Aprann kreyòl

(Learning Haitian Creole)


For the last several days I've been listening to web radio broadcasts in Haitian Creole while working.  In simplified terms, Creole is an African language that has borrowed very heavily from French.  The borrowings undergo a complex transformation, making them harder to recognise.  I would be delighted to relate all the details of this process, but I'll spare you.

The words for "bless" and "punish" (beni and pini) are nearly indistinguishable, as are the words for "love" and "death" (lanmou, lanmò).  Many Creole words have a variety of French cognates, e.g. ri derives from both rire and rue, and can mean either "laugh" or "street."  There are a lot of homophones in Creole.

To help me absorb the language, I've assembled a Youtube playlist of Haitian songs with lyrics onscreen.  (I learned German this way and found it pretty effective.)  Praise music in particular is good for this because it uses a limited vocabulary but includes a fairly diverse sampling of the language's sentence structures.  There is one pitfall, though:  Poetry and song tend to emphasise certain syllables in an unnatural way.  In Creole, minor words like la and a turn into stressed (even climactic) syllables, while certain pronouns like w and l are often inaudible.

Some of the songs are translations of English-language church music (example).  Some of the translations have new tunes, so you'd never guess it's a song you know (example).  The translations can contain circumlocutions and reworked lines that cast a slightly different light on the song's subject matter.  Some of them include whole new verses.  It can be beneficial to listen to a familiar song in a new way.

The Haitian original songs I've found can also be very stimulating.  The majority cover thematic ground well-trod by English-language music, but I would like to share with you something rather different instead.


Earth's Contract is Running Out (video)
by La Semence d'En Haut

The cry breaks out.
The day is coming.
The Eternal will be angry.

Folks are calling out.
Folks' eyes water.
Folks are calling out.
Folks' eyes water
because they see the day coming.
Earth's contract (lease?) will come upon them.

Plant corn!
Corn doesn't yield anything.
Plant potatoes!
Potatoes don't yield anything.
Plant cassava!
Cassava doesn't yield anything.
It makes folks' eyes water.

The cry breaks out.
The day is coming.
The Eternal will be angry.

Folks are calling out.
Folks' eyes water.
Folks are calling out.
Folks' eyes water.
Because they see the day coming.
Earth's contract will come upon them.

The Eternal isn't renewing your contract again.
The Eternal isn't renewing your contract again.
O, earth, your contract is over.
O, earth, your contract is over.

Long, long ago
God created the earth.
God created the earth
and everything in it.
God created man (humankind) to manage the earth.
Man didn't manage it like he should have.*

The Eternal isn't renewing your contract again.
The Eternal isn't renewing your contract again.
O, earth, your contract is over.
O, earth, your contract is over.

God created the earth
so men could live.
God created the earth
so men could work.
Men took the earth,
they shut the earth up.
Men killed each other over bits of the earth.

The Eternal isn't renewing your contract again.
The Eternal isn't renewing your contract again.
O, earth, your contract is over.
O, earth, your contract is over.

*  This line's syntax is beyond my knowledge.  Possibly, "Man didn't manage it.  How should he have?"