Language - Haiti Observer Blog

In a study conducted by Erkan Gören, a scientist at Germany's Oldenburg University, he has determined how culturally diverse countries are, according to databanks compiled of each country's ethnic and racial demographics. Among 180 countries surveyed, Haiti showed little cultural diversity when assigned a computer-generated rating.

To clarify, the concept of cultural diversity is separate from racial diversity. Cultural diversity is based on racial and ethnic diversities. The more types of racial and ethnic populations, the more languages and cultural values they share.

Haiti's racial lineage began with the indigenous Taino Indians, who were bred out of existence by slaves emigrating from the Republic of Congo. At the same time, the Spanish and French invasions changed Haiti's racial and cultural profile further. The French and the Spanish battled for control of Hispaniola. Eventually the French retained control of the western half of the island, and the Spanish the larger eastern segment, named the Dominican Republican. The French interbred with African slaves, producing the light-skinned mulatto elite, who were high-born and spoke French. The low-born and darker-skinned Haitians were of Spanish and African blood.

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French and Creole are the two official languages of Haiti and still, French is given more importance than Creole. This discrimination, as seen by many intellectuals worldwide, is primarily because of the fact that Creole is a mix of several West African languages and French. Creole, which is today the lingua franca, actually started when African slaves arrived at Saint Domingue and tried to speak French by whatever they picked up through listening. The reason why they tried to speak French was that the African slaves from different parts of West Africa had different languages and they failed to communicate with each other. Hence, they picked up French.

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Language is an important aspect in any nation. It is what unites a country and bridges it with the international community. More importantly, language is what makes every citizen understand each other.

That seems not to be the case in Haiti.

Having a language barrier can be a challenge to any country. Haiti faces language difficulties as there are two main languages that are widely used: the Creole and the French. People and linguists have different opinions on both these languages and how they affect Haiti society.

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Like any other languages, Haitian Creole is not something that you can teach or translate easily. It would take a professional to translate such language efficiently. Just because it is derived from the French language does not necessarily mean that a French person can successfully translate it. Keep in mind that Haitian Creole and French have a lot of differences. Though Haitian Creole draws a huge influence from the French language, it also has touches of Native American, West African, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic languages. With this, the only one who can accurately translate it is a professional Haitian Creole translator.

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