Stephen J. Matlock's Blog, page 5

The Enchantment of Creole

I spent two hours transcribing what I heard, trying so very hard to get the meaning. It was good practice, and I think I got about 30% of the meaning. I just had moments when I heard a set of phonemes and syllables and thought “I have no idea what this is—it’s just a jumble of sounds.”

Liv kreyòl ayisyen fini!

So tonight I finished my first-year kreyòl book. I've been in it since April 2022*, and it has been a source of instruction and frustration as every single time in my lessons I discovered yet another perplexing element of Haitian Creole.

Duolingo fini!

I thought that perhaps learning Haitian Creole would be interesting. I did not imagine that it would be a transforming experience.

One thing more

There is a glass bubble around white people in America and elsewhere, a bubble that lets us see through to the lives of others, but that protects us from questioning the wisdom laid down in our schoolrooms and homes and churches about what events “really mean.”

Day 270 of the Infinite Journey

What better way to find connecting with people than to learn their language well enough to listen to them, understand, and reply in their own language with the full context of their culture?

2-3-5 are prime days for learning

So much of what I'm reading now in my materials assumes a deep knowledge of Haitian culture and history, so that a simple phrase like "tèt kale" turns into a discussion about Haitian leaders and how the phrase is used not just to identify them but to make a pèsonifikasyon

M kontinye aprann kreyòl ayisyen

It’s just weird how the cycle works. I reach a point where I just cannot absorb another thing in kreyòl. … More

M sispann!

I so much want to be able to speak and understand this language, but if I can't do this outside the classroom, then I just don't know the language.

Pwofesè, tèt mwen chaje

Man, today was rough. My tutor and I talked lasted week about my lessons. (This is my third tutor.) I … More

Nou aprann nan kominote nou an

I think I’ve hit another wall. The first wall was after the first month or so of learning kreyòl ayisyen … More