I know most Dominicans have a desire to learn English, but what about those who have interests in Haiti such as in the government or private sector, do they learn French? Is French alone enough to know to be able to communicate in Haiti, at least among professionals?
- Thread starter Chip
- Start date
What languages do Dominicans learn?
all haitians i know speak french.
also spanish and french belong to the same language group so in theory french is easier to learn for dominicans than english.
i will also add that law students must learn french. some legislations are based on old french laws, as my mother in law (lawyer) tells me.
also spanish and french belong to the same language group so in theory french is easier to learn for dominicans than english.
i will also add that law students must learn french. some legislations are based on old french laws, as my mother in law (lawyer) tells me.
French is only effective in Haiti in elite and/or professional circles, and in my experience people at that level also know English and/or Spanish anyway. Most Haitians don't speak French or even understand it beyond the basics.
Oops - forgot the answer the OP's question: apart from English, people working in the tourist sector aim for a basic knowledge of Italian, German and French.
Oops - forgot the answer the OP's question: apart from English, people working in the tourist sector aim for a basic knowledge of Italian, German and French.
Dominicans in the north coast learn any language nesesary to communicate with tourists and to talk the money out of that persons wallet, doesnt matter it could be German,English,French and I'm even hearing them speaking Russian now.
Maybe it would be good for a lot of Dominicans to first learn Spanish
Why? They not getting any money from their own people
you hit that on the button.all my friends in the tourist areas have a good 5 languages under their belt.
thanks to them i now have 3: english,spanish,and kreyol.
here on the east the tourguides speak at least 4 languages, and we are not talking just basics, they speak and read and write those languages top.
the most common ones are aside of spanish of course:
english, french, german, russian, italian
creole is a just 'spoken' language, the Haitian tongue, not much learned by dominicans.
i know a countless number of Haitians working here in the PC area, not talking about construction workers to whom i do usually not have contacts, they speak spanish some better some less, they all speach french, and the very most of them do speak english, too.
many of them show a very decent education level, in average above the average expat-education level.
Haitians in the area are not just construction workers labouring for slave's salaries, there is a big bunch running their own businesses in the area and they do not do bad on that.
i know several Haitian families and friends who run their businesses here successful since many years.
Mike
the most common ones are aside of spanish of course:
english, french, german, russian, italian
creole is a just 'spoken' language, the Haitian tongue, not much learned by dominicans.
i know a countless number of Haitians working here in the PC area, not talking about construction workers to whom i do usually not have contacts, they speak spanish some better some less, they all speach french, and the very most of them do speak english, too.
many of them show a very decent education level, in average above the average expat-education level.
Haitians in the area are not just construction workers labouring for slave's salaries, there is a big bunch running their own businesses in the area and they do not do bad on that.
i know several Haitian families and friends who run their businesses here successful since many years.
Mike
Klingon - as in "cling-on" the language that convinces people not to let go, even though common sense should tell them to let go.
I doubt the part about reading and writing them as well. Most can't even write in spanish correctly, let alone try to take a shot at writing a foreign language. Hehehe
Just tell one of those experts to write a 4 line paragraph in spanish. Then you will know what I am talking about.
AZB
AZB,
like so many people from elsewhere,
just read throu the writings of some people who write in their mother's language,
would not waste my time to read them in spanish or any other non-mom's-tongue, ha ha ha ha
so let's write it that way:
Dominican Citizens, compared to the small amount of citizens this Island has, do compared to many big and well developed and top educated countries speak and sometimes even read and write many more languages, even that it may not be done perfect, but they are able to communicate in many foreign tongues.
Mike
like so many people from elsewhere,
just read throu the writings of some people who write in their mother's language,
would not waste my time to read them in spanish or any other non-mom's-tongue, ha ha ha ha
so let's write it that way:
Dominican Citizens, compared to the small amount of citizens this Island has, do compared to many big and well developed and top educated countries speak and sometimes even read and write many more languages, even that it may not be done perfect, but they are able to communicate in many foreign tongues.
Mike
...a very small percentage, or fraction of a percantage are fluent in multiple languages. There are a bunch that can communicate in a few, but only to a point, but mainly in the tourist zone. You'd find more multilingual people in Europe for sure.
On a side note, I saw a guy that was pan-handling in santo domingo, spoke fluent german according to the germans I was with, good english, french, italian. He was asking for help, I told him I can't give money to a guy who can speak 5 languages, he corrected me - he spoke 7. hehe.
On a side note, I saw a guy that was pan-handling in santo domingo, spoke fluent german according to the germans I was with, good english, french, italian. He was asking for help, I told him I can't give money to a guy who can speak 5 languages, he corrected me - he spoke 7. hehe.
Mi amor I love you very moch I need money for my sick mother
Mon amour je t?aime mucho je besoin d?argent pour mi mama muy malade
Etc etc etc etc etc
That?s what they learn first in many languages, is there a course for that?
Mi amor I love you very moch I need money for my sick mother
Mon amour je t?aime mucho je besoin d?argent pour mi mama muy malade
Etc etc etc etc etc
That?s what they learn first in many languages, is there a course for that?
maybe you just hang out with the wrong class of people.
Dominicans and Haitians i know are a few classes better than your typical tourist hangout expat wannabe street-knowledge shows.
i know the streets down here very well, all classes,
i spent over 6 years in the US, too,
i would not name our upcoming Dominican youngguns that much uneducated in comparison, even that they had and still have much less opportunities.
i had job requests from self called college graduates with so selfnamed 'degrees' and 'long term experiences', requests which i since a few years do not even read anymore, due to "experience".
and there are young and intelligent dominican people out there very willing to go on a job and do it right and learn more every day. and do they work if you give the right salary and not look down on them like so many mistakenly do when coming over from such high educated foreign countries to run the big bucks business down here.
i see those come and go every year.
several years in the country but not able to have a real conversation or discussion in spanish due to leak of ability/IQ aso to learn such.
absolutely no language problem involved when working with good educated Dominicans, doesn't matter i speak to the boys and gals in spanish, english or german. and our communications are not restricted to barfly chats.
some posts show that some posters seem not to know many dominican people, real dominican people, or got involved in dominican life or language much, even after years on the Isle.
sad to see that such is the result of high educated college degrees.
cheers
Mike