Kenbe, pa lage
8 Comments
Just in case anyone up there missed it, here is how one Montréalais is trying to do his part to help Haiti:
A warning from a globe and mail reader, after the Lysiane Gagnon column:
LAKEFRONTER: 90% of the population speaks creole only: we should be carefull the francophones from Quebec sent to Haiti do not favour the very small french speaking population. We should be gratefull to many helpers learning creole...
Voila, meme dans ces moments ou un peu de dignité suffirait, il suffit de continuer l'équation: Québec is evil...Les racistes anti-quebecois frisent le délire...Nos missionnaires et secouristes iraient faire de nettoyage ethnique?
I have never been to Haiti, but I do know many people who have and while Créole/Kréyol is its own language, it is based upon French and Speaking French is an excellent base upon which one may communicate with Haitians. When I hear Créole, I don't really understand it, just pieces of it, but nonetheless, there is some communication. All of the Haitians that I know told me that anyone who went to school has a general understanding of French. I think going to Haiti knowing French loads more efficient than just knowing English. When I lived in Mauritania or visited Bénin, most people (that i encountered) didn't speak French as their first language, but they spoke it, nonetheless. I didn't speak Fon, Hassaniya, or Wolof (very well) but French was a huge asset.
To me, that comment is just an indirect way to put down French. How typical.