How to Study Haitian Creole Independently Parts I - III. This Article was written by Dory Piccard Dickson Thanks Dory :)

How to Study Haitian Creole Independently

Parts I - III

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Part I   BACKGROUND

I am a unique learner;

I have reasons to study Creole,

  but they are not the same reasons as anybody else's.

Unfortunately, I do not have Haitian neighbors

   to practice with.

 

I want to have fun

   when I study.

Oh, how I wish to feel smart

   and to see progress,

      even if I am only learning

      a few new words at a time.
 

I'm a senior citizen;

   often I have to learn the same words

   over and over.

It has taken me

   a long time,

   a long, long time

      to speak Creole,

      just a few sentences

         with pronunciation

         Haitian speakers can understand.

As a retired teacher

   and a former student

   of other languages,

I began studying Creole

   with an expectation

   that the right learning materials

      were out there,

      if I could ONLY find them!

 

I had to learn the hard way

   that there are not many books

   about learning Creole

      which are designed

      for the independent student

         like me...

I learned that this is because

   Creole was NOT

   a written language

      until the 1960's

      or by some accounts

         the 1980's.

 

I was not looking

   for a phrase book;

I was not planning
   to visit Haiti.

There are migrant camps

   here in New Jersey.

Every summer the camps fill up

   with workers who travel here

   from Florida.

They come to pick blueberries,

   to earn money,

   to sustain themselves

      and their families

      down in Florida

        or back in Haiti.

 

Many of these workers

   speak Creole,

but do not speak

   enough English

   to communicate.

 

I wanted to learn

   to speak and read and write

   CREOLE,

      to connect

      with these migrant workers.

                                                                

If I could listen to recordings,

  (cassette tapes or CD's)

  I would learn

      how to pronounce things

      ACCURATELY -

 
so my voice
   would rise and fall
   at the right times
      in a word, a phrase
      or a sentence,
         as I spoke...

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Part II   WHAT I DISCOVERED

 

I can recommend to you

   three things,

   even if

your needs and interests

   are different from mine.

 

                    *****

 

FIRST, go to the library.

See if they have the CD packet:

   Pimsleur's Haitian Creole.

It will have only the first ten

   of the thirty lessons available.

Each lesson is 25 - 30 minutes long.

You might listen more than once.

When you finish the first ten lessons,

   you'll have to decide

   whether to buy the 30-lesson set.

Try to get it second-hand.

 

I recommend the Pimsleur Program

   because it goes at a nice pace,

   introducing vocabulary

      and grammar

      a little at a time.

 

This program ALSO

   repeats new words

   at intervals

      PROVEN by research

      to ACCELARATE learning.

You will see, it really does!

 

                    *****

 

SECOND, go to Amazon.Com

and order yourself the book

   Haitian Creole for Speakers of English.

I endorse this book

   absolutely and wholeheartedly!

The lessons take you

   step by step

   along the path

      to learn how to say

      the things you want to express.

The exercises help you learn.

Use the answer key in the back.

A terrific glossary

   will help you

   when you want to compose

      sentences.

The author has posted on line

   recordings of the dialogs

   and some of the exercises

      in this book.

I like this book;

   it's my favorite one!

                    ***** 

THIRD, go to Amazon.Com

   and order yourself the materials

   by Wally Turnbull: Creole Made Easy.

The CD has SHORT SHORT lessons,

   some only six to ten minutes long.

That's great when you're driving;

   you can coax yourself

   to at least

      listen to ONE lesson.

Studying one lesson a day, day after day,

   adds up.

The book will help you

   picture the words,

so you'll begin learning

   how to spell things.

If you like,

   buy Betty Turnbull's

   Creole Made Easy Workbook,

which expands on the material

   covered in the book and CD.

                    *****
 

You might want to explore

   these things, too:

The only dictionary I like to use

     is expensive, but

     WORTH EVERY PENNY,

        IF you can afford it -

and definitely cheap

   when compared with the cost

   of tuition for a college course

      or the cost of a personal translator...

This is it: Bryant Freeman's Haitian-English Dictionary,

   which is one gigantic volume,

and a companion three-volume set

   comprising his English-Haitian Dictionary.
 

                    *****

It's nice to have something small

   to carry around

   like the McGraw Hill

      Haitian Creole Phrasebook,

but just use that for dessert -

   especially when you're looking

   for topical word lists.

You shouldn't begin your studies

   with only a phrasebook,

because your pronunciation

   will suffer!

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Part III   WATCH OUT!  CAUTION!

 

Here are some more things

   I want to tell you:

(Forgive me please

   for this unsolicited advice.)
 

                    *****
 

Some books I used

   although they made me grumble.

   Ann Pale Kreyòl (with accompanying CD's):

I got to Chapter 20,

   of 25 chapters.

Maybe I'll study it again one day.

But not today.

AND I KNOW WHY!

It's because I'm an older learner,

   and my brains are so mature

   they've gotten TIRED.

I'm no longer capable

   of learning so many new words

   gallopy-trot, at a VERY quick pace.

Ann Pale Kreyòl

   introduces words and words and words.

Maybe that'd be okay

   if I were a lot younger.

At this stage in my life,

   it's just discouraging,

and discouragement is to be avoided

   if I want to stay motivated

   and focused.

But you may find this book suits

   your taste and your needs.

 

Pawòl Lakay (with accompanying CD):

   I got half-way through Chapter 4,

   out of eight chapters.

Once again,

   vocabulary came at me

   at a terrific pace

to which

   I was not equal.

But you may find this book suits

   your taste and your needs.
 

                    *****
 

Guide to Learning Haitian Creole (with accompanying CD):

    I got only as far as the first lesson.

The authors must have thought

   that no one would study Creole

   without a teacher,

or that students would be willing

   to look up translations

   for all the Creole vocabulary words.

That takes too much time for me.

I want the vocabulary lists,

   PLEASE.

If you have a teacher,

   you might want to try this book.
 

                    *****

Spoken Haitian Creole For Intermediate Learners: 

   Really, I may almost be ready for this book...

   after three years

      of introducing myself

         to Creole.

I cannot grumble, since I have not yet

   tried the lessons.

It is assumed that,

   as an intermediate student,

   I will already have

      some basic vocabulary.

There's a good glossary in the back.

I'll use it.
 

                    *****

There are other books, too,

   for when I have acquired more vocabulary.
 

Mosochwazi Pawòl Ki Ekri an Kreyòl Ayisyen:

   This pleasingly thick book

      appears to contain

      poems and short stories

         and essays and more.

Everything is in Creole.

Maybe I could dip into it

   just a little at a time,

   sitting at my kitchen table

with my Creole-English dictionary.

Maybe.

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AND NOW, IN CLOSING

Let me say:

As an older learner,

   but indefatigable,

I find

   I can study

   the same lessons

      over and over.

Each time through,

   I get a little faster,

   a little more sure of myself.

Each time through

   I build a stronger conduit

   for the words

      in my brain -

so that I might retrieve them

   with less difficulty

   when expressing myself

or when listening to others.

I'm on my way!

 

                    *****
 

By Dory Piccard Dickson

     Haitian Migrant Worker Outreach

         New Jersey

         May, 2013

Check out Dory's Overview of Independent Study Materials
  for Haitian Creole on her Haitian Migrant Worker Outreach blog

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