People are entitled to collect on their assets. I am sure the rents are pretty low as well.
- Thread starter mountainannie
- Start date
Haitian American leaders retreat
Slum lords are one thing, but you get this other type of Haitian renter - they get into a place and take it to shreds. Live in filthy pig styes. Landlords here in DR then have a hard time getting them out. By the time they do they've lived out the deposit and torn the place to hell. Big instances of this in the Ciénaga of Cab. Meanwhile the smells from cooking street animals and odd witchcraftery oils and incenses. The police brought a Haitian lady next door and she was housed in the downstairs apartment because her man used a machete on her leg like pork belly. He comes looking for her time to time with ole Betsy and the landlady has to call 911 constantly. So now she brings in a roommate who has some kind of Hondureño bf. His Spanish is unintelligible also and he smells worse than the witch oils and cat intestine they cook over there. They put a faux hair extension salon in front porch also and whatever animal fluids and glue used to apply the hair smells like the Staten island dumps on a steamy summer night after a rain. There is this big pile of bones on their front porch. You know they're not sending their best.
Yea, when I lived there I paid $400/year for 2 rooms, outside kitchen/cooking area, and outside toilet. Electric bill was real low too.
Because I was born and raised in NYC. Graduated from the City University of NY
Seem like the proper dialect to use for what I was trying to express.
I immigrated from Venezuela to the Bronx at 17 years old. I don't speak like that. Also Bro is not a new york term, it's a surfer and pot smoker term. God bless mountain mami!
If you AGREE . then why did you type such a long disagreeing response to my prev post ?
because that is essentially ALL I was saying . nothing more ..
You actually said it much better in ONE sentence .
ie " try getting a JOB speaking only Kreyole"
JD, that's because of the Haitian economy, which is lower than whale shit. It has nothing to do with language.
I would beg to differ on the term "bro" It is an American term. Well - could be pot smokers... I did inhale.
Maybe at CUNY that's in the curriculum lol
Wait! Surfers and pot smokers aren't American? Ahh they may say it with a California accent like "surfs up, brah". Not exactly grad school material
Much as I hate to agree with any of the "Loyal Opposition" - I believe that ONE of the factors for Haitian poverty is the fact that so few are fluent in French or English... Of course there is such a very long list of the OTHER reasons that language is pretty far down the list. But jobs with the NGOs (which are sadly still the BEST jobs in Haiti) are only going to go to those who speak English as well as Kreyole. And in radio/publishing only to those who speak Kreyole & French... There will always be lower level jobs available - but there will be little chance for advancement.
Certainly is! Oddly enough when I studied French at CUNY - (and I was very good at French having started it at age 5 and gotten very high scores on my SATS) I listened to some classmates from the Bronx -speaking in thick Bronx accents - complaining about the accents from Brooklyn! Yet when I went to the ADVANCED French class with them, they had perfect French accents!
Just as an aside - I am always stunned to learn that some of the most famous US TV actors were actually British = like Hugh Laurie who played Dr. House.
I can speak in Very Respectable "North Carolina Mountain" - but can not discern the difference between the Bronx and the Brooklyn accent.
Once I met a man our local "watering hole" who spoke in a thick NYC accent. I learned he was French and switched over to that language. In English, he sounded like a "street worker" - as in - a bad accent and improper grammar. But in French, he sounded like a University Professor... so I told him that... and he was Stunned! "How can I fix that?" I told him to watch the movie "My Fair Lady"
I believe that my long post was in response to BIG - who insisted on calling Kreyole "gibberish" or the like.
There are plenty of jobs -- Well - there are NOT plenty of jobs at all! in Haiti.. but there are MANY jobs - farmers and shop keepers and all that - in the country side that do not require anything by Kreyole.
Speaking more than one language is certainly a benefit anywhere in the world, I would think.
(The joke is - "What do you call someone who speaks two languages?"
Bilingual
And what do you call someone who speaks three languages?"
Trilingual
And what do you call someone who speaks only one language?"
American
It's important to be able to look at one's country from the "outside" and be able to be amused... don't you agree?
when they leave their country and travel (Dominican Republic and the U.S via Mex border) not only do they have zero skills they cannot learn new skills anytime soon as they don't speak any marketable language. Many (including me, Afrikaans and some Swahili) speak their local/tribal language but understand it is not used any other medium, business, education etc. It is just used in local social exchanges. What they speak would make a French linguist go into auto mechanics
No, I am not amused by American bashing. To each his own I guess. Enjoy your Sunday
Not true. I know many Haitians who have learned English and Spanish. They are not stupid. They know they have to adapt to the majority language when they move. In fact, it seems like only Americans don't accept that.
Please - I was not actually America bashing... Only reporting an amusing observation. It is true that most Americans only speak English although there are now about 30% or more who speak more than one language at home. It is also true that only a small percentage of Americans have a passport.
When I was first in Haiti, the landlord of my little cottage up on the hills in St Marc could NOT believe that I was American. He kept asking - "Canadian? Belgian?"
After I finally convinced him that I was from the USA - his response - in French was
"I can not believe that you are an American
"Why not?"
"Because you are not badly brought up." (mal eleven)
It broke my heart.
YIKES! You clearly know very little of the Haitians who work in construction in the DR?
They BUILT Las Terrenas, as well as the hotel in Portillo.
No skills? I had a handyman in Gazcue who could do EVERYTHING - electric, plumbing repair, concrete work, tile work.
How long have you been in the Dominican Republic?
and yet more bashing !! FYI English is by and large an international language. It is the language that all Airline communication use. Try using Haitian gibberish-Creole in any business venture. English is the Language of globalization, Spanish and Mandarin rank as well. To be clear, not all English is equal. How they speak in Appalachia stifles their upward mobility.