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Friday, February 28, 2014

This is not a question, put here is a nice lecture given in slow Haitian Creole for beginners to listen to for listening comprehension.

This is not a question, put here is a nice lecture given in slow
Haitian Creole for beginners to listen to for listening comprehension.
The Creole starts at around 6 minutes
:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpXc7ylYwYk

-TiWil



 
Yves Dejean's (Or Iv Dejan's) FIU lecture in writing for those that need it.
Thanks TiWil.
-Mandaly


********************************
Lecture starts at 6:18


Mwen sipoze tout moun ki la yo konprann Kreyòl.
M’ap eseye pale dousman, mwen p’ap pale vit.
Si nou pa konprann, m ta kontan nou leve men nou,
nou di m nou pa konprann pou m ka repete pawòl la,
Oubyen pou m di de twa mo Angle
 Men nou mande m fè koze a an Kreyòl
Se pou sa m’ap fè l an Kreyòl
Si yo te mande m fè l an Angle m t’ap fè l an angle.

Men, ann komanse:
Mwen vle pale nou de yon problèm ki enpòtan anpil pou Ayiti
Se enpòtans lang kreyòl pèp Ayisyen an pou edikasyon lekòl Annayiti.

Nou kab konnen, kòm mwen wè nou se moun  ki enterese nan pwoblèm Ayiti, 
nou kab konnen jiskounye a lang lekòl Annayiti se Franse.

Lontan menm menm menm, yo te pini timoun ki pale Kreyòl lekòl.
Kounye a yo preske pa fè sa, men yo fè l toujou wi sèten kote.
Men tanzantan gen pwofesè ki bay ti esplikasyon an kreyòl
M’ap kòmanse avèk pwoblèm enpòtans lang kreyòl la
Si mwen pa pale ase klè, fè’m yon siy
Nou pa bezwen pè, entewonp mwen si pawòl mwen pa klè
E si nou pa fin konprann jan m pale a.
M’eseye pale dousman.

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

what does the kreyol expression "fanm se yon grenn banann" vle di? Also what does "fanm se yon boutik ki ranpli ak yon boutey vid" mean? the second expression is a french quote translated into kreyol btw. Mesi anpil Mandaly!

"Fanm se yon grenn bannann”
(I have to laugh at that one :)
Women are diverse.   They are all kinds and shapes … and fulfilling in different ways

I haven’t heard the second one (about boutèy) … not in French. In Haitian Creole tales, it would have meant beauty in diversity, but I’m not sure it’s the same with the French expression.

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

When "bèl" is used to describe a film, does it mean "good" or does it have a more literal meaning of "aesthetically pleasing"?

Generally, yon bèl fim is a film with all the elements…. having a good script, being enjoyable to watch, ….a good product.

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I am having a tattoo done. Would “Live : Laugh : Love” be...”ap viv (or just viv): ri: renmen”Thanks!

Just “viv” is ok.

"VivRiRenmen" is just perfect.

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Nouvel nan bon ti manmit

Nan bon ti mamit
Accurate, concrete

We say mamit or manmit

Nouvel nan bon ti manmit
Accurate or trusted news

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Abse mete sou klou

abse mete sou klou (sometimes we say apse instead of abse; and sometimes we say met instead of mete) - to add insult to injury; a bad situation has become worse.

We say:
Se apse met sou klou (literally an abscess on top of a  blister)
Se abse mete sou klou (literally an abscess on top of a  blister)
Se klou sou maklouklou (literally a blister on top of a hydrocele)

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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

What is pase nan je zegwi and also what’s bakoulou?

"Pase nan je zegwi" (lit. to go through the eye of a needle) – to go/jump through hoops,  to go through a difficult situation
egzanp:
Bòs mwen ap fè m pase nan je zegwi.
Se nan je zegwi m’ap pase nan travay la.


Bakoulou is a charlatan, a con artist who does not do well with the ladies.
  
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Madanm. I keep hearing "fi a" ak "fi an" in conversations. Which form of this is more prevalent?


Bonswa Mesye Rachal,

Yes you are right.  fi a” is more prevalent. Some people from certain regions tend use nasal vowels especially with words ending in “i” ….zanmi, fanmi, mi, fi, etc …..

And one of the reasons for this is they’ll do that if the preceding syllable has a nasal  sound like fanmi, zanmi, kanni, ranni, etc…..

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

what is pe kou?

I'm not sure. It's very hard to figure it out when taken out of its context.  Maybe you can send the sentence it was used in. thanks.
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

What is fanm masay? Is their work voodoo related?

Sounds like a masseuse.
A fanm masay may perform some sort of ceremony before she massages you (anvan li rale w).  Usually they work on things like sprained ankle, displaced joints, back alignments, etc....
I had once sprained my ankle, and my dad took me to a 'fanm masay'.  First of all he was a man.  So maybe we should say 'gason masay'.  The man did do a few things before he started working on my foot.  He burned three pebbles in some ashes along with a sour orange.  He took the first pebble and drew a cross on my foot and threw that first pebble over his left shoulder, he did the same thing with the second pebble and threw that over his right shoulder. The third pebble, he threw over his head after he drew the third cross on my foot.  At the time I was thinking "Whoa! did my dad see that!?"  My dad was a pastor and preached against vodou all the time.  But he was right there watching and said nothing.  So I guessed it is just something they do. At last the man cut the hot baked orange in half, poured some oil on my foot and started pulling on my foot.  The orange was very hot and my foot hurt really bad, I was screaming.  I must have fainted 'cause I sincerely don't remember what happened after that.  I don't remember having the pain after that either.

These people don't go to massage school but the good ones are said to have that unusual gift of knowing how to fix you 'straight' again.  I do believe that they learn what they do from a 'master masseuse' or something :) There aren't too many of them.

My haitian girlfriend misreads the things that I say a lot. Quite often it may be a simple gesture or a sentence that gets reworded into the opposite of what it is. Does that have to do with haitan culture?

You think it's possible that a specific group of people or culture tend to misinterpret spoken words and SIMPLE gestures? That's unlikely.  It's true that some cultures understand some gestures differently, but it sounds like you and your girl  may be "out of sync" ...I may be wrong about this :-\

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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Mwen ap mande kesyon mwen nan Creole. koubyen tan mwen pral fe pou aprann lang Haitien Creole an?

Dapre sa m remake, chak moun ki ap aprann lang lan gen pwòp rezon pa yo.  Genyen se misyonè yo ye, genyen se nan zafè lasante y’ap travay, gen moun se kontra travay yo pral ranpli Ayiti, e genyen tou se zafè menaj yo y’ap regle. Donk m panse rezon ki fè ou aprann lang lan se li menm ki va detèminen  valè tan w’ap envesti pou metrize lang lan tou.  Resous ou genyen a dispozisyon ou kapab deside valè tan li va pran pou w soti depi “A” rive jiska “Z”.

Pafwa, yon moun poze kalite kesyon sa a (yo bezwen konnen konbyen tan l’ap pran yo pou pale Kreyòl), paske yo petèt te panse li t’ap pran yo mwens tan, ou byen yo gen dwa koumanse dekouraje paske yo pase anpil tan ap aprann, enpi lang yo lou toujou.  Si se sitiyasyon w sa, li ka byen bon pou chanje metòd w’ap aprann nan.  Chache mete tèt ou nan anviwònman ki ap pi enteresan pou ou – Antoure tèt ou nèt ak lang Kreyòl la.  Keseswa se jounal, televizyon, radyo, zanmi, legliz, kondisip travay, liv, etc….  Kwè m si w vle, anvan w bat je w, n’ap batize w AYISYEN :)

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Is there another name for fried plantains other than banan frit?

Science fiction lovers

If you love science fiction, do take the time to visit Escape Pod - The story featured this week, Into the Breach, is written by the author Malon Edwards and narrated by yours truly.  The story's got everything, action, drama, ....and a 'little bit' of H. Creole.
Here's a link: Into The Breach

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pye sa m te manje m pa’t ba w

"pye sa m te manje m pa’t ba w" is an expression that's Haitians use to say that they were running for their lives. I guess it means something like feet don't fail me now.

When we use this expression, we say:
Lè mwen wè koulèv la, mwen di, "pye sa m te manje m pa't ba w!".  Mwen kouri ale. - When I saw the snake I said, "Feet don't fail me now!".  I ran.
But if you wanted to break this down, you'll have:
Pye, sa mwen te manje mwen pa te ba ou. (not in a contracted form)
Pye, sa'm te manje m pa't ba'w. (the expression)
Feet, what did I eat and I didn't share with you.
Basically, asking your feet not to fail you.  You've taken good care of your feet, feeding it well.  Now you need to run for your life.

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