A common belief among teenagers in the United States is that French and Haitian Creole are interchangeable; they are the same. Some Haitian immigrants in the U.S have faced situations where their peers would tell them that they practically speak "one and a half language", and it's all because both languages are "kind of the same thing", right? WRONG!
To begin with, I have to give them credit just a little because they are somewhat...right, they are right whent they say "one and half language" because unlike what many seem to think, not ALL haitians speak french. Au contraire, I would say that the majority does not. French is more common among the well educated middle class individuals and the ones at the top of the haitian pyramid, popularly known as "moun anwo yo" literally translated as " The upper people". In Haiti, it is somewhat easy to tell who speaks the language and who does not, but in other places like the U.S, it is rather complicated; if someone told you that he/she speaks french, you would buy it because you don't even know the language yourself, be aware! your friend or co-worker might have lied to you.
On the other hand, the haitians who actually speaks french fluently do not speak "one and a half language"; Creole and French count for TWO!If they were one as the common belief is, my homeroom teacher would know what my friend Dave and I were talking about when we were speaking creole in her french class and X (not saying names) would not have stayed mute and clueless at my french teacher when she asked him (oops! now you know it's a male) something in french. My anonymous X speaks creole but that does not automatically means french is his forte.
Creole and French are both great languages, I love both. Creole is my native language and I like the varities that exist in it, it is a mixing of several languages, among them are spanish, french, african languages, even english! French is my second language, I like the subtlety of french; even swears sounds like nice things to me sometimes! I can't favor one over the other ( although my biased opinion as Haitian should be in favor of Creole, but why lie? it just isn't, they are both great!)
French and Creole are not the same, although wikipedia is not what we would call "reliable", give it a try, read about both languages' grammar and structures and you'll see the difference. To say that they are the same is to say that Spanish and Portuguese are the same, in my humble opinion. French and Creole, THEY EACH STAND ALONE!
I would appreciate your comments, please disagree if you have to...and back it up with a tenable, yet strong argument! My motto.
Love you all, Peace!