WEBVTT 00:00:02.452 --> 00:00:04.682 Hi guys. 00:00:04.682 --> 00:00:05.872 (sigh) 00:00:05.872 --> 00:00:10.462 This is a response to my video "Les consequences du Francais en Haiti" 00:00:10.462 --> 00:00:14.562 which I did it in French talking about the consequences of French in Haiti. 00:00:15.231 --> 00:00:19.743 I published this in April and I have the link to it up here and down there 00:00:19.743 --> 00:00:21.633 in my description box. 00:00:21.633 --> 00:00:25.633 I got some really strong reactions to that post and it seems like I really hit a 00:00:25.633 --> 00:00:32.503 nerve for some people so I'm dedicating this week's message to response and debunk 00:00:32.503 --> 00:00:35.603 the prevalent counter arguments I received 00:00:35.603 --> 00:00:38.173 Here are the main points I made in that video: 00:00:38.173 --> 00:00:42.173 "French hinders comunication in self-expression among Haitians 00:00:42.173 --> 00:00:46.173 It divides the Haitian population and fosters an inferiority complex for the 00:00:46.173 --> 00:00:48.499 majority of the population. 00:00:48.499 --> 00:00:54.039 Haitions sustitute someone's ability to muster a few words in French for wisdom or 00:00:54.039 --> 00:01:00.019 intelligence.Haitions fail to realize that what they are seeing is more important 00:01:00.019 --> 00:01:02.745 than the language they used to say in. 00:01:02.745 --> 00:01:06.745 And lastly, Haitians by and large cannot speak French. 00:01:06.745 --> 00:01:11.515 These are fairly common and well-known issues I presented to support my proposal 00:01:11.515 --> 00:01:15.515 of eliminating French as one of the two official languages of Haiti. 00:01:15.515 --> 00:01:19.515 But many didn't want to hear it and here are some of the responses that I want to 00:01:19.515 --> 00:01:20.289 address. 00:01:20.289 --> 00:01:24.289 The first one is that the problem of Haiti is one of education not of language. 00:01:24.289 --> 00:01:26.729 Here is my issue with that point. 00:01:26.729 --> 00:01:30.729 Everyone knows that the state of education in Haiti is dire, that has always been the 00:01:30.729 --> 00:01:34.609 case in Haiti but have you stopped to think that language is the basis of 00:01:34.609 --> 00:01:38.609 learning and education, so if you are attempting to teach in a language that is 00:01:38.609 --> 00:01:42.609 cumbersome, unnatural and foreign to kids then you keep them at a disadvantage. 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:46.609 The medium that allows you to communicate the knowledge you are attempting to pass 00:01:46.609 --> 00:01:48.479 on is extremely relevant. 00:01:48.479 --> 00:01:52.289 My experience as a student in Haiti was that many of my teachers were not fluent 00:01:52.289 --> 00:01:53.630 in French, far from. 00:01:53.630 --> 00:01:58.360 So yes, there is an educational crisis in Haiti and this isn't breaking news to 00:01:58.360 --> 00:02:03.030 anyone. But the fact that we are insisting on sticking to French as the academic 00:02:03.030 --> 00:02:04.806 language is to our own detriment. 00:02:04.806 --> 00:02:10.166 It is pedagogically impractical and frankly at this point pretty irresponsible 00:02:10.166 --> 00:02:14.166 The other thing people say that kind of goes along with the lack of education 00:02:14.166 --> 00:02:18.166 argument is that well, we shouldn't just limit our kids to Creole we should teach 00:02:18.166 --> 00:02:22.166 them French, Spanish, German, Italian, everything. 00:02:22.170 --> 00:02:26.620 Ok, well, do I want our kids to learn multiple languages? 00:02:26.620 --> 00:02:28.160 Of course. 00:02:28.160 --> 00:02:32.160 I would like every little Haitian out there to know as many languages as the 00:02:32.160 --> 00:02:36.640 human brain can retain and my argument has never been to eradicate French from 00:02:36.640 --> 00:02:41.710 Haitian schools but rather to repeal its status as an official language of the 00:02:41.710 --> 00:02:46.820 republic of Haiti and instead prioritize Creole which is the language that every 00:02:46.820 --> 00:02:48.180 last Haitian speaks. 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:50.700 Luxembourg has 3 official languages. 00:02:50.700 --> 00:02:54.700 One of them I'm sure most of people have never heard of, it's called Luxembourgish 00:02:54.700 --> 00:02:58.700 and it is the language that is indigenous to its people, the language of the heart 00:02:58.700 --> 00:03:00.630 for them so to speak. 00:03:00.916 --> 00:03:04.916 Even though, not many people outside of Luxembourg use it, that is the language 00:03:04.916 --> 00:03:09.604 that kids are taught in the first year of primary school before switching to German 00:03:09.604 --> 00:03:11.124 and then French. 00:03:11.346 --> 00:03:15.346 And proficiency and all three of their official languages is required for 00:03:15.346 --> 00:03:17.204 graduation from secondary school. 00:03:17.204 --> 00:03:19.854 Now as you can see they are somehow able to pull off a 00:03:19.854 --> 00:03:23.854 trilingual educational system to go along with the fact that they have 3 offical 00:03:23.854 --> 00:03:28.483 languages meaning their important legislature, and official national affairs 00:03:28.483 --> 00:03:31.453 are recorded and reported steadily in all 3 of these languages, 00:03:31.453 --> 00:03:33.347 even the one that we've never heard of. 00:03:33.347 --> 00:03:35.357 What's the point of this little sidebar? 00:03:35.357 --> 00:03:37.987 Well, it isn't a sidebar at all. 00:03:37.987 --> 00:03:41.987 It is to answer to the people who would rather say: let's just teach our Haitian 00:03:41.987 --> 00:03:45.987 kids every language on the planet instead of focusing on teaching them in their 00:03:45.987 --> 00:03:48.037 primary language, Creole. 00:03:48.037 --> 00:03:54.057 A language that is said to be official in our country yet all the important business 00:03:54.057 --> 00:03:58.057 political, professional and administrative dealings are not recorded or reported 00:03:58.057 --> 00:03:59.037 in Creole. 00:03:59.037 --> 00:04:03.037 Over the years, when nationally elected officials address the population, 00:04:03.037 --> 00:04:07.037 they deliver speeches in French and all while everyone knows that Creole 00:04:07.037 --> 00:04:08.884 is the language. 00:04:08.884 --> 00:04:13.954 Creole is constitutionally one of our official languages but that's only 00:04:13.954 --> 00:04:17.954 "a L'oral" like people say, meaning it's only something we say. 00:04:18.018 --> 00:04:21.098 Have we even tried to apply it in that capacity? 00:04:21.098 --> 00:04:27.108 Have we even tried before we start crying how it is unsustainable as a global means 00:04:27.108 --> 00:04:29.248 of communication for our children? 00:04:29.248 --> 00:04:33.538 What kills me is that these people objecting so passionately against the 00:04:33.538 --> 00:04:38.822 removal of French are the first to boast that we defeated French in 1804 00:04:38.822 --> 00:04:42.822 and that's the one thing from which they derive Haitian pride, yet they don't 00:04:42.822 --> 00:04:45.799 realize that they are perpetuating oppression, 00:04:45.799 --> 00:04:51.049 holding stubbornly onto the language and the ways of the French at the expense of 00:04:51.049 --> 00:04:52.169 their own culture. 00:04:52.169 --> 00:04:56.169 For those of you telling me that back in the days, you and your friends used to 00:04:56.169 --> 00:05:00.069 speak French, that's like me say every Haitian speaks English because my friends 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:00.802 and I speak it. 00:05:00.802 --> 00:05:02.572 That doesn't mean anything. 00:05:02.572 --> 00:05:06.572 If you look at the data, education has always been a privilege reserved for the 00:05:06.572 --> 00:05:10.572 very few in Haiti and only the educated can manage to speak a little French in 00:05:10.572 --> 00:05:11.522 Haiti ergo. 00:05:11.522 --> 00:05:15.522 Certain people's experiences back in the day when things were a little bit better 00:05:15.522 --> 00:05:18.972 for some doesn't demonstrate that at some point French worked in Haiti. 00:05:18.972 --> 00:05:20.878 It never did and never will. 00:05:20.878 --> 00:05:26.058 Now, the other argument I got quite a bit is that we can't get rid of French 00:05:26.058 --> 00:05:30.058 because we need something to keep us connected to the rest of the world and 00:05:30.058 --> 00:05:33.788 people were also saying that having a Creole take-over 00:05:33.788 --> 00:05:37.448 now would set us back because we would have to start from scratch 00:05:37.448 --> 00:05:40.138 since Creole is such an unformulated language. 00:05:40.715 --> 00:05:45.339 Ok, first of all, I hate to break it to you but the world has left Haiti behind 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:49.957 a long time ago, and it's not just because our people don't speak French, 00:05:49.957 --> 00:05:53.957 it's because we have not invested or educated our people. 00:05:53.957 --> 00:05:57.957 Speaking French is not what's going to get connected or keep us connected to the 00:05:57.957 --> 00:06:01.957 world because we don't need French to facilitate international exchanges 00:06:01.957 --> 00:06:05.957 and to implement French as a language of the Haitian people would require the same 00:06:05.957 --> 00:06:09.957 effort as to implement any other language outside of Creole. 00:06:09.957 --> 00:06:11.847 With Creole we have an advantage, 00:06:11.847 --> 00:06:14.288 that's our mother tongue, we already speak it. 00:06:14.288 --> 00:06:16.419 We have to make the distinction: 00:06:16.419 --> 00:06:20.419 To teach French is not the same as educating our people. 00:06:20.419 --> 00:06:24.649 Here in the USA, everyone speaks the same language, yet you will see that an 00:06:24.649 --> 00:06:28.649 uneducated person cannot articulate or express themselves. 00:06:28.649 --> 00:06:32.649 The reason why our Creole-speaking masses sound uneducated oftentimes 00:06:32.649 --> 00:06:37.244 is because they are uneducated,not because they are speaking Creole. 00:06:37.244 --> 00:06:42.484 However, French can make a smart and educated Haitian sound stupid 00:06:42.484 --> 00:06:46.484 And a stupid Haitian who can remember their French vocab and grammar rules is 00:06:46.484 --> 00:06:52.276 oftentimes reveal and considered smart,no matter how dimwitted they might be. 00:06:52.276 --> 00:06:54.834 There is something really wrong with this picture. 00:06:54.834 --> 00:07:00.067 I was lucky enough to listen to Maurice Sixto at a young age and discovered how 00:07:00.067 --> 00:07:05.767 he was able to claim such profound, culturally relevant,poetic and educational 00:07:05.767 --> 00:07:07.257 stories in Creole. 00:07:07.834 --> 00:07:11.834 He was well spoken and most importantly Haitians could understand and truly 00:07:11.834 --> 00:07:15.834 connect with the deeper meaning of what he was sharing. 00:07:15.834 --> 00:07:20.245 Back then, he wielded the Creole language, which some attempt to devoid of all 00:07:20.245 --> 00:07:24.306 virtues, brilliantly, because he was educated. 00:07:24.306 --> 00:07:29.326 He was able to use his imagination and talent to enrich the language. 00:07:29.326 --> 00:07:33.326 Had there been more of an encouragement for self-expression in Creole and Haiti 00:07:33.326 --> 00:07:37.456 and respect for the language, no doubt, it would be at a more refined stage today. 00:07:37.456 --> 00:07:42.576 That's what happened when something is yours, when you care about something, 00:07:42.576 --> 00:07:44.097 you work at it. 00:07:44.097 --> 00:07:45.777 That's your responsibility. 00:07:45.777 --> 00:07:49.777 You don't just sit and say it will never work because the languages that are so 00:07:49.777 --> 00:07:53.097 sophisticated today weren't always that way; 00:07:53.097 --> 00:07:56.477 people developed them, people made them great. 00:07:56.477 --> 00:08:00.397 They didn't just sit and say let's adopt another language that's already developed 00:08:00.397 --> 00:08:02.836 to help us assimilate and sound educated. 00:08:02.836 --> 00:08:06.836 That being said, I appreciate that fact that we need to equip our children with 00:08:06.836 --> 00:08:09.126 the tools to compete on a global level 00:08:09.126 --> 00:08:10.926 and that includes language skills 00:08:10.926 --> 00:08:14.616 but that doesn't preclude us from strengthening and valuing our own language 00:08:14.616 --> 00:08:18.616 in our own country and taking advantage of it to educate our children. 00:08:18.616 --> 00:08:22.616 Keeping that in mind, if I had to choose the second mandatory language for the 00:08:22.616 --> 00:08:26.616 education in Haiti, for our kids to know inside and out, it would definitely not 00:08:26.616 --> 00:08:28.816 be French because in today's world, 00:08:28.816 --> 00:08:31.186 French is struggling to remain revelant. 00:08:31.186 --> 00:08:34.996 That has been the trend for some time now, you can check out the links to a few 00:08:34.996 --> 00:08:38.356 articles I posted to support that statement in the description box. 00:08:38.356 --> 00:08:42.356 Listen my Haitian people, generally speaking, we don't speak French, 00:08:42.356 --> 00:08:45.536 me included, and here are the reasons why. 00:08:45.536 --> 00:08:49.536 Speaking a language is not about knowing some of the grammar or being able to read 00:08:49.536 --> 00:08:51.607 and write or understand it. 00:08:51.607 --> 00:08:55.607 It's about living the language, hearing it and feeling it. 00:08:55.607 --> 00:08:59.607 I know some kids who were tragically forbidden by their parents in Haiti to 00:08:59.607 --> 00:09:03.607 utter of a word of Creole growing up in Haiti, 00:09:03.607 --> 00:09:08.777 yet they still didn't speak French what they did was essentially translate Creole 00:09:08.777 --> 00:09:12.137 phrases into French like for example 00:09:12.137 --> 00:09:16.137 "envoie les yeux pour moi s'il te plait" (true story) 00:09:16.137 --> 00:09:20.137 Now, is it grammatically correct, sure, is it French? 00:09:20.770 --> 00:09:23.100 I'll leave that up to you to decide. 00:09:23.183 --> 00:09:27.733 Of course you can interact very well with a native French speaker but communicating 00:09:27.733 --> 00:09:31.733 successfully to another Haitian in French is much harder. 00:09:31.733 --> 00:09:37.613 Short of constantly immersing ourselves in French in the French culture through up to 00:09:37.613 --> 00:09:41.133 date literature, cinema, or other creative work, 00:09:41.133 --> 00:09:44.183 we really cannot keep up with the language 00:09:44.183 --> 00:09:49.018 So yeah, we don't speak French and it's ok it's not the end of the world. 00:09:49.018 --> 00:09:53.018 What's not ok is people, my people, not 00:09:53.018 --> 00:09:57.879 capable of rationally debating a critical issues in our Haitian society. 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:01.879 People who will tell me "well why aren't you speaking Creole?" 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:05.879 meanwhile their kids probably don't speak a lick of Creole let alone the French that 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:09.019 they are so loudly and mindlessly defending, 00:10:09.019 --> 00:10:11.772 people who are blinded by their bias. 00:10:12.070 --> 00:10:14.820 I said it in my other video and I'll repeat it now. 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:16.429 I love the French language. 00:10:16.429 --> 00:10:19.359 My favourite recording artist this season is actually Belgian. 00:10:19.359 --> 00:10:23.359 I am so grateful that I was afforded the opportunity to learn French. 00:10:23.359 --> 00:10:25.999 Many Haitians don't get that opportunity. 00:10:25.999 --> 00:10:30.591 And I will pass on as much appreciation for French to my kids as I can because the 00:10:30.591 --> 00:10:35.961 issue is not and has never been the language; the issue is the many Haitian 00:10:35.961 --> 00:10:39.280 people who simply refuse to wake up. 00:10:41.044 --> 00:10:47.484 Once again, my name is Marli, I am a Haiti hope ambassador and Wake up Haitians, 00:10:47.484 --> 00:10:51.484 seriously.