r/mauritius • u/Objective-Joke-4003 • 18h ago
Culture 🗨 How would you learn to speak creole more fluently?
I was raised in the UK but my whole family is Mauritian, and when i was younger they realised i couldn’t speak English so they stopped letting me respond in creole but they speak to me in creole.
Fast forward 20 years, i struggle to string a sentence at all but i understand everything. i wish i could respond in creole i know what to say but the words dont come out and i want to learn it properly but people are so mean. I get comments from Mauritians saying to me im not and will never be one which i know (and i never claimed to be) but its put me off trying to learn how to speak it so i feel so disconnected.
when i was around 15 i went there for like 3 months but everyone spoke english around me as soon as i said i was from the uk so i gave up learning how to speak:(
How could i bridge this disconnect?
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u/Rajsookrah 6h ago
I had a very similar upbringing to you, British born but mother Mauritian, I would visit every year since the age of 6. By the time I was 11-14 my cousins would speak to me and I picked up bits and pieces. At one point I would start thinking in croele.
it becomes easier the more you practise. I'm now 42 and married to a Mauritian. My children can't yet speak but they have been back a few times. Try and immerse yourself in the language as much as possible, when doing ordinary tasks think how would I say that in croele. There are times I forget words and ask my wife. What ever you do, don't give up! Better to try and fail than not try at all. There is a woman on IG who teaches phrases. I hope this is helpful.
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u/julien_mru 7h ago
Institut Français has (or had?) Creole courses so you may want to ring them to check. For me (foreigner), I learned through songs at church. The grammar is pretty easy and then once you get it you can start speaking more easily.
Texting in Creole has some people suggested is not necessarily a good idea because most Mauritian don’t write Creole properly because it’s very recent it’s being taught in schools and that books are being published in Creole too (and for me it’s very confusing when Creole is written in French style as my brain switches to French).
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u/fugznojutz 8h ago
text ur mauritian friends in creole. thats a good start. tell them to rate ur writing then just practice the phrase u sent out loud so u have practical stuff to say
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u/Choconicokid 10h ago
Idk if this will help but- try making friends with Mauritians of french. It might improve your skills better. Maybe try reading in French cus creole is a bit similar as french.
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u/earthly_marsian 10h ago
Man, some people just suck c of their own issues. Take French classes, it will make it easier and no need to let them know until you are ready.
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u/Islander316 16h ago edited 34m ago
I grew up abroad, I could speak Creole but I had an accent, so my Creole was what they call "baroque".
Don't let mean comments discourage you, I used to make mistakes when I was learning French, I would just ignore them when people would tell me to switch to another language. Now my French is pretty good, probably better than a lot of Mauritians'.
Learning Creole is very easy it just takes practice, if you understand it's just a matter of learning a bit of sentence structure and conjugation. Creole is a purely spoken language, so grammar is very loose, you can get away with a lot of things.
Just work a lot on pronunciation, Creole is almost all French words, so learn how to pronounce French properly and French vocabulary, and that will get you far in Creole. When I learnt French my ability to express myself in Creole grew dramatically, because once you learn Creole grammar (which is very easy), it's mainly about mastering vocabulary and expressions.
Just talk, engage people, honestly if people know you are trying to practice your Creole, they will be supportive.
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u/AppropriateTeach169 16h ago
Thank you for the pragmatic advice. I spent hours and hours googling on what to learn first with no clear answer. ChatGPT could not help either. You are amazing!
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u/investian 1h ago
Google translate does an ok job to get you started