Creole Made Easy, pa Wally Turnbull.

Bonjou tout moun!

(You’re not crazy, I’m trying to write in Haitian Creole. Scroll down for a translation…)

Kom m’ te poste anvan, m’ pral ale nan Ayiti nan kat jou pou m’ pase youn semen la. Donk, m’ te panse, fòk m’ aprann yon ti kras kreyòl ayisyen (ou “ayisyen” tou senpleman). M’ renmen aprann lang yo, e kom m’ pale deja franse e gen anpil mo nan ayisyen ki sanble a mo franse, pètèt se pi fasil.

Pou antrene m’ nan ayisyen, m’ te deside ekri kèk mo pou m’ prezante e pou pale sou efò mwen pou aprann ayisyen. Si pa chans se ayisyen ou ye, oubyen si se kreyòl ayisyen ou pale, tanpri fè repons! M’ ta renmen konnen konbyen fot m’ ap fè…

Bon, mwen menm se Vincent e mwen rete Ozetazini, nan leta Virginia. Men, m’ te viv nan anpil kote. M’ te etidye pou vini achitèk nan University of Virginia a, nan lavil Charlottesville, Virginia. Apre sa, m’ te rete pou twa ane nan leta Mississippi pou m’ travay nan gerizon la apre siklòn Katrina la, uit mwa an Frans pou m’ anseye angle a, e uit mwa nan leta Washington pou m’ bati yon kay.

Gen mwens resous pou aprann lang ayisyen an ke pou lòt lang, men m’ te jwenn kèk resous anpil itil. Premye, se liv la Creole Made Easy pa Wally Turnbull. Si ou pale angle, e si ou vle kòmanse aprann kreyòl ayisyen, m’ panse ke liv sa a bon anpil. Li se yon ti jan kout, ak sèz leson ak de paj chak, men li gen yon diksyonnè bon anpil. (Si ou pale franse, m’ te tande ke yon lòt liv ki bon se J’apprends le créole haïtien pa Robert Damoiseau.)

Dezyèm, gen anpil resous nan entènèt. Paregzanp, University of Kansas a genyen plizyè resous: yon gide siviv nan kreyòl (ak odyo), kèk tèks nan kreyòl, e yon diksyonnè. M’ te jwenn kèk videyo nan ayisyen pou m’ eseye konprann yo: Pwojè Eskrab Kreyòl Ayisyen, paregzanp, e yon gason Ameriken ki pale kreyòl.

Men, finalman, m’ panse ke metòd la pi bon pase tout lezòt yo, se m’ ale an Ayiti pou pale ak moun yo ki viv laba a. Mwen trè kontan gen opòtinite sa a!

(E… eske ou te konnen ke ak Apple iPhone 4S la, Siri pale kreyò ayisyen?)

English translation:
Hello everybody!

Like I posted earlier, I’ll be going to Haiti in about four days and spending a week there. So, I thought I should learn a little bit of Haitian Creole (or simply ‘Haitian’). I like learning languages, and since I speak French and many Haitian Creole words resemble French words, it should be somewhat easier.

To practice my Haitian, I decided to write a couple of paragraphs to introduce myself and talk about my efforts to learn Haitian. If you happen to be Haitian, or to speak the language, please respond! I would love to know how many mistakes I’m making…
So, I’m Vincent and I live in the United States, in the state of Virginia. But I’ve lived in a lot of places. I studied to be an architect at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, VA. After that, I lived for three years in Mississippi, working in the reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina, for eight months in France, teaching English, and for another eight months in Seattle, building a house.

There aren’t as many resources for learning Haitian as there are for other languages, but I’ve found several helpful resources. First, the book Creole Made Easy by Wally Turnbull. If you speak English and if you want to start learning Haitian Creole, I think this is a very good book. (If you speak French, I’ve heard that J’apprends le créole haïtien by Robert Damoiseau is another good book.)

Second, there are many resources on the Internet. For example, the University of Kansas has several resources: a ‘Survival Guide’ to Creole (with audio), several texts in Haitian Creole, and a dictionary. I’ve found several videos in Haitian that I watch and try to understand: The Haitian Scrabble Project, for example, and this American guy speaking Haitian.

In the end, I think the best method of learning is to go to Haiti and speak with the people who live there. I’m very glad to have the opportunity to do so!

(PS: Did you know that with the Apple iPhone 4S, Siri speaks Haitian Creole?)

Here are a few of the expressions I have picked up over the past 5 months. Disclaimer: some of these might be particular to parts of France; I live in the southwest, but other regions might have different expressions.

Pas de souci(s) – No worries / no problem. –Désolé d’être un peu en retard. –Pas de souci!

Pas terrible – (From the familiar meaning of ‘terrible’ – great, awesome) Not great, crappy; C’est pas terrible – That sucks. Il pleuvait tout le week-end? C’est pas terrible, ça.

Nickel – Awesome, great, perfect, fantastic; C’est nickel ~ Good as gold. –Ça va? –Nickel.

Tu m’étonnes – No kidding. (not necessarily sarcastic, just agreeing with an obvious statement.) –C’est pas facile de se déplacer dans les Landes sans une caisse (une voiture). –Tu m’étonnes.

Péter un plomb – To go crazy, (lit.) to blow a fuse. Quand elle a entendu que son copain a été infidèle, je croyais qu’elle allait péter un plomb!

Se la péter / se la jouer – To show off, to vaunt something. Oui, il joue bien, mais il se la pète trop!

Additions will probably follow. And corrections are welcome!

Sample usage:

Vincent: “So, class, what did you do this weekend?”

Student: “Zees weekend, I go to zee nightbox. I have drink lot.”

Nightbox is simply a too-literal (yet somehow wonderful) translation of la boîte de nuit (nightclub).

Since, according to their accounts, my students’ lives are primarily occupied by two activities — (1) drinking and (2) sleeping — if I can get them to talk correctly about those things, I’ll have to consider it a success.

Haitian Creole for Disaster Relief

My friends Julie and Johnny at Women in Construction are leading a volunteer trip to Haiti next week, and asked me to give a presentation on the language. I should be clear that I don’t speak Haitian Creole. I speak passable French, so I spent some time researching and compiling the following materials.

Haiti has two official languages. French is the official language of the government, spoken by educated Haitians, business people, and elites, but not by many common Haitians. Haitian Creole, on the other hand, is the language spoken by nearly all Haitians. Although it originates from French, Haitian Creole (referred to simply as Creole or Kreyòl) is a distinct language with influences from Spanish, African languages, and English. Its grammar is simpler than that of French and its orthography, which was standardized fairly recently, is almost entirely phonetic. In addition to the two official languages, Spanish is spoken by some Haitians.

Since few Haitians speak English, there is a significant language barrier for English-speaking relief workers and volunteers. Since there appear to be few resources available online, I decided to put together a two-page Haitian Creole / French Phrase Sheet. Again, I don’t speak Haitian Creole, so there may be some minor mistakes, and I would welcome corrections or suggestions. Here is the phrase sheet:

• Phrase Sheet – Haitian Creole & French [PDF]

• Phrase Sheet – Haitian Creole & French [DOC]

Other Haitian Creole Resources:

• Ann pale kreyol: An Introductory Course in Haitian Creole [PDF]: 265-page introductory textbook.

• Byki Online: Flashcards for learning Haitian Creole. Free login.

• TravelingHaiti.com: A list of common Creole words and phrases.

• Kansas University Haitian Creole Resources: Material and accompanying audio, including a ‘Survival Creole’ guide.

• K4Health Haiti Relief Toolkit: Numerous resources, including a guide to Haitian Creole for Health Care.

2 rouleaux de pâte feuilletée
125 g de poudre d’amandes
125 g de sucre en poudre
125 g de beurre
3 oeufs (et une jaune d’oeuf de plus)
2 gouttes d’extrait d’amandes amères
1 cuil. à soupe de lait
Une fève

La recette en vidéo.

1. Mélangez le beurre, la poudre d’amandes et le sucre à l’aide d’une fourchette jusqu’à ce que le mélange soit homogène.

2. Ajoutez 3 oeufs légèrement battus et l’extrait d’amandes amères. Mélangez bien. Réservez au frais pendant 30 minutes afin que la crème soit suffisamment ferme.

3. Préchauffez votre four à 200 °C. Mélangez un jaune d’oeuf avec le lait. Sur une plaque de four beurré ou anti-adhésive, posez un disque de pâte feuilletée. Avec un pinceau, badigeonnez son pourtour avec le mélange oeuf-lait, sur environ 2 cm de largeur.

4. Etalez la crème d’amandes au centre en laissant le pourtour badigeonné libre. Ajoutez la fève en l’enfonçant légèrement. Posez le second disque en faisant sortir l’air. Faites-le adhérer avec le premier en appuyant légèrement avec vos doigts, sur tout le pourtour. Faites une légère entaille au milieu afin que la galette ne gonfle pas trop. Faites des petites entailles sur le pourtour, avec la pointe d’un couteau.

5. Dessinez sur la surface comme vous désirez. Badigeonnez toute la surface avec le mélange oeuf-lait en passant 2 fois. Mettez au frais pendant 30 minutes.

6. Enfournez et faites cuire pendant environ 25 minutes jusqu’à ce que la galette soit bien dorée. Dégustée légérèment tiède cette galette est excellente.

- – -

Almond King Cake:

2 sheets puff pastry
1/2 cup almond powder or paste
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs (plus one egg yolk)
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tbsp. milk
Lucky charm (baby, etc.)

1. Mix the butter, almond powder or paste, and the powdered sugar with a fork until the mixture is creamy.

2. Add 3 lightly beaten eggs and the almond extract. Mix well. Chill in refrigerator 30 minutes until the cream becomes firmer.

3. Preheat oven to 400 °F. Beat remaining egg yolk into milk. Place a puff pastry sheet on a non-stick or greased cooking sheet. Use a pastry brush to apply a 1/2 – 1 inch coat of the milk-egg mixture around the perimeter of the puff pastry.

4. Spread the almond cream mixture in the center of the puff pastry without covering the perimeter. Place the lucky charm in the cream mixture. Cover with the second puff pastry sheet, pressing lightly outwards to remove the air, and seal around the edges by pressing onto the perimeter. Cut a small slit in the center to release air, and crimp or decorate the edges as desired.

5. Use the back of a knife to create any pattern you desire on the surface of the pastry. Then, brush two coats of the milk-egg mixture across the entire surface, and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

6. Place in the oven approximately 25 minutes or until the surface is golden. The cake will be delicious when eaten warm after cooling for several minutes.

Galette de ce soir, non faite à la maison hélas, mais magnifique quand même.

Por varios meses, he intentado de empezar un grupo de conversación en español, y estoy muy satisfecho que hoy hemos hecho el primer “Tertulia” de Biloxi. KC, Yvonne, Dylan, y Will han venido y fue muy interesante de hablar con varias personas con varios niveles de español (incluyendo mi español podrido…). Creo que vamos a hacerlo cada viernes aldredor de las seis de la tarde; esta vez lo hicimos a Kokopelli’s y era muy bien. ¡Que exciting!