Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For a long time Kriol was solely an
oral language
, but by the 1970s some writers and
poets were writing it using ad hoc spelling. In 1980 Sir Colville Young - at that time a
school principal and today governor-general of Belize - published his
Creole Proverbs of
Belize
, and in 1993 a group of educators and enthusiasts started the
Belize
Kriol Project
to work on developing it into a written language. The
National Kriol Council
was
formed in 1995 with the aim of promoting the culture and language of the Creole
people of Belize. A standardized writing system using a phonemic structure has since
been developed and, despite some controversy, is gradually gaining acceptance. Some
tips on spoken and written Kriol are available at
W
belizeanjourneys.com (Kriol section
supplied by John Stewart).
USEFUL PHRASES AND PROVERBS
Excuse me, where is
Eksyooz mi, weh di
How much is a single
How moch wahn singl
room?
room kaas?
I have some dirty
Ah gat sohn doti kloaz fu
laundry for washing.
wash.
Is there a restaurant near
Weh sel Kriol food kloas
here serving Creole food?
tu ya?
the post o
ce?
poas aafis deh?
Where do I catch
Weh fu kech di bos tu
the bus to Dangriga?
Dangriga?
Do you have any
Yu gat eni room fu rent?
rooms free?
PROVERB
LITERAL TRANSLATION
MEANING
Mek di man weh loos taiga
Let the man who loosed the
Let the man who created a
tai ahn bak.
tiger tie it back.
dangerous situation deal with it.
Fish geh kech bai ih own mowt.
A fish gets caught by its own mouth.
Guilt often gives itself away.
Kyaahn kech Hari, kech ih
If you can't catch Harry,
If you can't get what you want,
shot.
catch his shirt.
get the next best thing.
Spanish
he
Spanish
spoken in both Guatemala and Belize has a strong Latin American flavour;
if you're used to the intonation of Madrid or Granada then it may be a surprise to hear
the soft “s” replaced by a crisp and clear version. If you're new to Spanish it's a lot easier
to pick up than the Iberian version.
The rules of
pronunciation
are straightforward and strictly observed. Unless there's an
accent, words ending in d, l, r and z are
stressed
on the last syllable, all others on the
second last. All
vowels
are pure and short.
A
somewhere between the “a” sound of back and that
of f
a
ther.
E
as in g
e
t.
I
as in pol
i
ce.
0
as in h
o
t.
U
as in r
u
le.
C
is soft before “e” and “i”, hard otherwise:
cerca
is
pronounced serka.
G
works the same way, a guttural “h” sound (like the
ch
in loch) before “e” or “i”, a hard “g” elsewhere:
gigante
becomes higante.
H
always silent.
J
the same sound as a guttural “g”:
jamón
is
pronounced hamon.
LL
sounds like an English “y”:
tortilla
is pronounced
torteeya.
N
as in English unless it has a tilde (accent) over it,
when it becomes “ny”:
mañana
sounds like manyana.
QU
is pronounced like an English “k”.
R
is rolled, RR doubly so.
V
sounds more like “b”,
vino
becoming beano.
X
is slightly softer than in English - sometimes almost
“s” - except between vowels in place names where it
has an “h” sound - ie Mexico (Meh-hee-ko) or Oaxaca
(Wa-ha-ka). Note: in Maya the English letter “x” is pro-
nounced “
sh
”, thus
Xunantunich
is Shunan-tun-eech.
Z
is the same as a soft “c”, so
cerveza
becomes
servesa.
Although we've listed a few essential words and phrases, some kind of dictionary or
phrasebook
is a worthwhile investment: the
Rough Guide to Mexican Spanish
is the best
practical guide, correct and colloquial, and certainly acceptable for most purposes when
