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Haitian Creole (; , ; or simply Creole (), is an African mixed French language-based creole language that is mutually unintelligible to native French speakers and spoken by 10 to 12million Haitians people worldwide. It is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it is the native language of the vast majority of the population. It is also the most widely spoken creole language in the world.
The three main dialects of Haitian Creole are the Northern, Central, and Southern dialects; the Northern dialect is predominantly spoken in Cap-Haïtien, the Central in Port-au-Prince, and the Southern in the Les Cayes area.
The language emerged from contact between French settlers and enslaved Africans during the Atlantic slave trade in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although its vocabulary largely derives from 18th-century French, its grammar is that of a West African Volta-Congo language branch, particularly the Fon language and Igbo language languages. It also has influences from Spanish, English, Portuguese, Taíno, and other West African languages. It is not mutually intelligible with standard French, and it also has its own distinctive grammar. Some estimate that Haitians are the largest community in the world to speak a modern creole language; (2025). 9780312341848, St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312341848 others estimate that more people speak Nigerian Pidgin.
Haitian Creole's use in communities and schools has been contentious since at least the 19thcentury. Some Haitians view French as inextricably linked to the legacy of colonialism and language compelled on the population by conquerors, while Creole has been maligned by Francophones as a miseducated person's French. Until the late 20thcentury, Haitian presidents spoke only standard French to their fellow citizens, and until the 21st century, all instruction at Haitian elementary schools was in modern standard French, a second language to most of their students.
Haitian Creole is also spoken in regions with Haitian diaspora, including other Caribbean islands, French Guiana, Martinique, France, Canada (particularly Quebec) and the United States (including the U.S. state of Louisiana). It is related to Antillean Creole, spoken in the Lesser Antilles, and to other French-based creole languages.
One theory estimates that Haitian Creole developed between 1680 and 1740. During the 17th century, French and Spanish colonizers produced tobacco, cotton, and sugarcane on the island. Throughout this period, the population was made of roughly equal numbers of engagés (white workers), gens de couleur libres (free people of colour) and slaves. The economy shifted more decisively into sugar production about 1690, just before the French colony of Saint-Domingue was officially recognized in 1697. The sugar crops needed a much larger labor force, which led to an increase in slave trafficking. In the 18th century an estimated 800,000 West Africans were enslaved and brought to Saint-Domingue. As the slave population increased, the proportion of French-speaking colonists decreased.
Many African slaves in the colony had come from Niger-Congo-speaking territory, and particularly speakers of Kwa languages, such as Gbe languages from West Africa and the Central Tano languages, and Bantu languages from Central Africa. Singler suggests that the number of Bantu speakers decreased while the number of Kwa speakers increased, with Gbe being the most dominant group. The first fifty years of italic=no's sugar boom coincided with emergent Gbe predominance in the French Caribbean. In the interval during which Singler hypothesizes the language evolved, the Gbe population was around 50% of the kidnapped enslaved population.
Classical French (françaisclassique) and italic=no (Norman language, italic=no and italic=no dialects, Gallo language and Picard language) were spoken during the 17th and 18th centuries in italic=no, as well as in New France and French West Africa. Slaves lacked a common means of communication and as a result would try to learn French to communicate with one another, though most were denied a formal education. With the constant trafficking and enslavement of Africans, the language became increasingly distinct from French. The language was also picked up by other members of the community and became used by the majority of those born in what is now Haiti.
Both Haitian Creole and French have also experienced semantic change: words that had a single meaning in the have changed or have been replaced in both languages. For example, "Ki jan ou rele?" ("What is your name?") corresponds to the French "Comment vous appelez‑vous ?". Although the average French speaker would not understand this phrase, every word in it is in fact of French origin: qui "who"; genre "manner"; vous "you", and héler "to call", but the verb héler has been replaced by appeler in modern French and reduced to a meaning of "to flag down".
Claire Lefebvre proposed the theory of relexification, arguing that the process of relexification (the replacement of the phonological representation of a substratum lexical item with the phonological representation of a superstratum lexical item, so that the Haitian creole lexical item looks like French, but works like the substratum language(s)) was central in the development of Haitian Creole.
The Fon language, also known as the Fongbe language, is a modern Gbe languages native to Benin, Nigeria and Togo in West Africa. This language has a grammatical structure similar to Haitian Creole, possibly making Creole a relexification of Fon with vocabulary from French. The two languages are often compared:
| la maison | afe a | kay la | the house |
| Ayiti, Ayti | Ayiti, Haiti | The name of the country and the island. It means "Land of Great Mountains" |
| Gonaibo | Gonayiv, or Gonaïves | The biggest city and capital of Artibonite |
| Yaguana | Leyogàn, Léogane | A coastal town south of Port-au-Prince and capital of the cacicat of Xaragua |
| Guanabo | Gonav, Gonâve or Lagonav | The biggest satellite island of Hispaniola and last refuge of the Taino |
| Jatibonico | Latibonit or Artibonite River | The longest river of Hispaniola and the biggest and most populous département of Haiti. In Taino the word mean "sacred water" |
| Canari | Kannari | A clay pot to keep water cool |
| Amani-y | Amani-y | The nickname of the town of Saint-Marc and famous beach |
| Mamey | Mamey, or Abriko | The nickname of the town of Abricots |
| Tiburon | Tibiwon | The same word means "Tiburon", a coastal town in the South Peninsula (also called Tiburon Peninsula) and a river near the town |
| Mabouya | Mabouya | Iguana |
| Mabi | Mabi | A bitter drink known in the West Indies as Mauby |
| Bajacu | Bayakou | The northern star, dawn, a Vodoun Loa associated with the star |
There is a large population in Haiti that speaks only Haitian Creole, whether under formal or informal conditions:
Historically, the education system has been French-dominant. Except the children of elites, many had to drop out of school because learning French was very challenging to them and they had a hard time to follow up. The Bernard Reform of 1978 tried to introduce Creole as the teaching language in the first four years of primary school; however, the reform overall was not very successful. The use of Creole has grown; after the earthquake in 2010, basic education became free and more accessible to the monolingual masses. In the 2010s, the government has attempted to expand the use of Creole and improve the school system.
| { class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em; text-align: center;" | |||
| b | bagay | bow | |
| ch | cho | shoe | |
| d | dous | do | |
| f | fig | festival | |
| g | gwo | gain | |
| j | jedi | mea sure | |
| k | kle | s ky | |
| l | liv | c lean | |
| m | machin | mother | |
| n | nòt | note | |
| ng | bildi ng | feeli ng | |
| p | pase | s py | |
| r | rezon | between go and lo ch | |
| s | sis | six | |
| t | tout | to | |
| v | vyann | vent | |
| z | zewo | zero | |
| dj | djaz | jazz | |
| w | wi | we | |
| y | p ye | yes | |
| ui | uit | roughly like s weet |
| a (or à before an n) | ab ako p àn | br a | |
| e | al e | h ey | |
| è | f èt | f estival | |
| i | l ide | mach ine | |
| o | oranj | bl ow | |
| ò | dey ò | s ort | |
| ou | n ou | y ou | |
| an (when not followed by a vowel) | anpil | many | |
| en (when not followed by a vowel) | mw en | en | |
| on (when not followed by a vowel) | t ont on | tone |
The McConnell–Laubach orthography received substantial criticism from members of the Haitian elite. Haitian scholar Charles Pressoir critiqued the McConnell–Laubach orthography for its lack of codified front rounded vowels, which are typically used only by francophone elites. Another criticism was of the broad use of the letters , , and , which Pressoir argued looked "too American". This criticism of the "American look" of the orthography was shared by many educated Haitians, who also criticized its association with Protestantism. The last of Pressoir's criticisms was that "the use of the circumflex to mark nasalized vowels" treated nasal sounds differently from the way they are represented in French, which he feared would inhibit the learning of French.
The creation of the orthography was essentially an articulation of the language ideologies of those involved and brought out political and social tensions between competing groups. A large portion of this tension lay in the ideology held by many that the French language is superior, which led to resentment of the language by some Haitians and an admiration for it from others. This orthographical controversy boiled down to an attempt to unify a conception of Haitian national identity. Where and seemed too Anglo-Saxon and American imperialistic, and were symbolic of French colonialism.
Before Haitian Creole orthography was standardized in the late 20th century, spelling varied, but was based on subjecting spoken HaitianCreole to written French, a language whose spelling has a complicated relation to pronunciation. Unlike the phonetic orthography, French orthography of HaitianCreole is not standardized and varies according to the writer; some use exact French spelling, others adjust the spelling of certain words to represent pronunciation of the cognate in HaitianCreole, removing the silent letters. For example:
Li ale travay nan maten ( "He goes to work in the morning") could be transcribed as:
Many grammatical features, particularly the pluralization of nouns and indication of possession, are indicated by appending certain markers, like yo, to the main word. There has been a debate going on for some years as to whether these markers are or , and if punctuation such as the hyphen should be used to connect them to the word.
Although the language's vocabulary has many words related to their French-language cognates, its sentence structure is like that of the West African Fon language.
| my bike | |||
| my bikes |
| pa mwen an | le mien | mine (masculine) |
| la mienne | mine (feminine) | |
| pa ou a | le tien | yours (masculine) |
| la tienne | yours (feminine) | |
| pa li a | le sien | his/hers/its (masculine) |
| la sienne | his/hers/its (feminine) | |
| pa nou an | le/la nôtre | ours |
| le/la vôtre | yours ("of you-PLURAL") | |
| pa yo a | le/la leur | theirs |
| pa mwen yo | les miens | mine |
| les miennes | ||
| pa ou yo | les tiens | yours |
| les tiennes | ||
| pa li yo | les siens | his/hers/its |
| les siennes | ||
| pa nou yo | les nôtres | ours |
| les vôtres | yours ("of you-PLURAL") | |
| pa yo | les leurs | theirs |
| liv yo | les livres | the books |
| machin yo | les voitures | the cars |
| tifi yo met wòb | les filles mettent des robes | the girls put on dresses |
(Têzil 2019, p. 9, notes: "This variety is frequently subject to depreciative sic attitudes, as Capois speakers face the predominance of Port-au-Prince Creole...")
Possession does not indicate definiteness ("my friend" as opposed to "a friend of mine"), and possessive constructions are often followed by a definite article.
| lajan li | son argent | his money |
| her money | ||
| fanmi mwen | ma famille | my family |
| fanmi m | ||
| fanmi an m (Capois dialect) | ||
| kay yo | leur maison | their house |
| leurs maisons | their houses | |
| papa ou | ton père | your father |
| papa w | ||
| chat Pyè a | le chat de Pierre | Pierre's cat |
| chèz Marie a | la chaise de Marie | Marie's chair |
| zanmi papa Jean | l'ami du père de Jean | Jean's father's friend |
| papa vwazen zanmi nou | le père du voisin de notre ami | our friend's neighbor's father |
| on kouto | un couteau | a knife |
| yon kouto | ||
| on kravat | une cravate | a necktie |
| yon kravat |
| kravat la | la cravate | the tie | |
| liv la | le livre | the book | |
| kay la | la maison | the house | From French "la cahut(t)e" (English "hut, shack") |
| kaw la | le corbeau | the crow |
If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by a nasal vowel, the definite article is lan:
| lanp lan | la lampe | the lamp |
| bank lan | la banque | the bank |
If the last sound is an oral vowel and is preceded by an oral consonant, the definite article is a:
| kouto a | le couteau | the knife |
| peyi a | le pays | the country |
If the last sound is any oral vowel other than i or ou and is preceded by a nasal stop, then the definite article is also a:
| lame a | l'armée | the army |
| anana a | l'ananas | the pineapple |
| dine a | le dîner | the dinner |
| nò a | le nord | the north |
If a word ends in mi, mou, ni, nou, or if it ends with any nasal vowel, then the definite article is an:
| fanmi an | la famille | the family |
| jenou an | le genou | the knee |
| chen an | le chien | the dog |
| pon an | le pont | the bridge |
If the last sound is a nasal stop, the definite article is nan, but may also be lan:
| machin nan | la voiture | the car | |
| machin lan | |||
| telefonn nan | le téléphone | the telephone | The spelling "telefòn" is also attested. |
| telefonn lan | |||
| fanm nan | la femme | the woman | |
| fanm lan |
| jaden sa bèl | ce jardin est beau | this garden is beautiful |
| that garden is beautiful |
As in English, it may also be used as a pronoun, replacing a noun:
| sa se zanmi mwen | c'est mon ami | this is my friend |
| that is my friend | ||
| sa se chen frè mwen | c'est le chien de mon frère | this is my brother's dog |
| that is my brother's dog |
| li ale travay nan maten | il va au travail le matin | he goes to work in the morning |
| elle va au travail le matin | she goes to work in the morning | |
| li dòmi aswè | il dort le soir | he sleeps in the evening |
| elle dort le soir | she sleeps in the evening | |
| li li Bib la | il lit la Bible | he reads the Bible |
| elle lit la Bible | she reads the Bible | |
| mwen fè manje | je fais à manger | I make food |
| I cook | ||
| nou toujou etidye | nous étudions toujours | we always study |
The verb se (pronounced similarly to the English word "say") is used to link a subject with a predicate nominative:
| li se frè mwen | c'est mon frère | he is my brother |
| mwen se yon doktè | je suis médecin | I'm a doctor |
| je suis docteur | ||
| sa se yon pyebwa mango | c'est un manguier | this is a mango tree |
| that is a mango tree | ||
| nou se zanmi | nous sommes amis | we are friends |
The subject of a sentence with se might not be included. In which case, the sentence is interpreted as if the subject were sa ("this" or "that") or li ("he", "she" or "it"):
| se yon bon ide | c'est une bonne idée | that's a good idea |
| this is a good idea | ||
| se nouvo chemiz mwen | c'est ma nouvelle chemise | that's my new shirt |
| this is my new shirt |
To express "I want to be", usually vin ("tobecome") is used instead of se.
| li pral vin bofrè m | il va devenir mon beau-frère | he will be my | he will be my stepbrother |
| li pral vin bofrè mwen | |||
| mwen vle vin yon doktè | je veux devenir docteur | I want to become a doctor | |
| sa pral vin yon pye mango | ça va devenir un manguier | that will become a mango tree | |
| this will become a mango tree | |||
| nou pral vin zanmi | nous allons devenir amis | we will be friends | |
Ye also means "tobe", but is placed exclusively at the end of a sentence, after the predicate and the subject (in that order):
| mwen se Ayisyen | je suis haïtien | I am Haitian |
| Ayisyen mwen ye | ||
| Kòman ou ye? | Comment + vous + êtes ("Comment êtes-vous?") | How are you? |
Haitian Creole has stative verbs, which means that the verb "tobe" is not covert when followed by an adjective. Therefore, malad means both "sick" and "":
| mwen gen yon sè ki malad | j'ai une sœur malade | I have a sick sister |
| sè mwen malad | ma sœur est malade | my sister is sick |
| mwen gen lajan nan bank lan | j'ai de l'argent dans la banque | I have money in the bank |
| gen anpil Ayisyen nan Florid | il y a beaucoup d'Haïtiens en Floride | there are many Haitians in Florida |
| gen on moun la | il y a quelqu'un là | there is someone here |
| there is someone there | ||
| pa gen moun la | il n'y a personne là | there is nobody here |
| there is nobody there |
| Èske ou konnen non li? | Est-ce que tu connais son nom? | Do you know his name? |
| Do you know her name? | ||
| mwen konnen kote li ye | je sais où il est | I know where he is |
| je sais où elle est | I know where she is | |
| Mwen konn fè manje | Je sais comment faire à manger | I know how to cook ( "I know how to make food") |
| Èske ou konn ale Ayiti? | Est-ce que tu as été en Haïti? | Have you been to Haiti? ( "Do you know to go to Haiti?") |
| Li pa konn li franse | Il ne sait pas lire le français | He cannot read French ( "He doesn't know how to read French") |
| Elle ne sait pas lire le français | She cannot read French ( "She doesn't know how to read French") |
| Kòman ou fè pale kreyòl? | Comment as-tu appris à parler Créole? | How did you learn to speak Haitian Creole? |
| Marie konn fè mayi moulen. | Marie sait faire de la farine de maïs. | Marie knows how to make cornmeal. |
| mwen ka ale demen | je peux aller demain | I can go tomorrow |
| petèt mwen ka fè sa demen | je peux peut-être faire ça demain | maybe I can do that tomorrow |
| nou ka ale pita | nous pouvons aller plus tard | we can go later |
| mwen pale kreyòl | je parle créole | I speak Creole |
When the basic form of is used without any verb markers, it is generally understood as referring to the past:
| mwen manje | j'ai mangé | I ate |
| ou manje | tu as mangé | you ate |
| li manje | il a mangé | he ate |
| elle a mangé | she ate | |
| nou manje | nous avons mangé | we ate |
| yo manje | ils ont mangé | they ate |
| elles ont mangé |
Manje means both "food" and "to eat", as manger does in Canadian French; m ap manje bon manje means "I am eating good food".
For other tenses, special "tense marker" words are placed before the verb. The basic ones are:
| te | simple past | from French été ("been") |
| t ap | past progressive | a combination of te and ap, "was doing" |
| ap | present progressive | with ap and a, the nearly always take the short form (m ap, l ap, n ap, y ap, etc.). From 18th-century French être après, progressive form |
| a | future tense | some limitations on use. From French avoir à ("to have to") |
| pral | near or definite future tense | translates to "going to". Contraction of French pour aller ("going to") |
| ta | conditional future | a combination of te and a ("will do") |
| mwen te manje | I ate |
| I had eaten | |
| ou te manje | you ate |
| you had eaten | |
| li te manje | he ate |
| she ate | |
| he had eaten | |
| she had eaten | |
| nou te manje | we ate |
| we had eaten | |
| yo te manje | they ate |
| they had eaten |
Past progressive:
| mwen t ap manje | I was eating |
| ou t ap manje | you were eating |
| li t ap manje | he was eating |
| she was eating | |
| nou t ap manje | we were eating |
| yo t ap manje | they were eating |
Present progressive:
| m ap manje | I am eating |
| w ap manje | you are eating |
| l ap manje | he is eating |
| she is eating | |
| n ap manje | we are eating |
| y ap manje | they are eating |
For the present progressive, it is customary, though not necessary, to add kounyea ("rightnow"):
| m ap manje kounye a | I am eating right now |
| y ap manje kounye a | they are eating right now |
Also, ap manje can mean "will eat" depending on the context of the sentence:
| m ap manje apre m priye | I will eat after I pray |
| I am eating after I pray | |
| mwen p ap di sa | I will not say that |
| I am not saying that |
Near or definite Future tense:
| mwen pral manje | I am going to eat |
| ou pral manje | you are going to eat |
| li pral manje | he is going to eat |
| she is going to eat | |
| nou pral manje | we are going to eat |
| yo pral manje | they are going to eat |
| n a wè pita | see you later ( "we will see later") |
Other examples:
| mwen te wè zanmi ou yè | I saw your friend yesterday |
| nou te pale lontan | we spoke for a long time |
| lè l te gen uit an... | when he was eight years old... |
| when she was eight years old... | |
| m a travay | I will work |
| m pral travay | I'm going to work |
| n a li l demen | we'll read it tomorrow |
| nou pral li l demen | we are going to read it tomorrow |
| mwen t ap mache epi m te wè yon chen | I was walking and I saw a dog |
Recent past markers include fèk and sòt (both mean "just" or "just now" and are often used together):
| mwen fèk sòt antre kay la | I just entered the house |
A verb grammatical mood marker is ta, corresponding to English "would" and equivalent to the French conditional tense:
| yo ta renmen jwe | they would like to play |
| mwen ta vini si m te gen yon machin | I would come if I had a car |
| li ta bliye w si ou pa t la | he would forget you if you weren't here |
| she would forget you if you weren't here |
| Rose pa vle ale | Rose doesn't want to go |
| Rose pa t vle ale | Rose didn't want to go |
Haitian Creole creates and borrows new words to describe new or old concepts and realities. Examples of this are fè bak which was borrowed from English and means "to move backwards" (the original word derived from French is rekile from reculer), and also from English, napkin, which is being used as well as tòchon, from the French torchon.
| ablado | "a talker" | ||
| anasi | spider | ||
| annanna | ; also used in French | pineapple | |
| Ayiti | Haiti ("mountainous land") | ||
| bagay | thing | ||
| bannann | banana/plantain | ||
| bekàn | bicycle | ||
| bokit | bucket | ||
| bòkò | sorcerer | ||
| Bondye | God | ||
| chenèt | (French Antilles) | gap between the two front teeth | |
| chouk | poke | ||
| dekabès | two-headed win during dominos | ||
| dèyè | behind | ||
| diri | rice | ||
| èkondisyone | /ɛkondisjone/ | air conditioner | air conditioner |
| Etazini | United States | ||
| fig | banana | ||
| je | eye | ||
| kannistè | canister | tin can | |
| kay | house | ||
| kle | key, wrench | ||
| kle kola | bottle opener | ||
| cola | |||
| kònfleks | corn flakes | breakfast cereal | |
| kawotchou | tire | ||
| lalin | moon | ||
| li | he, she, him, her, it | ||
| makak | monkey | ||
| manbo | or | vodou priestess | |
| marasa | twins | ||
| matant | aunt, aged woman | ||
| moun | people, person | ||
| mwen | I, me, my, myself | ||
| nimewo | number | ||
| oungan | vodou priest | ||
| piman | a very hot chile pepper | ||
| pann | clothesline | ||
| podyab | or | poor devil | |
| pwa | bean | ||
| sapat | ; | sandal | |
| seyfing | surfing | sea-surfing | |
| tonton | uncle, aged man | ||
| vwazen | neighbor | ||
| zonbi | Kongo: nzumbi | soulless corpse, living dead, ghost, zombie | |
| zwazo | bird |
Etymologically, the word nèg is derived from the French nègre and is cognate with the Spanish negro ("black", both the black and the black people).
There are many other Haitian Creole terms for specific tones of skin including grimo, bren, roz, and mawon. Some Haitians consider such labels as offensive because of their association with color discrimination and the Haitian class system, while others use the terms freely.
| Papa Nou ki nan sièl, ké non ou jouinn tout réspè, ké règn ou vini, ké volonté ou akonpli , sou té a tankou nan sièl. Ban nou jod a pin chak jou nou, padonnin nou péché nou, tankou nou padonnin moun ki ofansé nou. Pa minnin nou nan tentasion, min délivré nou an-ba malin an. Amen. | Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. |
| A demen! | See you tomorrow! |
| A pi ta! | See you later! |
| Adye! | Good bye! (permanently) |
| Anchante! | Nice to meet you! (. "enchanted!") |
| Bon apre-midi! | Good afternoon! |
| Bòn chans! | Good luck! |
| Bòn nui! | Good night! |
| Bonjou! | Good day! |
| Good morning! | |
| Bonswa! | Good evening |
| Dezole! | Sorry! |
| Eskize m! | Excuse me! |
| Kenbe la! | Hang in there! (informal) |
| Ki jan ou rele? | What's your name? |
| Ki non ou? | |
| Ki non w? | |
| Kòman ou rele? | |
| Mwen rele | My name is... |
| Non m se. | |
| Ki jan ou ye? | How are you? |
| Ki laj ou? | How old are you? (. "What is your age?") |
| Ki laj ou genyen? | |
| Kòman ou ye? | How are you? |
| Kon si, kon sa | So, so |
| Kontinye konsa! | Keep it up! |
| M ap boule | I'm managing (informal; . "I'm burning") (common response to sa kap fèt and sak pase) |
| M ap kenbe | I'm hanging on (informal) |
| M ap viv | I'm living |
| Mal | Bad |
| Men wi | Of course |
| Mèsi | Thank you |
| Mèsi anpil | Many thanks |
| Mwen byen | I'm well |
| Mwen dakò | I agree |
| Mwen gen an | I'm years old |
| Mwen la | I'm so-so (informal; . "I'm here") |
| N a wè pita! | See you later! (. "We will see later!") |
| Orevwa! | Good bye (temporarily) |
| Pa mal | Not bad |
| Pa pi mal | Not so bad |
| Padon! | Pardon! |
| Sorry! | |
| Move! | |
| Padone m! | Pardon me! |
| Forgive me! | |
| Pòte w byen! | Take care! (. "Carry yourself well!") |
| Sa k ap fèt? | What's going on? (informal) |
| What's up? (informal) | |
| Sa k pase? | What's happening? (informal) |
| What's up? (informal) | |
| Tout al byen | All is well (. "All goes well") |
| Tout bagay anfòm | Everything is fine (. "Everything is in form") |
| Tout pa bon | All is not well (. "All is not good") |
Haitian Creole and Haitian culture are taught in many colleges in the United States and the Bahamas. York College at the City University of New York features a minor in Haitian Creole. Indiana University's Albert Valdman founded the country's first Creole Institute where Haitian Creole, among other facets of Haiti, were studied and researched. The University of Kansas, Lawrence has an Institute of Haitian studies, founded by Bryant Freeman. The University of Massachusetts Boston, Florida International University, and Indiana University Bloomington offer seminars and courses annually at their Haitian Creole Summer Institutes. Brown University, University of Miami, Tulane University, and Duke University also offer Haitian Creole classes, and Columbia University and NYU have jointly offered a course since 2015. The University of Chicago began offering Creole courses in 2010.
, the New York City Department of Education counted 2,838 Haitian Creole-speaking English-language learners (ELLs) in the city's K–12 schools, making it the seventh most common home language of ELLs citywide and the fifth most common home language of Brooklyn ELLs. Because of the large population of Haitian Creole-speaking students within NYC schools, various organizations have been established to respond to the needs of these students. For example, Flanbwayan and Gran Chimen Sant Kiltirèl, both located in Brooklyn, New York, aim to promote education and Haitian culture through advocacy, literacy projects, and cultural/artistic endeavors.
Several smartphone apps have been released, including learning with flashcards by Byki and two medical dictionaries, one by Educa Vision and a second by Ultralingua, the latter of which includes an audio phrase book and a section on cultural anthropology.
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