Sabine I know exactly what you're talking about. I have seen...

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Reply to Msg 19006

Sabine I know exactly what you're talking about.

I have seen people use french as a weapon to humiliate others.

I came to the US when I was 13 years old. I went to a good school in Haiti the school had a very strong french program.

Which why even to this day I understand when someone speaks french, I can read it and I understand what I read.

However, when people ask me do i speak french I always tell them I don't. The reason is if I was to speak french with someone I would have to pause and think about how i'm going to construct the sentence.

And to me that's not being fluent in a language.

If i'm caught in a jam somewhere, and people only speak french I'll get by but it will take some effort.

I work with a guy who's from Cameroon he speaks french sometimes he carries long conversations with me in french but as he speaks french to me I always answer him in English.

He says i'm lazy and that I should stop telling people that I don't speak french but in my book understanding a language and being able to say a few phrases here and there is not the same thing as being fluent.

I understand where you're coming from, I guess you and I have a different way of resolving the problem.

I think the best way to solve it would be for the Haitian government to create an education system where while children are in elementary school they learn the french language.

They can do everything else in Creole but they should have a very strong french program as well where kids can learn to speak french well, even english.

Because the truth is the people that own the big businesses in Haiti speak french.

I'm talking about the truly rich not the so-called wannabes.

These people usually send their children abroad to college.

We can eliminate french as the official language but we won't be able to tell these people that they should speak creole in their businesses.

That's why I think the best way to deal with the problem is to teach kids how to really speak french.

I love creole, I used to not speak creole in front of other people but I have made a conscientious effort to speak creole whenever possible.

I'm the one always telling my cousins that they need to speak more creole.

I love the language but i think we can be a bi-lingual country.

The best way to prevent people from using it as a weapon is to make sure everyone can speak it.

Zac, January 30 2010, 4:53 PM

Topic: French should not be official

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