Creole

Welcome to the Creole page, featuring books and courses to help you learn Haitian, Carribean, and "Cajun" Creole! A creole is a stable language that originated from a mixture of other languages, with vocabulary taken from them, but with clear phonetic and semantic shifts, and a similar but shifting grammar. Creole languages develop from pidgin languages, which are very simple languages with a rudimentary grammar, built out of vocabulary from other languages, and used between individuals without a common language. When pidgins exist for some time, they undergo a process called creolization, generally when a new generation learns a pidgin and uses it as their main language - the grammar becomes enriched, and morphology and phonetics become regularized. Creoles are full-fledged languages, and may show many of the traits by which languages evolve and grow. If you have any questions or can't find what you need, please e-mail us at .

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Featured Products

Ann pale kreyòl - Elementary and Intermediate Haitian Creole
This is a comprehensive set of teaching materials designed to provide learners with a thorough grounding in the sounds, grammar, and vocabulary of Haitian Creole. It includes 25 chapters, each containing dialogue materials, grammar sections, and extensive practice materials progressing from drill to communicative activities. Also included is a guided introduction to the official spelling system, varied listening comprehension sections, keyed exercises, and reading selections covering aspects of Haitian geography and history. The book is illustrated with many line drawings, and a 1200 word Creole-English glossary is appended. It differs from its predecessor (A Basic Course in Haitian Creole) by the use of the official (IPN) spelling, by the inclusion of drawings illustrating objects and actions, and by a more accurate and authentic portrayal of Haitian culture. Ann pale kreyòl is the most comprehensive set of teaching materials available for Haitian Creole. Designed for persons who wish to acquire a working command of the language sufficient to communicate with monolingual speakers, it is eminently suitable for both use in formal courses as well as for self-instruction. 2001 edition, 278 pages, with 12 audiocassettes or 10 CDs.

Cassette Version
$245
CD Version
$245

Courses

Pimsleur Haitian Creole
Now you can learn Haitian Creole with the famous Pimsleur "listen and learn" language method! This course will teach you to speak and understand basic Haitian Creole in 10 easy lessons. Course consists of 5 CDs. Shipping weight 3 lbs.

$115
More information for Pimsleur courses...

Pimsleur Bookchip for Compact Haitian Creole
Bookchips are compact digital memory cards that can hold five, ten, fifteen hours of spoken audio or more. A single Bookchip - not much larger than a postage stamp - can hold entire audiobooks that would traditionally require a half-dozen to a dozen compact discs or cassettes. Bookchips work on many desktop computers, laptops, other handheld PDA devices and mobile Smartphones with SD memory card slots. Bookchips move seamlessly from device to device, remembering your listening position each time. With Bookchips, it's easy to pick up from where you left off the day before, or skip to any chapter you like. Not only do Bookchips hold hours and hours of high-quality digital audio, they are rugged and reliable. Bookchips are completely electronic, and can be played by devices without any spinning or moving parts - which means Bookchips never skip! Bookchips are much easier to travel or exercise with than cassette or compact discs... and lighter, too. The Bookchip contains the Pimsleur Haitian Creole Compact course, with 10 lessons, normally on 5 CDs.

$75
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iofy Audio Player
The iofy Player is back and better than ever. With new enhanced features it delivers the same reliable performance of the original in a sleek new design. Easy to use, the iofy Player is designed specifically for audiobook chips, such as the Pimsleur Bookchip. This intelligent device is the only audiobook chip player on the market today that automatically bookmarks your listening position! Unlike cassettes or CDs, just one audiobook chip can hold 5, 10, 15 hours or more of reading material, and plays without spinning parts that might break or cause skipping when you're on the go. With an iofy player, you can "zip" downloaded audiobooks to chips and listen to them anywhere - while you're driving, exercising, or just relaxing. Alternatively, you can buy premade chips, or you can put your own music or other MP3 content on a chip and listen to that as well. The iofy player comes with Earphones and two AAA batteries. With a 16GB SD Memory Card (not included), it holds up to 2400 hours of spoken audio, or 3840 songs in 128-Kbps MP3 format. Supports Content on SD card, MMC-ROM, MMC Flash, Mini-SD, and Micro-SD (requires adaptor). Skip-free playback; Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz; MP3 (8 to 192 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Speex; One step MP3-CD to chip conversion; CEA 2003 compliant; MPV compliant.

$49
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Conversational Cajun French
After 200 years of Cajun French being learned and passed on by word of mouth, Cajun French has been written down and the patterns are now easier to learn. This course will help you to converse with Cajuns or at least stay out of trouble in South Louisiana. Some knowledge of French is required to study this course. 3 cassettes and an 80-page booklet. Shipping weight 2 lbs.

$69.95