< Return to Video

The Consequences of French in Haiti

  • 0:01 - 0:04
    This message is dedicated to my fellow
    Francophiles
  • 0:04 - 0:09
    who get alarmed or even offended at the
    thought of eliminating French
  • 0:09 - 0:12
    as one of the official languages of the
    Republic of Haiti.
  • 0:13 - 0:16
    I am speaking today as a Haitian who is
  • 0:16 - 0:18
    truly madly in love with the French
    language.
  • 0:18 - 0:24
    I confess that my fascination for not only
    the richness
  • 0:24 - 0:31
    of the language but also for those who
    master it without boundaries.
  • Not Synced
    However, these days, I reject the
    language.
  • Not Synced
    I look down on it as much as some of my
    fellow Haitians
  • Not Synced
    look down on the Creole language.
  • Not Synced
    Thus, I have a lot of trouble expressing
    myself in French.
  • Not Synced
    Some may even say that I'm losing my
    French.
  • Not Synced
    I think it is sad how Haitians always think
    they are able to lose something
  • Not Synced
    that in no way and at no point in time
    belonged to them.
  • Not Synced
    I say all that and still today I'm pushing to
    deliver this message in French.
  • Not Synced
    It's because I'm targeting those of us who
    would be hard-pressed
  • Not Synced
    to take me seriously if I had chosen to
    share my ideas in my maternal language.
  • Not Synced
    I want you to understand the damage you
    are causing to your country,
  • Not Synced
    to be fully aware of this damage and I
    hope I'll manage to do that, in French.
  • Not Synced
    What I observed especially from the
    Haitians living in Haiti is that
  • Not Synced
    French isn't a tool for communication that
    allows the exchange of ideas,
  • Not Synced
    the passing of customs and culture or the
    expression of convictions.
  • Not Synced
    On the contrary, it strips away the most
    remarkable and precious
  • Not Synced
    of human experiences from us,
    conversation.
  • Not Synced
    It has become nothing more than one
    more way
  • Not Synced
    to segregate the Haitian population.
  • Not Synced
    To be able to tell from the get-go who
    deserves your good manners
  • Not Synced
    and who you will snub, who you will barter
    with, and who you will charge double.
  • Not Synced
    So it really doesn't help us to communicate properly.
  • Not Synced
    I've also witnessed the mistreatment
    Haitians receive in Haiti
  • Not Synced
    simply because they cannot speak
    French; a colonial language,
  • Not Synced
    a language that we don't even teach to
    most of our people,
  • Not Synced
    a language that is so foreign to us,
  • Not Synced
    a language that despite the fact that it
    has dominated our educational system
  • Not Synced
    for over two centuries is still lost among
    our people who are far from mastering it.
  • Not Synced
    So that is rather deplorable.
Title:
The Consequences of French in Haiti
Description:

What you say is more important than the language in which you say it. In Haiti, the French deprive us of the most remarkable and precious human experience: CONVERSATION. Haitians living in the French diaspora, who speak French every day and are therefore more comfortable with the language, do not represent the Haitian population and do not give credence to the idea that French is an official Haitian language. It would be like saying that English is a Haitian language because many Haitians living in the United States speak English.

Click on the following link for the English Translation
https://www.box.com/s/6o6tx6i1xqnypmetgg0f

and Check out this link for my response to many of the reactions I received after posting this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e44hoVonEBY

more » « less
Video Language:
French
Team:
Captions Requested
Duration:
09:50

English subtitles

Incomplete

Revisions Compare revisions