I’ve been hard at work with my lessons in kreyòl on Duolingo, and on paper it looks good—Level 21 / 25! Super, right? Only I’m frustrated because it still seems so atomized. I’m learning words and some phrases, but Duolingo has limited flexibility to say things in other ways. For example, “Sa k pase?” which means “How’s it going?” (“What’s passing/happening?”). But the more common phrase in Haiti is “Sa k ap fèt?” which means “What’s up?” (“What’s the festival?”). Or even the short “Anfòm?” with the response “Anfòm” (“Fit” / “Okay?” “Fit” / “Yes”). It’s not wrong to say “Sa k ap pase?” It’s fine! But it’s more common…

Today’s lesson brought up what I’d seen in the past in a few lessons here and there. Let me show you this sentence in kreyòl: L ap akompli li. Based on what I’ve learned, the word for “he,” “she,” and “it” is “li.” Sometimes (well, to be honest, probably 98% of the time!) the “li” is shortened to just “l” when followed by a vowel sound, such as the word “ap,” which turns the verb “akompli” (accomplish) into the participle form “accomplishing.”  And it’s not a perfect 1:1 ratio. Sometimes it looks like it can’t be shortened, and I am not certain of the rules. I do know that the…

Let’s talk about what, exactly. So kreyòl has a whole interesting way to form words of interrogation/asking in ways that remind me of Esperanto. The key to the base of question-words is “ki” (pronounced “kee” but with a short vowel sound that’s hard to show in English—think of it in the way you’d say in Spanish “aqui”). So “ki” by itself is kinda just “what” or whichki tòti == which turtles? ki + moun == what people == whokilès is also “who” [I think the “lès” is an agglomerative noun of some kind, like “people,” but I make it a rule that I don’t try to go further than where…

There has been a couple of things I’ve been keeping notes on as I’m learning, and one of them is the mystery of the final “a/an/nan/lan” in some sentences referring to “my thing.” For example,“Èske ou bezwen pa m nan?” which is to mean “Do you want mine?” It parses out fairly easily as “Do” (Èske) “you” (ou) “want” (bezwen) “my thing” (pa m, short for pa / pou mwen, meaning “for me”), but that final “nan” was just mysterious. In this context “nan” is standing for the idea of “that” or “the.” Example, “dam nan” (or “dam lan”) is “the lady.” You can see the connection with “Dame” and…

Week 4 of learning Haitian Creole and things are kicking up a notch. Now it’s getting into “ownership” (how to say that something is mine or yours, such as “my father” or “your cat” or even “mine” or “yours.” It is not what I expected, and previously used words now are used in very new ways. It is at once easier—no new words to learn!—and harder—hey, some words have entirely different meaning now! Which is like English, of course, but I’ve been speaking/writing/hearing English for my whole life, and it just “makes sense” that English can verb nouns with ease & we pick it up. So, onward and upward! Èske…

About three weeks ago I was encouraged by some Haitian friends to start using Duolingo. They knew of my interest in learning their language, and they had talked with me about the differences in the French and Haitian Creole languages, but there really wasn’t a place that would make it easy for me to learn kreyòl ayisyen. Then Duolingo announced they were releasing their course on Haitian Creole! They urged me to sign up, and so I did. I’m now about three weeks in, and it’s been a whirlwind. Here are some observations: Learning a language isn’t just about learning words. It’s about learning rhythms and logic and meanings of…

Today I started my first lessons in Haitian Creole (“kreyòl ayisyen”) using Duolingo. Wish me luck!