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Thanks for the welcome, Baddaz, Tilla and Rockman! It’s much appreciated!
At this moment, I’m absolutely amazed that I unwittingly allowed myself to become drawn into this extended patois debate. But then again, I have only myself to blame.
This, though, will be my final thread on the matter of teaching patois, as I prefer to sit back and read the various viewpoints from others. In addition, nothing I say will change things back in Jamaica, so maybe my energies could be better devoted to more immediate, pressing things.
X: Of course I’m fully aware that “S. American and Caribbean nations that speak Spanish each have their own dialect”! As far as I’m aware, the people of every country and dependency on earth all have their own dialects, and I stated as much yesterday (see my final two paragraphs at the bottom of this thread)!
I have lived abroad for much of my life, and while to this day hearing a Jamaican dialect in a crowd is, without question, one of the most reassuring and comfortable experiences for me, I’ve at the same time seen fellow Jamaicans who have found themselves in unenviable positions because the persons they’re speaking to don’t have a clue what they are saying. And both communicators are from English language-speaking countries!
Again, I must state that standardization and a patois dictionary, plus other patois-related books, are long overdue. I support such projects 100-percent! What I do not support is the formal, classroom-based teaching of patois over, say, a language that will allow my young Jamaicans to travel and interact easily in what I keep referring to as a globalized environment! If my memory is correct here, both the immediate past and present Jamaican governments have alluded to the training Jamaicans for the export market (nurses, teachers, etc.). Of course, we have been doing so for decades. Isn't it imperative, then, that we seek to discover more creative and successful methods of teaching young people languages that will enable them to travel and communicate successfully with the wider world?
Also, while it is a natural experience for many tourists to want to experience and speak the host country’s dialect (this happens not only in the case of Jamaican patois, but in virtually every other country that adventurous tourists visit), what of the young Jamaican in an increasingly tourism-dependent economy? And still on the matter of tourists, once they return to their homeland with their patois books and other cultural artifacts purchased in Montego Bay and Negril, do we seriously think that those tourists sit in their homes and study the Jamaican dialect? Do we think that, their tropical experience completed, that those tourists give a damn about Jamaican dialect and Jamaican culture?
Finally, why should we presume that, of the scores of dialects worldwide, that Jamaican patois will be one that will emerge as an accepted world language?
This confused nationalism which is today leading us in this direction of classroom-based patois instruction while failing to address the twin demons of crime and poverty (which are far more pressing issues), is among the factors that, starting in the 1970s, got us where we are today.
Now, X, on the matter of other people having their own dialect (including Spanish-speaking people of the region), here are a few sentences that I wrote in the post above that I made in response to Maudib: “ALL Caribbean countries have their native dialect, but do we see other Caribbean countries diverting from the seriousness of a well-rounded, world-focusing education to run wild experiments?”....“To cite one example, Guyana, despite its immense economic challenges, can boast over the years (including the last two years) of having the students with the most impressive CXC results in the region! And these are ordinary East Indian and Negro children who speak Guyanese dialect in their everyday communication!”
At this moment, I’m absolutely amazed that I unwittingly allowed myself to become drawn into this extended patois debate. But then again, I have only myself to blame.
This, though, will be my final thread on the matter of teaching patois, as I prefer to sit back and read the various viewpoints from others. In addition, nothing I say will change things back in Jamaica, so maybe my energies could be better devoted to more immediate, pressing things.
X: Of course I’m fully aware that “S. American and Caribbean nations that speak Spanish each have their own dialect”! As far as I’m aware, the people of every country and dependency on earth all have their own dialects, and I stated as much yesterday (see my final two paragraphs at the bottom of this thread)!
I have lived abroad for much of my life, and while to this day hearing a Jamaican dialect in a crowd is, without question, one of the most reassuring and comfortable experiences for me, I’ve at the same time seen fellow Jamaicans who have found themselves in unenviable positions because the persons they’re speaking to don’t have a clue what they are saying. And both communicators are from English language-speaking countries!
Again, I must state that standardization and a patois dictionary, plus other patois-related books, are long overdue. I support such projects 100-percent! What I do not support is the formal, classroom-based teaching of patois over, say, a language that will allow my young Jamaicans to travel and interact easily in what I keep referring to as a globalized environment! If my memory is correct here, both the immediate past and present Jamaican governments have alluded to the training Jamaicans for the export market (nurses, teachers, etc.). Of course, we have been doing so for decades. Isn't it imperative, then, that we seek to discover more creative and successful methods of teaching young people languages that will enable them to travel and communicate successfully with the wider world?
Also, while it is a natural experience for many tourists to want to experience and speak the host country’s dialect (this happens not only in the case of Jamaican patois, but in virtually every other country that adventurous tourists visit), what of the young Jamaican in an increasingly tourism-dependent economy? And still on the matter of tourists, once they return to their homeland with their patois books and other cultural artifacts purchased in Montego Bay and Negril, do we seriously think that those tourists sit in their homes and study the Jamaican dialect? Do we think that, their tropical experience completed, that those tourists give a damn about Jamaican dialect and Jamaican culture?
Finally, why should we presume that, of the scores of dialects worldwide, that Jamaican patois will be one that will emerge as an accepted world language?
This confused nationalism which is today leading us in this direction of classroom-based patois instruction while failing to address the twin demons of crime and poverty (which are far more pressing issues), is among the factors that, starting in the 1970s, got us where we are today.
Now, X, on the matter of other people having their own dialect (including Spanish-speaking people of the region), here are a few sentences that I wrote in the post above that I made in response to Maudib: “ALL Caribbean countries have their native dialect, but do we see other Caribbean countries diverting from the seriousness of a well-rounded, world-focusing education to run wild experiments?”....“To cite one example, Guyana, despite its immense economic challenges, can boast over the years (including the last two years) of having the students with the most impressive CXC results in the region! And these are ordinary East Indian and Negro children who speak Guyanese dialect in their everyday communication!”
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