I would say that more progress is being made in Haiti as journals are published in Creole, some TV news are being reported in Creole, official documents are published in Creole, the president makes his speech in Creole (Remember Jean Claude Duvalier's all-French speeches?), you can go to a government office and make inquiries in Creole, etc...
Oh man, I remember my first interview at the American embassy in Haiti for a visa request... Me and my sisters were called into an office with my dad. The man in the office only spoke French to us. My dad spoke such bad French. He just couldn't get his point across. He didn't have enough French words in his vocabulary to say all he needed to say. So the man had denied us the visa, but my dad kept pleading.... IN BAD FRENCH... I could never forget that.
A lot of Haitians don't speak Creole because they're afraid to sound illiterate, so they speak bad French with bad grammar and bad pronunciation and think they sound so intelligent....
Mezanmi o! if you want to speak your mind, and let the world know what words of wisdom is flowing through your brain , wouldn't it make sense to use the language that you know so that all your choice of words are perfect and no one would scratch their heads wondering "What the hell did he just say?!"
And, Haitian ladies... how about the guys who thought that a love declaration made in French would give them a better shot at winning your hands ...
chuckles :)
And so, what you will find here in the USA and other countries abroad is that more foreigners are learning Haitian Creole as they must travel to Haiti on employment contracts, for relief, missionary, research, and other types of work, etc.... This helps a lot with communication, but it does not solve the problem of
educating the Haitian in Creole. But more foreigners speaking Creole have certainly raised the status of this language which was once considered the language of the illiterates.
Many Haitians in the diaspora also try to preserve their Creole language by speaking it at home and teaching it to their kids. Being away from home may be the reason why they treasure this language heritage even more. They may have realized that their language is one of the traits that unite them as a people.
So the news is good for both locations. Haitians living overseas are working to preserve their language heritage. And Haitians in Haiti are working to give Haiti's children a good Creole language foundation starting with the fundamental school years.
Progress of is slow, but it's visible.
Check out this articles:
Kreyòl Ayisyen, Yon Eritaj Enpòtan
Lang Natif Nata Timoun Ki pale de (2) lang.
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
