Haitian Creole

Monday, February 21, 2011

Hi, in Exercise 10, #16 you've got "nannan" translated as ''nucleus. Does that mean seed or something like that?

Partly. All the following terms describe nannan, pronounced 'nuh-nuh':
the core
the essence
the central point or
the innermost center of an individual, object or region

Ask me anything

chat pa la, rat pren kay, can u use that term on a person.

Yeap, you sure can.
I've heard people use it to mean, "When the husband is not present, the wife does whatever she wants."

Ask me anything

Who is the most important person in the world to you?

Myself. If I can't manage who i am, life would be insignificant.

Ask me anything

Mandaly, I'm still searching the Haitian Creole word 'chat'. How popular is its usage? Is the pronunciation tha same as the English word 'chat'?

First of all, "chat" is a French word. It means "cat" in English.

Chat - French pronunciation is "sha"
Chat - Haitian Creole pronunciation is "shat"

In Haitian Creole this word is used in many proverbs and idioms. I'm listing the few that i can remember here.

1. Chat mawon - wild cat
2. Chat mawon - someone who commits white collar crimes
3. lage chat la - let the cat out of the bag
4. Tèt chat - being of poor quality, being unreliable, not authentic
5. fè pa chat - cheating on your significant other
6. chat pa la, rat pran kay - cat's away, mice will play
7. viv tankou chen a chat - living a cat and dog life
good luck in your search

Ask me anything

m ale

I go
I'm going
or
I went

Ask me anything

If 'aswè' means 'night'. ho do you say 'tonight'?

night - aswè
tonight - aswè a

Ask me anything

I don't think that last question was sincere.

Message received. Thank you. I'm on my guard.

Ask me anything

Sunday, February 20, 2011

I can't view the words she is speaking

Click on the Green triangle, not the vocaroo box, so that you may remain on that present screen and be able to follow the vocab words.
If you're talking about the audio lesson, the list of words should be to the left side of the screen. Just scroll down as she speaks.

The green buttons are also on Lesson 1 and Exercise 2. Thanks

Ask me anything

I can't view the words she is speaking

Which exercise?

Ask me anything

john wants his black tie.

John vle kravat nwa li a

Ask me anything

Not much happening

Pa gen anyen kap pase

Ask me anything

Hi Mandaly, does this phrase have a non-literal translation? Or does it simply refer to confusion? "Mezanmi se mele mwen mele!"

Hi. This expression does not have a literal translation.
Mezanmi se mele mwen mele - Oh dear! I'm stuck, Oh dear I'm in trouble, or Oh dear! I'm in deep *#@%!

Mele - mixed, stuck
Mezanmi is derived from the french 'Mes amis'. Its literal meaning is 'My friends'.
Mezanmi is an interjection, it can be translated as: Oh dear!, Geez!, Oh God!
Both definitions are used in Haitian Creole.
Example: You walk up to a group of people in a meeting and you say, Bonjou mezanmi! meaning 'good morning everyone' or 'Good morning friends!'
Or,
You are driving on the road and another driver just rear-ended you, you'd interject, "Mezanmi!"
Or
You're listening to the news and just learned of a very hainous crime that someone had committed, you may also interject, "Mezanmi! what is this world coming to?"

Notes you'd be interested in:
When you see this type of phrase "se mele mwen mele" (where the verb, adjective or attribute is doubled), it is a sort of authentication of the said sentence.
Example:
Se mache map mache - I am just walking
Se li map li - I am just reading
Se grangou mwen grangou - I am just so hungry
Se kontan mwen kontan - I am just so happy
Se kouri map kouri - I am just running
Se pale map pale - I am just talking
Se vini mwen vini - I am here.

Ask me anything