Sunday, July 21, 2013

Does 'raje' translates 'empty land', 'empty lot' or 'empty green space'? Creole lingo gives definitions like 'backwoods', 'field', 'forest', etc. which could be used in the following context, but I am not sure. For example, "Back in the fifties, this neighborhood used to be nothing but empty land(or land)." or "Back then, this part of the beach, used to be an empty lot before they build a store there." Does 'raje' translates 'wasteland' as well? For example, "Ten years of drought had left the area a wasteland" Because I would hear Haitians used 'raje' for wasteland. If it is not the case, than what are some approriate words for 'wasteland'?

raje - brushwood, thicket
example: 
Yo te netwaye lakou a, yo te retire tout raje yo.
They cleaned the yard and removed all the shrub thickets

 raje - sometimes people use it as synonymous to 'rak bwa'
example:  
Mesye a sove.  Li pran raje pou li.
The man ran away.  He took to the woods.

 Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

2 comments:

  1. CreoletransJuly 25, 2013 at 11:13 AM

    In Haitian Creole, a “raje” is an area, big or small, covered with bushes. So, an English translation for “raje” is bush or thicket.
    Backwoods: a) as a remote place: peyi pèdi, zòn byen lwen, ziltik. b) as a remote culturally undeveloped place, for countryside: andeyò.
    Wasteland: a) as a barren area of land: tè or teren dezole, tè or teren deseche, tè or teren arid, tè or teren ki pa kiltive. b) as an abandoned area (no more occupied or cultivated): tè or teren abandone, zòn abandone.
    Forest: rakbwa

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