hispaniola or Haiti, the exact opposite is happening. The Haitian Creole language remains steadfast, and it is even growing in popularity.

Haitian Creole - From Chastisement to Embracement

In the latter part of the 20th century, glimmers of hope loomed over the horizon as public opinions toward Haitian Creole changed. With over 90 percent of the population speaking Haitian Creole, the people began to see the language as something that is innate to their culture.

For example, the constitution of 1987 considered Haitian Creole as the only language that unites Haitians together. It was also in this constitution that Haitian Creole was made an official language in addition to French. Now, Haitian Creole is now gradually getting integrated into the education system in Haiti.

Haitian Creole Orthography - A History of Conflict and Strife

Orthography is simply the way a language is written. But, Haitian Creole wasn't always a written language. 200 years ago it was nothing more than a way for the common peoples to communicate with each other. The first recorded forms of written Creole dated back from the late 18th century.

However, those written forms of Creole were based on personal whim instead of a systematic order with a set of rules. To communicate with those who were illiterate, writers would use a simplified and customized version of French that corresponded with the structure of Creole.

An Official Writing System At Last!

In the 1920s, education and literacy were becoming more widespread and important in Haiti. As such, debates arose on creating a standardized system (orthography) for Haitian Creole. Many systems were introduced. But, one of the most prominent ones was the Mcconnell-Laubach orthography in the 1940s.

But, it was reviled by educated Haitians partly because of its perceived ties with "Anglo-Saxon" influence. Some went as far as to call a "rough creole" for "savages." [2] Because of all these disagreements and ambiguities, Haitian Creole was not taught in schools. French was the standard language for education purposes.

In the 1970s, however political upheavals and pressure led to changes in the way the language was instructed in school, prompting lawmakers to create a widely accepted and standardized orthography. In an effort to do all of this, Haitian and French linguistic experts collaborated to create an orthography that was systematic and suitable for schooling. In 1980, the first official and standardized Haitian orthography was created.

It was a major turning point for Haitian Creole, because it was now a true language with an orthography instead of simply being a common method of communicating. It was during these times that Haitian Creole became considered as one of the official languages of Haiti.

Haitian Creole - What Does the Future Hold?

The Haitian Population is increasing not just in Haiti, but worldwide. What is more, the language itself is growing. Hence, the demand for Haitian Creole is higher than it has ever been, and it will continue to grow. In fact, many people from other lands are striving to learn Haitian Creole for a variety of reasons. So, you should not feel unreasonably immodest by learning Haitian Creole — thousands are endeavoring to do the same thing!

References

1. Albert Valdman. Indiana University. "Creole: the National Language of Haiti." Accessed April 14, 2014.

2. Bambi B. Schieffelin, Rachelle Charlier Doucet. International Pragmatics Association. American Ethnologist. The "Real" Haitian Creole Metalinguistics and Orthographic Choice. Published February, 2014.