French and Haitian Creole

Well, as one who has actually travelled the length and breadth of Haiti, I can tell you this:

1. Haitian Creole, though clearly evolved from French, is a distinct language.

2. It presents a considerable challenge for a French speaker to understand - though you certainly have an advantage over non-French speakers; a French speaker exposed to Haitian Creole will soon start to get a feel for the language in a way that a non-French speaker will not.*

3. There is an element of simple snobbery and class involved here. The top ruling elite of Haiti (5%) have always used French even though they understand Haitian Creole perfectly well. The use of French in "upper circles" has been a very handy way to define Haitian society and maintain the ruling elite. And any Haitian who is a French speaker is always likely to denigrate Creole as "bad French" rather than accept it as a language.

* The US military loved having Canadian troops in Haiti for this very reason!

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JJM : do you know if Haïtian differs much from Guadeloupean or Martiniquais ?

French and Kreyol Ayisien are two distinct languages as mention by JJM. Although haitian creole is based mostly on the french language it also has many spanish, west african, english, and indigenous(arawak & taino) elements which evolved to what is known as Kreyol Ayisien.

Also there are different accents of Haitian Creole and distinct words someone from the north uses that are not common in the south but they will definitely understand each other. A a person who only speaks creole or has never been in contact with "la langue moliere" will have a hard time understanding and communicating with a francophone.

Although a majority of elite haitian speaks french fluently, they must speak creole.. Actually, Creole is the mother tongue of ALL haitians no matter what class they come from. And there are many middle class haitians who speaks french as well but are not comfortable in expressing themselves in depth. Unfortunately, if a haitian speaks french he/she is considered more intelligent than a creolephone speaker.

Creole from Gwada and Martinique even ST. Croix are different in most part but they both can communicate with each other with less difficulty. Actually Martinique creole and Haitian creole are similar than creole speakers from Gwada.

Thanx Citoyen Du Monde.