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Sunday, March 17, 2013

kijan ou di "camera shots"? .. m vle di m pa renmen long camera shots nan fim nan yon car k ap deplase paske fe m pe m.....M toujou panse k yon aksidan pral rive...sorry for the bad grammar please feel free to correct it :p

Dakò :)

camera shots kout kamera

Are you saying you don't like the long camera shots of a moving car?

"Nan fim, mwen pa renmen kout kamera andistans sou yon machin ki ap deplase paske sa ban m sispens. .......M toujou panse gen yon aksidan k pral rive.."

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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Friday, March 15, 2013

What's a typical Haitian meal (breakfast, dinner, or supper). I'm only familiar with the rice and beans, griot, and plantain that my girlfriend makes. I'd like to try more.

Have you told your girlfriend that you want to try more?
A Haitian cookbook will probably help both of you.  See if she'd like to get one.
In the meantime, here are some typical meals, maybe you both can find the recipes online and try some:

Typical breakfast:
soup panad (breadsoup with bread, V8, watercress, herring sometimes)
ze ak pen (eggs sandwich with eggs and bread)
mayi mouli ak aransò (corn meal with herring)
vèmisèl (spaghetti)
soup joumou (squash soup)
avwàn (oatmeal)
chokola Ayisyen avèk pen (bread and cocoa)
kafe ak pen (coffee)
fruits (grapefruit, bananas, apricot)
and many more

Typical supper
labouyi (hot cereals, all kinds: plantain, rice, corn meal, corn flour, flour, oats)
and many more

Typical dinner
diri (rice, white or cooked with beans)
mayi (cornmeal, plain or cooked with beans)
sòs pwa (bean soup, usually to eat with rice)
vyann (meat, all kinds: chicken, beef, goats, fish, conch, crabs, ...)
bouyon (stew)
viv (vegetables, usually eaten with meat and sauces)
legim (legumes)
tyaka (corn and bean stew)
ragou (beef or goat stew)
taso (fried goat meat)
griyo (fried pork)
bannann peze (fried plantains)
fwa di (liver, usually with watercress and roots vegetables or plantains)
and many more



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"Haitiens pa maren", esplike m?

Ayisyen pa maren (Haitians are no sailors)
I don't know who coined this old term.

But I think it has to do with the fact that so many Haitians had perished during the clandestine trips to Miami during the period of the Duvaliers:
If Haitians knew their way around water, most of them would have already crossed the ocean to run away from their misfortune.
When they do get on the water, they use shabby boats, no life preservers, and never thought of learning how to swim in case things don't go well during what's usually a long voyage.
Instead, they faithfully trust the success of their trip to two gods, Bondye (for the Christians), and Ague (for the .... rests).
But you got to admit that though they're no sailors they are very brave.

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Thursday, March 14, 2013

If I wish to say "I saw it coming" in Creole as in "I predicted that", can you say "Mwen te we l ap vini"? Great blog by the way :)

mèsi wi :)

I would say it using these expressions:
Mwen te wè sa. (I saw this coming)
or
Mwen te wè sa pou ou. (If you're talking to the person in question)
or
Mwen te wè sa pou li.(if you talking about a third party)

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Can you translate 'lere' here ? Mak 12:27 Bondye se Bondye moun vivan li ye, li pa Bondye moun mouri. Nou wè nou nan lerè anpil, pa vre? (kamsa hamnida - this is a Korean expression for mesi anpil)

Dakò :)

Haitian Creole lerè is from French l'erreur and it means error, mistake, wrongdoing, failure, misguidance

example:
someone might say:
M te tonbe nan lerè.
and it means
I was living a life of wrongdoing.
I was living a life of mistakes (misguidance).
I was living a blameful life.

Mak 12:27
"Bondye se Bondye moun vivan li ye, li pa Bondye moun mouri. Nou wè nou nan lerè anpil, pa vre?"
"God is the God of the living.  He's not the God of the dead.  D'ont you see how misguided you are?"
or

"God is the God of the living.  He's not the God of the dead.  D'ont you see how wrong you are?"


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How woulod you say "we like Jesus, need to do Jehovahs will first" or "we need to be like him by putting His fathers will above our own" ? I use Google Translate but it does not seem to be using words that are simply understood.

Here's a couple of ways to translate both sentences accurately:

"We like Jesus, need to do Jehovahs will first"
"Nou menm, tankou Jezi, dwe mete volonte Jewova anvan volonte pa nou."
"Nou, menm jan ak Jezi, dwe fè volonte Jewova an premye"

"We need to be like him by putting His fathers will above our own" 
"Nou dwe fè tankou Li e mete volonte Papa li anvan volonte pa nou."
"Nou dwe fè tankou Jezi, e fè volonte Papa a an premye."

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Kijan yo di: "I heard you took a big exam! How did you do? When do you get the results?" Mesi

"I heard you took a big exam! How did you do? When do you get the results?"
"Mwen tande ou sot pran yon gwo egzamen!  Kouman ou te konpoze?  Kilè y'ap ba ou rezilta yo?"

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Good morning, I thank you so much ! ( Your work and this blog ) Can you translate 'vole' in detail ? "Mak 10:50 Avèg la voye rad li jete, se vole li t'ap vole pou l' te vin bò kot Jezi. kamsa hamnida !

Dakò :)
Mèsi zanmi. Mwen apresye remèsiman ou.

voleto fly, to take flight, to fly away, to leap, bounce or jump.
The noun for "vole" is "vòl" which means a jump, a flight, a bounce, a leap

"vole" should not be confused with "volè n." (with an accent on the "e") which means robber or crook

1. Zwazo ap vole anwo tèt nou.
    Birds are flying over our head.

2.  Avyon an vole deja.
     The plane already took flight.
     in this case, we may also say "pran vòl → take flight"

3.  Timoun nan te tèlman kontan wè manman l, li te vole sou janm li.
     The kid was so happy to see his mom that he leaped into her lap.

In the sentence in your question, it seems that the blind person was probably happy or overjoyed that he was leaping toward Jesus.
4. Avèg la voye rad li jete, se vole li t'ap vole pou l' te vin bò kot Jezi.
    The blind person threw his clothes aside, he was just leaping to get near Jesus.

and don't forget Se vole li t'ap vole is an expression which means "he was JUST leaping/flying".  See the embedded link #21 for more examples like this.

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Hi, Madaly ! What is okontre ? here. "Men, se pa konsa pou sa fèt nan mitan nou. Okontrè, si yonn nan nou ta vle vin grannèg, se pou l' sèvi nou tout." kamsa hamnida

Bonjou :)
okontrèon the contrary

"Men, se pa konsa pou sa fèt nan mitan nou. Okontrè, si yonn nan nou ta vle vin grannèg, se pou l' sèvi nou tout." 
"But that's not the way it's done among us.  On the contrary, if one of you wants to be a great man, he must serve all of us."


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What is KASE here? "Mwen we ou fe yon ti kase."

kase, here, is most likely to have lost weight
We also say desann, pèdi pwa, megri (all verbs)

Li fè yon ti kase.
Li fè yon ti desann.
Li megri.
Li pèdi pwa.
He's lost some weight.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

First draft? rough draft? final draft? "We have a research paper to do in this class. The first draft is due in two weeks, a second draft in four weeks, a third draft in six weeks a rough draft in eight weeks and the final draft in twelve weeks."

rough draft (first draft?) → bouyon 
travay obouyon → make a rough draft of your work
final draft → kopi final

I am making a rough draft before I make a final copy.
M'ape travay obouyon anvan m mete l opwòp.

Mwen te sèlman ekri l obouyon.
I only made a rough draft

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Tou won san fon?

Where I am right now it's about 5 PM.  It's still too early for tire kont :)
I'd have to bury my toes in the ground before I could give you an answer.  And I don't feel like going outside to do this.  (LOL! You know how the superstition goes :)

Did you really need to know the answer?

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How does one translate 'to snuggle(up)?

snuggle up → akokiye, plòtonnen

They snuggled up on the chair to watch the movie.
Yo te plòtonnen kò yo sou chèz la pou gade fim nan.

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