When people think of the country of Haiti, they automatically fantasize about beaches, the blue Ocean’s waters and cocktails. The reality is that there is more to this country than one would expect. For instance, many people are unaware of the language spoken in this part of the world. In Haiti, there are actually two official languages, French and the less known language, Haitian Creole. If you wanted to learn Haitian Creole, you should know that there are only 7 million people that could teach you to speak in a correct manner. This country has been through a lot. Most people know very little about the tumultuous history of Haiti, as you are provided only with that idyllic image. However, one of the best ways to understand what happens within a culture is to look at its language. This is where changes are most visible. In this note, here are some rather interesting facts about the Haitian Creole. According to historical pieces of information, the Haitian Creole was the language spoken by natives of Haiti, before Columbus arrived. Thus, this should be recognized as the official language of this country. One of the reasons for which Haiti currently has two languages can be related to the many discussions regarding the nature of this dialect. There were specialists that did not recognize Haitian Creole as a language, comparing it to European Languages. However, this theory was quickly eliminated on the basis that a language must represent a culture and Haitian Creole fits with this profile perfectly. Before it was recognized as an official language, several experts tried to standardize it, but the idea turn out to be unpractical, leading to no results. Not to give up on Haitian Creole, the government decided to consider it a tool of education, French occupying the position of instruction. This lead to an impressive use of the Haitian Creole, as literature in this language started to appear, radios and newspapers made use of this language when sending out news. What is interesting about this type of Creole is that it is in a continuous changing process. Even though there are slight modifications which appear in the structure of a language, Haitian language keeps on shifting its form, which means that is highly used. Another interesting fact regarding this language is that there is such a thing called the Creole summer institute. In this location, Haitian Creole is taught to those that want to learn the language in an adequate manner. Students are even introduced to the Haiti culture a bit, so the learning process will be adequately completed. Also, this institute studies the modifications which appear in the language, watching over its use in society. This is rather important part of the work conducted by this institute, because Haiti Creole is subject to many influences, French being the most important of all. All in all, one can easily see that how complex a language can be. From the influences that exist to the cultural background, a language has much to teach its speakers. To find out more information about the Creole summer institute or about where to learn Haitian Creole, please visit these sites.
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