What do they speak in Haiti?

Little Tadpole   Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:52 pm GMT
French and creole. And they need your help, today.
* * *   Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:16 pm GMT
It's a God forsaken land. Mulattoes revolted against Whites, and the pure-bred Blacks seized power from Mulattoes. Twenty years of American rule were the last straw on the camel's back. In the end we have a Liberia in the Caribbean, fucked up beyond any recognition.

Furthermore, there are over 350 people per sq/km. Just like in Rwanda. The last trees will soon be burned out. Just like in Rwanda. A safe recipe for unlimited tragedy and all sorts of human disasters.
x   Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:30 pm GMT
I heard French was a minority language there.
Franco   Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:00 pm GMT
France should send some aid to Haiti instead of wasting money into promoting their declining language across the world.
chico   Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:34 pm GMT
The official government language is French and it is taught in the schools and education is in French. But just like in Belize were the language on the street is creole English and they can switch back and forth so it is in Haiti.

But in Haiti it is a French creole. The same is true for Jamaica and the Bahamas. There is the main language and then the creole form. It is based on the main language with other words mixed in. Usually the more educated a person is the more they can speak standard English or French, etc.

But they will switch into creole when with another person who can understand them. It is quite interesting. They can speak in different levels of creole from very near English to so far away that you can't understand one word in five.

I lived in Belize for a few months and the people would speak to me in British English and then look at each other and speak creole. Sometime I could understand them but most of the time I could not. It made it very difficult for me to learn Creole because they simply switched back and forth at will.

chico
yuioi   Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:19 pm GMT
They needed our help the day before the earthquake, too.

Strange though, why is Haiti so much poorer than Dominican Republic next door? At least it is good measure of the relative quality French and Spanish colonialism.
Franco   Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:25 pm GMT
Spain did a better job in my opinion at creating colonial mestizo societies. Dominican Republic may have its problems, but in spite of that it's not a completely fucked up country like Haiti is. There are even countries with acceptable standards of living like Costa Rica, whereas all black and French speaking countries are invariably the poorest on Earth.
PARISIEN   Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:48 pm GMT
<< all black and French speaking countries are invariably the poorest on Earth. >>

-- Definitely wrong.

. Richest black country on Earth is French speaking Gabon. GDP/per capita: $14.545. Higher than Mexico and Argentina!

. World's poorest: Zimbabwe. GDP/per capita: $268. Language: English.

On the other hand, the poorest white countries all use Spanish: Argentina with $14.408, Uruguay with $12,785. Lower than some African republics go figure!
Franco   Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:12 pm GMT
Equatorial Guinea, which is a Spanish speaking country, is much richer than Gabon. GDP per capita : 19 000 $.

Poorest country is French speaking Burundi with 389$ .
Kelly   Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:19 pm GMT
There are even countries with acceptable standards of living like Costa Rica,

//and Chile

Santiago looks as modern as Calgary.
Franco   Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:25 pm GMT
My bad, GDP of Burundi is only 138 $ per capita. The second poorest country in Africa is Congo, also a French speaking country.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita
Saim D. Inayatullah   Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:43 pm GMT
On Al-Jazeera yesterday there was a social scientist explaining the reason behind the difference in wealth between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Here's what she said:

-Haiti is more densely populated
-Haiti is more mountainous
-All though there are many bad things in colonialism, there are some benefits (roads, schools, etc.), which the Dominican Republic got more of due to a longer colonial history
-Haiti had a longer postcolonial dictatorship
Blank   Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:03 am GMT
«The second poorest country in Africa is Congo, also a French speaking country.»

But not a white country!
Franco   Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:53 am GMT
And? It has more merit IMO teaching how to run a society to non Europeans and to make of a predominantly black country like Republica D. something more or less habitable than colonising a country with only white settlers. Plus, don't believe white French colonies in America are exceptional. Quebec is basically a leecher province that would not be richer than Haiti if it wasn't for the Anglo Canada.
Porfirio   Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:21 am GMT
Jjaajaja como si los blancos fueran predestinados a vivir en países buenos. Claro que así ha pasado la mayor parte del tiempo, pero no hay ninguna ley de la naturaleza, miren a Rusia o a Rumanía y se darán cuenta que los blancos son tan capaces de volverse miserables como los negros y los mestizos... los blancos rigen por casualidades de la historia, nada más, aunque no creo que haya llegado aún la hora de los negros, más bien la de los chinos que van a trizar a los blancos y acabar con ellos de una vez, o si no los matan, les van a mesclar la sangre hasta que todos acaben achinados del todo y no quede ni rastro de su blancura jajaja... Me parece que la blancura es como la entropía, imposible que no vaya perdiéndose con el tiempo.... así como al fin todo el universo será de la misma temperatura, todas las gentes acabarán siendo del mismo color...