Bonjou tout moun!
(You’re not crazy, I’m trying to write in Haitian Creole. Scroll down for a translation…)
Kom m’ te poste anvan, m’ pral ale nan Ayiti nan kat jou pou m’ pase youn semen la. Donk, m’ te panse, fòk m’ aprann yon ti kras kreyòl ayisyen (ou “ayisyen” tou senpleman). M’ renmen aprann lang yo, e kom m’ pale deja franse e gen anpil mo nan ayisyen ki sanble a mo franse, pètèt se pi fasil.
Pou antrene m’ nan ayisyen, m’ te deside ekri kèk mo pou m’ prezante e pou pale sou efò mwen pou aprann ayisyen. Si pa chans se ayisyen ou ye, oubyen si se kreyòl ayisyen ou pale, tanpri fè repons! M’ ta renmen konnen konbyen fot m’ ap fè…
Bon, mwen menm se Vincent e mwen rete Ozetazini, nan leta Virginia. Men, m’ te viv nan anpil kote. M’ te etidye pou vini achitèk nan University of Virginia a, nan lavil Charlottesville, Virginia. Apre sa, m’ te rete pou twa ane nan leta Mississippi pou m’ travay nan gerizon la apre siklòn Katrina la, uit mwa an Frans pou m’ anseye angle a, e uit mwa nan leta Washington pou m’ bati yon kay.
Gen mwens resous pou aprann lang ayisyen an ke pou lòt lang, men m’ te jwenn kèk resous anpil itil. Premye, se liv la Creole Made Easy pa Wally Turnbull. Si ou pale angle, e si ou vle kòmanse aprann kreyòl ayisyen, m’ panse ke liv sa a bon anpil. Li se yon ti jan kout, ak sèz leson ak de paj chak, men li gen yon diksyonnè bon anpil. (Si ou pale franse, m’ te tande ke yon lòt liv ki bon se J’apprends le créole haïtien pa Robert Damoiseau.)
Dezyèm, gen anpil resous nan entènèt. Paregzanp, University of Kansas a genyen plizyè resous: yon gide siviv nan kreyòl (ak odyo), kèk tèks nan kreyòl, e yon diksyonnè. M’ te jwenn kèk videyo nan ayisyen pou m’ eseye konprann yo: Pwojè Eskrab Kreyòl Ayisyen, paregzanp, e yon gason Ameriken ki pale kreyòl.
Men, finalman, m’ panse ke metòd la pi bon pase tout lezòt yo, se m’ ale an Ayiti pou pale ak moun yo ki viv laba a. Mwen trè kontan gen opòtinite sa a!
(E… eske ou te konnen ke ak Apple iPhone 4S la, Siri pale kreyò ayisyen?)
English translation:
Hello everybody!
Like I posted earlier, I’ll be going to Haiti in about four days and spending a week there. So, I thought I should learn a little bit of Haitian Creole (or simply ‘Haitian’). I like learning languages, and since I speak French and many Haitian Creole words resemble French words, it should be somewhat easier.
To practice my Haitian, I decided to write a couple of paragraphs to introduce myself and talk about my efforts to learn Haitian. If you happen to be Haitian, or to speak the language, please respond! I would love to know how many mistakes I’m making…
So, I’m Vincent and I live in the United States, in the state of Virginia. But I’ve lived in a lot of places. I studied to be an architect at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, VA. After that, I lived for three years in Mississippi, working in the reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina, for eight months in France, teaching English, and for another eight months in Seattle, building a house.
There aren’t as many resources for learning Haitian as there are for other languages, but I’ve found several helpful resources. First, the book Creole Made Easy by Wally Turnbull. If you speak English and if you want to start learning Haitian Creole, I think this is a very good book. (If you speak French, I’ve heard that J’apprends le créole haïtien by Robert Damoiseau is another good book.)
Second, there are many resources on the Internet. For example, the University of Kansas has several resources: a ‘Survival Guide’ to Creole (with audio), several texts in Haitian Creole, and a dictionary. I’ve found several videos in Haitian that I watch and try to understand: The Haitian Scrabble Project, for example, and this American guy speaking Haitian.
In the end, I think the best method of learning is to go to Haiti and speak with the people who live there. I’m very glad to have the opportunity to do so!
(PS: Did you know that with the Apple iPhone 4S, Siri speaks Haitian Creole?)
