Did you decide to learn Haitian Creole on your own? It’s a great choice if you have enough discipline and willpower to be constant. It’s also good that there are plenty of free and quality resources that will help you learn the language much faster. If you know where to look, you’ll find a true goldmine of written, audio, and video resources to learn Haitian Creole.
This article is dedicated to exploring these resources for Haitian Creole. We’ve split them into three categories:
- Written Resources
- Audio/Video Resources
- In-Person Resources
With these resources on hand, you should have no problem mastering Haitian Creole soon enough! Without further ado, let’s begin.
Written Resources
- Sweet Coconuts Blog – This blog contains many valuable tools and lessons that are entirely free. Moreover, the owner of the blog replies to questions very fast, so you can clear any confusion you have here;
- The University of Kansas Institute of Haitian Studies – You can download several books on Haitian Creole for the University of Kansas. They’re free, along with cultural lessons, vocabulary lessons, and other crash courses and free collections. There are also free audio downloads here;
- Creole Made Easy – This is one of the greatest beginner guides on learning Haitian Creole. It contains sixteen lessons that cover basic elements of Haitian Creole grammar and pronunciation. There are also exercises and translations here;
- Spoken Haitian Creole for Intermediate Learners – If you’re not a beginner anymore, this book is great to further improve your Haitian Creole. It contains many exercises that will solidify your linguistic knowledge!
- Ann Pale Kreyol – This is a staple book when learning Haitian Creole. Most reputable tutors use it as the foundation for their teaching programs. It’s more detailed than almost anything else.
Audio/Video Resources
- Anmwe Radio – This radio broadcasts free Creole music and culture on a 24/7 basis. You don’t need to download anything either. Hit play and that’s it!
- La Bonne Nouvelle Television Program – This television program lasts 30 minutes per episode and follows the host, Frère Joel, through various cities in Haiti. The entire series is in Haitian Creole, so you’ll learn a thing or two, both linguistically and culturally;
- Spotify – Haitian free music on Spotify isn’t something new. The company has added more Haitian music recently and they update their libraries regularly;
- Creole Made Easy Pronunciation CDs – The audio part of the Creole Made Easy learning book is here! These CDs will practice your pronunciation and vocabulary through audio exercises’
In-Person Resources – Not Free
- UMass Boston Creole Institute – This summer program lasts for 2.5 weeks for $650 without housing. Every class has about 20-30 students and they’re well-recognized for their quality;
- The Creole Language Institute at ETS – If you live in Port-au-Prince, the Creole Language Institute has short-term and long-term courses that are both affordable and offer great learning experiences for all learning levels;
- The Creole Institute at Indiana University – This Institute is the only Haitian Creole center in the US recognized for its depth of education and linguistic learning materials. They also organize classes about Haitian Creole that you can enroll in;
- Florida University’s Haitian Summer Institute – This 6-week program is one of the most expensive resources on this list but if you have $1,100 lying around and you want to improve your Haitian Creole massively, there’s nothing better than this. It’s designed to immerse participants in a Creole-learning environment and offer realistic cultural and historical contexts for the learning process
While not all resources on this list are free, they’re all quality-made and will help you immensely in mastering Haitian Creole. The summer programs are goldmines if you have the money to spare but the free crash courses, audios, and blogs are also great resources to have on hand!