Sunday, February 05, 2012

Super Bowl XLVI PC Watch: Haitians Don’t Speak French, Al!

By Nicholas Stix

At 7:21 p.m., a camera showed the blind father of Haitian-born, Giants star defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul sitting in the stands, listening to the game on a radio or gizmo. Legendary play-by-play man Al Michaels “explained,” helpfully,

He’s listening to the game in his native French.

Unless they went out of their way to take classes in it, Haitians don’t speak French. They speak Haitian Creole. There’s a world of difference between the two.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Read a story about this father. His native language IS French. Michaels always does his homework. You, on the other hand, are just a cheap shot artist.

Anonymous said...

actually anonymous youre wrong as hell! im haitian and i damn sure dont speak french . we dont speak french in haiti.some people do but his father doesnt. watcth this http://espn.go.com/videohub/video/clip?id=7464310&categoryid=2378529
and you clearly hear (if you know what the difference is between french and creole)his father speaking creole. al micheals got it wrong and should be corrected. just like Bad Boys 2 when the got the haitian characters all wrong. we dont have dreds and drive muscle cars. im pissed because they were in miami and they still got the haitian characters dead wrong. im from lil haiti(miami) and im 100% haitian and im proud of it it. make sure when you speak about my countrymen you get the info correct. by the way big ups to all my haitians sports Mario Elie,Sam Dalembert,JPP and few more...

Fanm Kreyol said...

Anonymous, Al Michaels might have gotten the language mixed up but to say Haitians do not speak French is totally wrong. Yes JPP's father was speaking Haitian-Creole (Kreyol) during the interview. However, French is the primary language that is taught in all schools private and public; it is also the official language in Haiti. Haitian-Creole was not even considered a language; not until then President Aristide request that the a grammar of the language be formed and taught in the schools. This took place in the early 1990's. You need to be aware that not all Haitians that are educated knows how to read or write Creole but they do know how to read, write and speak French, the official language of the country. The reason for this is that not all schools were willing to teach it. Haitian-Creole is not a language that is accepted all over the world as an official language of Haiti.
As a Haitian or Haitian descent person, you should be mindful that your statement is totally incorrect that Haitian do not speak French. Like I stated above, French is the official language of Haiti. If someone does not know much about Haiti, can get it confused because if you google or bing a question on information on Haiti, it will pop up that the official language is French.
FYI, all official documents,=such as a birth certificate, death certificate, deed to land, contracts and etc. will be written in French not Haitian-Creole (Kreyol).
I am of Haitian descent and have traveled to and from Haiti for many of years and know what I am talking about. Yes Anonymous, I do speak Kreyol very well but also took the time to learn and understand the country of from ancestors.
pa kritike lòt moun, si w pa gen bon enfòmasyon.

Signing out, san pousan ayisyen

hsithekid said...

Whoever said Haitians don't speak French is absolutely correct. Haitians speak Creole; we learned French. For example if a Haitian is born in Haiti and don't have an education above high school level, he or she doesn't speak. In most cases, people who have completed college level don't speak French fluently. Just because a Haitian person can read or write French doesn't mean that they speak French. We are able to read and write it because it is what being taught at school. Go 80-90% of Haitians don't speak or not fluent in French. As Haitians, we need to stop lying to ourselves and everyone else. We instilled the French mentality in our minds thinking that we are so sophisticated because we French. We need to embrace our inheritance. Somehow, our forefathers invented a way of communications that enable to be freed from the French. Now, we want to reject our inheritance and embrace French. We speak Creole, not French.

Anonymous said...

THE LAST COMMENTATOR IS RIGHT ON, WE DON'T SPEAK FRENCH IN HAITI, WE LEARN FRENCH. WE AS HAITIANS ARE BORN WITH CREOLE IN OUR BLOOD. FEW OF THE ISLANDS ALSO CHOOSE TO DENY THEIR ANCESTRY, FOR EX. ST.LUCIA, JAMAICA AND A FEW TO NAME A FEW, IF YOU SPEAK TO THE OLDER GENERATION IN CREOLE THEY WILL CLEARLY UNDERSTAND YOU