Last night on a dinner cruise, an American woman asked my husband and I where we’re from and when we responded Jamaica, she asked us what language do we speak in Jamaica. My husband told her that English is our official language, but that we also speak a form of Creole called patois, which is derived from the languages of a number of cultures including African, Irish and Spanish. She further asked if English was taught in our schools, although I think she meant if English was our language of instruction. The question had surprised me, and was one of many questions I’ve been asked over the last two or so years in the context of people not realizing I’m Jamaican due to how I speak. I’m led to wonder how is it that such a large percentage of people do not realize that Jamaicans speak English. I started to imagine the various contexts in which it would be quite interesting and hilarious if in fact we spoke only patois.
For example, can you imagine if the Jamaican prime minister had a meeting with President Obama and greeted him saying: “Yow wah a gwaan bredrin? How tings? Bwoy tings a Jamdown hawd enuh. Jah know star. But yuh dun know, nuh watch nuh face, mi pudung a wicked plan inna mi manifesto. The crime rate high to rahtid, but mi soon bring it dung”.
For those who didn’t understand, the above is a hypothetical account of Jamaica’s prime minister asking president Obama how are things and assuring him that while things are challenging in Jamaica and the crime rate is high, she/he has a manifesto in place to bring things under control.
Here’s another scenario — what if back in high school when we were being taught English Literature, the teacher addressed the class saying: “Yow class, dis mawnin wi a go read page tutty seven from the beautiful ones nuh bawn yet.” (Translation hello class, this morning we are going to read page 37 from The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born.) Or you know sometimes how the teacher would call on someone to come up and explain what she was saying or work out a math formula. What if the teacher said “hey gal cum up yah so come tell di class wah X +Y x 3 equal.” (Translation hey girl come here and explain to the class what is the answer to X +Y x 3). I think we would have spent more time laughing than learning.
One young man from the UK asked me if I was “trying to speak that way”, and expressed surprise that I didn’t sound like two of our fellow co-workers who are also Jamaicans. So I explained to him that not all Jamaicans speak in the same way, similar to how not all persons from the UK speak the same way.
It’s actually very puzzling to me that even if someone felt that English was not Jamaicans official language, they would expect that we cannot or should not be able to speak English. I highly doubt that when people meet persons from China they react, “I didn’t know you were from China, you speak such fluent English”. So what’s the difference with Jamaicans? If we are speaking to someone who does not understand patois, why should we speak to that person in patois? Yes we will speak to our fellow Jamaicans in patois, but if it is a formal setting, or if conversing with an English-speaking foreigner, we’ll speak English. The Filipinos, the Indians and the Chinese do it too.
An Irish girl had said to me “Karlene you’ve lost your Jamaican accent.” I certainly have not. She went on to speak of how fascinating Jamaica’s culture is, and she laughed at some of our expressions such as “Jamaica, no problem mon, nuff respect.”
I find it a bit funny that people would expect that all Jamaicans would speak in the same way, using the same kinds of expressions. We have a population of 2.5 million people spread out over 14 parishes. We can’t all speak and act identical. I for one do not use expressions that end with the word “claat” when I’m upset, overly excited or surprised. It’s more likely that I’d use the F-word if I’m that frustrated (though I try my hardest not to curse), or if I’m super shocked I may say “mi rahtid”. Not all Jamaicans greet with the words “wah a gwaan”. Some of us are fine with “what’s up” or simply “hey”. A lot of Jamaican men will say “dem time deh” to mean goodbye, but not all Jamaicans use that line. Some say “likkle more”, and myself among others simply say “later” or “bye”.
Bear in mind also that some categories of people in Jamaica have their own versions of Jamaican talk such as the dancehall DJs and Rastafarians. Many of the terms they use are unique to regular Jamaican talk.
Speaking of Rastafarian, my husband commented that so many persons all over the world know of Bob Marley and are familiar with his songs, which were in English for the most part, so it is strange that so many persons would think that Jamaicans do not or cannot speak English.
Anyhow, I think it’s a good idea for people to become more informed about our language, people and culture, because it does come across a bit silly to expect that Jamaicans speak only patois.
whatifsometimeslifehappen 