iPapiamentu

I'm back! Yay! New video to finalize Curaçao trip and about Papiamentu books!

2010-10-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Late on this lovely Sunday night I want to greet you all and apologize for my prolonged dormancy at this blog.

I was inspired by R. K. Harrison (of Papiamentu-Tur-Dia)'s comment to get this blog going again and enjoy the amazingness of Papiamentu.

I was sorry that I had never finished off my little saga on my Curaçao trip, and I had also been meaning to talk about the cool Papiamentu books I got at the Mensing's bookstore outside of Willemstad.

So, I decided to make a video blog (and small book review) at one of my current Internet projects, Brian on Language, which is a YouTube channel and blog that I made to share my love of languages to the world.

I figured I could "kill two birds with one stone" (hate that phrase, but it's true) by making a new video for BoL and also giving iPapiamentu another chance.

Thank you to any reader(s) out there who stumbled upon iPapiamentu before this long hiatus and again, sorry about that.

Hopefully I will be posting some new stuff here at the blog, but for now, please enjoy the video below from my channel Brian on Language.

For all of the links, and for more about the video and my channel, please check the description out on YouTube as well as / or at my blog.

Danki!

Brian

Aloe plantation, Ostrich farm, snorkeling and bingo! Curacao days 3 + 4

2010-04-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Back with a quick update about my past two days in Curacao. As I keep saying, I am continuing to have a fabulous time as I meet new nice people and see new places.

Yesterday was one of my favorite days, as we got to see a bit beyond the city and explore the island's smaller towns and rural areas. It's almost hard to remember what happened here on island time...

In the morning we took a drive over the famous tall Curacao bridge (I'm not sure of the exact name) and to some cool attractions. We got a bit lost on the roads, but made our way and got to see some unexpected shops and restaurants! I noticed a lot of Chinese food restaurants and markets, as well as a couple Surinaamese restaurants -- due to the Dutch and South American influences.

Speaking of Dutch influence, that's something I noticed a lot here, and something that relates to the linguistic theme of this blog...

Most of the people here, or at least the ones I've encountered at the hotels and restaurants, are speaking Dutch or Spanish. This makes it almost more practical for one to learn Dutch going to the ABC islands (or at least Curacao from what I've seen).

However, the locals really do speak the Papiamentu. And it's so nice to hear!

Anyway, yesterday we went to the Aloe plantation that's well-known and loved here in Curacao. We got a lovely tour from a woman of Dutch roots who'd lived here in Curacao her whole life. We got to try some fresh-harvested aloe leaves on our skin, which was nice; however, the aloe tasted not so pleasant... ;)

I learned it was from the onion, garlic and leek family; not from the cactus family as believed.
The plants at the plantation were beautiful and well-kept, and we got to see what they were made into, including some lovely gels and lotions and juices and sodas.

The factory and office was quite small but the plantation portion with the lovely aloes was huge: 100,000+ plants!

We purchased some of the products and I'm excited to be using them. Here is the website for the Aloe plantation. I wish I could put up photos but I'm very tired and it's difficult to upload them; sorry!

Next was the ostrich farm which we went to quickly between waiting time for the aloe tour. We got to see the ostriches walking around which was very cool. They're so cute! Also some goats, ducks and a cute African gray parrot (which I want as a pet!).

I didn't really want to take the tour of the ostrich farm because...didn't want to see the slaughter process... I'm a vegan, can't blame me!

That was the major portion of day yesterday. Don't want to go on forever. Really fun!

Today we hung out at the hotel and I got to read and also hang in the lounge on the computers -- going to study Navajo next! That's a whole nother blog, though...

Just now I got back from bingo at the hotel casino! Was so fun to hear the Papiamentu numbers and see the locals. However, I just got kicked out because I'm under 18...

So now I'm in the lounge, enjoying blogging here. Thanks for reading!

Email me and comment about your Curacao experiences!

Brian

Curacao day two! Pictures and more

2010-03-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I'm back in the hotel computer lounge here to tell you about my second day in Curacao! Yesterday I posted here about my return to the blog and my trip in the real location of Papiamentu's speaking community.

Today we went to the town of Willemstad for the day. What a beautiful city! The buildings, as the famous "skyline" shows, are full of color and the town and its people full of life.

I got my big sunhat and my camera and we were off. The breezy, warm weather made for a nice day. I'll do a sort of photo blog below and post some of my photos and captions to give you an idea of my trip. Sorry these posts upcoming won't be the most about the Papiamentu language, but give insight and a fun story about Curacao and where Papiamentu is spoken! (Get acquainted with the language here if you've just arrived).

Of course, the famous "bon bini", or "welcome" at the Curacao airport.

The Hilton Curacao hotel.

View from the hotel balcony.

Beautiful Willemstad view.

Up-close buildings. So colorful!

From the "floating bridge". You can certainly feel that it's floating!

Also "floating" was the market here, with wonderful produce and handicrafts from vendors on boat from Venezuela. Saw a cool video about this on YouTube right here.

All the amazing fruits and veggies I got at the markets! So cheap -- the currency is the Nederlands guilder and the exchange worked out in our favor. If you can see, I even got a noni!

So, those are those! Again it was so cool to be hearing Papiamentu spoken. They speak it so fast, so I had trouble conversing much. However, I did use some phrases for asking directions and how much certain things cost.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think by emailing me here any time!

Brian

Mi ta na Curacao! I'm back, updates and various

2010-03-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

Wow! Hi! It's been way to long. I got really bad about posting every day here at iPapiamentu and I'm sorry. But here I am with an update!

My goal was to do all the grammar and explanation posts, and also the phrases and words posts for each of the lessons of E.R. Goilo's Papiamentu Textbook (learn more here). However, life got in the way and I couldn't finish it in time (I'll explain more below), but I didn't want to give up on this blog. There's been way too many blogs that I've created and gotten going and then never continued, and I don't want iPapiamentu to be one of them.

As I was saying, the "in time" thing...

I'm not sure if I mentioned this anywhere on this site but my spring break plans are for Curacao! And here I am! In the lovely outskirts of Willemstad, on the island itself! I cannot believe it.

The date came up so fast... We just arrived from the plane in the Curacao airport at about 2:30 PM but had to wake up at 3:30 AM (EST) to start the drive to Philly airport, make the connection to Miami, and then to Curacao.

Anyway, enough me about the flight. Here I am and it's absolutely beautiful here! Already there's many people with friendly smiles and service. The weather, though I'm not your "hot sun, lay-by-the-pool type", is really pleasant, surprisingly, although it is hot and a bit humid. This is because of the nice breeze (which sometimes turns into high winds!) that is always blowing -- the trade winds.

Guess what language everyone is speaking! Papiamentu!

Of course, as many of you fans of the ABC islands know, Papiamentu isn't the only language spoken here in, for my case, Curacao. I've heard Dutch a lot, from tourists and other workers, as well. It was very cool to hear two people conversing: one talking in Papiamentu, and the other responding in full-blown Dutch.

Also I've heard Spanish and even an Indian language that I'm not so linguistically-versed to have figured out. Lots of linguistic diversity!

It makes me sad a lot of the time that America only speaks one language, for the most part. Besides those of other cultures, mostly all who work, live and play in America only are monolingual in English!

Besides that, though, it is great to be hearing Papiamentu in real life. I've seen the videos of TeleCuracao on YouTube (here) and I've read La Prensa news online (here), but it's SO cool to hear it somewhere else than on my textbook or on the Internet! You know what I mean? When you study an odd language and then you hear it... you think... "It's actually real?!"

So, we've arrived and we're ready for a quick but fun trip. Five days. We're going to head to the Aloe Plantation (here) and the Ostrich Farm (here), the Dolphin Adventure (here), and maybe the Hato Caves. A lot to see here!

I'll have more about the language and some pictures possibly tomorrow. I'll try to get in the business center here at the Hilton Curacao executive lounge as soon as possible. I think there's a USB port I can use...

Enjoy and thank you for reading!

Drop a comment at this post or feel free to email me here as always.

Brian

A little walk through iPapiamentu & various

2010-03-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

Hi guys,

The blog is just getting started and I want to let everyone know about a couple features, plans and notices concerning goings-on here at iPapiamentu.

First of all, thank you to Mithridates, author of the well-loved and well-known Page F30 blog, who replied to my comment on his cool post about Papiamentu here. It was very nice of nice of him to offer to post a link at the Auxlang Mailing Yahoo List (for constructed auxiliary languages like Esperanto) to iPapiamentu to get the word out!

Second, I'll make a little bulleted list on some new features, besides posts:

New layout for the blog, clean and simple (somewhat edited with my self-taught CSS + HTML skills)
Added "about the blog sidebar" section
"Links of interest" section expanding for some other cool places to check out on the Web
Subscribing options just added today for subscribing by email (to get posts delivered to your inbox free), in a reader (like Google Reader), or by plain old XML RSS. Check 'em out -- it'd be great to set up a subscribed mailing list!
Simple visitor counter, counting unique visitors to web site (from tinycounter.com, which I happen to like)
Blog archive and other settings up

I hope everyone's liking my posts so far. If you've just arrived, check out:

Welcome post here
Introduction to Papiamentu here
Papiamentu vs. Papiamento here
My Papiamentu textbook and walkthrough plans here

And be on the look out for more lessons, phrases, vocab building, and web clips!

Thank you to all who comment (so far one person, but it's a start!) and please send me a quick email right here if you're interested in Papiamentu as I'd love to hear from you!

Brian

Web Clip: Horoskoop den Papiamentu!

2010-03-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

To take a small break from the lessons in the Papiamentu book (check out lesson one's grammar overview and also phrases and sentences from yesterday), I'll be doing intermittent posts on "web clips", or news stories, poems, texts, sentences, forums and other media.

I'll also do posts on pictures, video and multimedia in the future to get a taste of Papiamentu's culture in that sense.

So, anyway, I found an awesome news site for Papiamentu news, focusing on Curaçao (which is good, as I'm learning the Curaçao dialect for my trip this Spring), called La Prensa. I'm adding it to the sidebar "links of interest" right after this post.

This site has all types of news, including local, global, sports, politics, and also a cool little section on horoscopes! For some odd reason I've been interested in reading mine every day (in English until now) but will now try to decipher a Papiamentu horoscope when I can.

So, La Prensa has a section here for the horoscopes and they seem to post them every day, one for each zodiac sign. I happen to be an Aquarius -- any other Aquarii out there?

This is mine for the latest day they've seem to have added, Feb 27. (link here), but it'll do:

AKUARIO: Bo ta kurioso pa sa mas riba kosnan skondí. Bo sírkulo ta ekspandé, ya ku bo ta envolví den vários aktividatnan. 06,10,34.

I believe the numbers at the end our my "lucky numbers" for the day.

So, I'll try and work it out:

AKUARIO: Aquarius

Bo ta kurioso: You are curious

Pa sa mas: To know more

Riba kosnan skondí: About things (skondí?!)

Bo sírkulo ta ekspandé: Your circle is expanding

Ya ku bo ta envolví: Already that you are involved (?)

Den vários aktividatnan: In various activities

This one isn't totally clear to me, but I think it is trying to say:

AQUARIUS: You are curious to know about (outside/additional?) things, your circle expanding; but you are already involved in many activities (as in, you shouldn't overdo it). 06, 10, 34.

Let me know any thoughts on this one. Kind of interesting. I'd love to hear from any native speakers for advice.

Again, as always, feel free to drop me an email here or drop a comment here at the blog!

Brian

Edit 3/2:

We have a new comment at the blog, yay! User urubu commented to let us know that the word skondí means "hidden", from the Dutch. See the comment and my reply here @ the comments section for this blog posts. Feel free to add your comments as well!

"Prome les" sentences, phrases, words and practice

2010-02-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

Continuing the first lesson of our tour through E. R. Goilo's Papiamentu Textbook. Learn more here.

The second parts of each lesson will consist of a mere list of the sentences translated, new words, phrases, etc.

Check out the first part of di prome les here for an explanation on the grammar and new topics learned herein.

Unda bo ta bai?
Where are you going?

Kén bo ta?
Who are you?

Kíko bo tin?
What do you have?

Pakíko mi ta traha?
Why do I work?

Pasobra mi ke placa.
Because I want money.

Cuá buki ta di bo?
Which book is yours?

Cuantu placa bo tin?
How much money do you have?

Bo ta bai cu mi.
You go with me.

Cón ta bai?
How is it going?

Den mi sacu.
In my pocket.

Mi tin dies cen.
I have ten cents.

Aki mi ta.
Here I am.

Ei bo ta.
There you are.

Aya mi ta bai.
Yonder I go.

Mi tin dos pen í un potlood.
I have two pens and a pencil.

Tin un buki riba mesa.
There is a book on the table.

Cuater o cincu.
Four or five.

Dos of un.
Two or one.

E buki ta pa mi.
The book is for me.

E buki ta di mi.
The book is mine.

Bo no ta bini? Di cón?
You don't come? Why?

Mi ta malu.
I am ill.

Mi no ta malu.
I am not ill.

Mi tin placa.
I have money.

Mi no tin placa.
I do not have money.

Unda bo ta bai?
Where do you go?

Mi no ta bai.
I do not go.

Kén bo ta?
Who are you?

Kén Meneer/Señor ta?
Who are you, sir?

Mi ta haci mi trabou.
I do my work.

Mi ta bini cas.
I come home.

Mi ta bai cas.
I go home.

Mi ta duna placa.
I give money.

Mi ta skirbi un carta.
I write a letter.

Mi ta sali un or'.
I go at one o'clock.

Mi ta cumpra cigaría.
I buy a cigarette.

Mi ta bende un cos.
I sell something.

Mi ta come pan.
I eat bread.

Mi ta bebe awa.
I drink water.

Mi ta traha awe.
I work today.

Mi ta drumi ocho'ora.
I sleep six hours.

Mi ta sinta riba un stul.
I sit on a stool.

Mi ta biba na Corsou.
I live in Curaçao.

Mi ta huma dos cigaría.
I smoke two cigarettes.

Mi ta drenta mi oficina.
I enter my office.

Mi ta gana cincu florin.
I earn five guilders.

Mi ta hari henter día.
I laugh all day long.

Mi ta siña mi les.
I learn my lesson.

Mi ta mira mi amigu.
I see my friend.

Mi ta papia ingles.
I speak English.

Bon ta bini?
Do you come?

Nò, mi no ta bini.
No, I don't come.

Mi a haci.
I did.

Bo a haci.
You did.

El a haci.
He/she/it did.

Nos a haci.
We did.

Boso a haci.
You all did.

Nan a haci.
They did.

Mi a bini.
I came/I have come.

Mi a bai.
I went/I have gone.

Mi a duna.
I gave/I have given.

Lo mi haci.
I shall do.

Lo bo haci.
You will do.

Lo é haci.
He/she/it will do.

Lo nos haci.
We shall do.

Lo boso haci.
You will all do.

Lo nan haci.
They will do.

Lo mi bai.
Later on I go/I shall I go.

Lo mi duna.
I will give.

Mi ta Señor B.
I am Mr. B.

Mi nomber ta Antonio.
My name is Antonio.

Mi ta biba na Otrobanda den Klipstraat number dos.
I live in Otrobanda in Klipstraat number two.

Mi ta traha na Punda, na oficina.
I work in Punda, in an office.

Mi ta skirbi carta, dies carta pa día.
I write letters, ten letters a day.

Mi ta haci hopi trabou.
I do much work.

Mi amigu ta traha na Isla.
My friend works at Shell.

E ta traha tur día.
He works all day.

Señor Jansen no ta traha.
Mr. Jansen does not work.

E tin placa.
He has money.

E tin hopi placa.
He has much money.

Cu placa nos ta cumpra hopi cos: buki, skrif, potlood, pen, ink í hopi otro cos.
With money we buy many things: books, copy-books, pencils, pens, ink and many other things.

Mi tin un pen í un potlood.
I have a pen and a pencil.

Cu un pen í un potlood mi ta skirbi.
With a pen and a pencil I write.

Mi ta skirbi carta í mi ta skirbi mi les.
I write a letter and I write my lesson.

Mi ta skirbi den un skrif.
I write in a copy-book.

Mi ta skirbi carta riba papel.
I write letters on paper.

Mi no ta skirbi carta cu un potlood, ma cu un pen.
I do not write letters with a pencil, but with a pen.

Nos ta drumi tur anochi.
We sleep every night.

Nos ta drumi ocho ora.
We sleep eight hours.

Mi amigu ta traha ocho ora í e ta drumi diesseis ora.
My friend works for eight hours and sleeps for sixteen hours.

E ta come hopi, ma e no ta bebe hopi.
He eats much, but he does not drink much.

Mi tin un buki.
I have a book.

Mi tin buki.
I have books.

Mi tin dies buki.
I have ten books.

E buki ta riba mesa.
The book is on the table.

E bukinan ta riba mesa.
The books are on the table.

Mi buki ta riba mesa.
My book is on the table.

Mi bukinan ta riba mesa.
My books are on the table.

Nan no ta bini.
They do not come.

Nos no ta come.
We do not eat.

E no ta skirbi.
He does not write.

Bo no ta gana placa.
You do not earn money.

Nos ta bai cine.
We go to the movies.

Nan ta bai cas.
They go home.

Mi ta bai Punda (stad).
I go to town (Punda).

Su amigu ta bai New York.
His friend goes to New York.

E ta bai su trabou.
He goes to his work.

Bo ta bai ariba.
You go upstairs.

Boso ta bai abou.
You all go downstairs.

No mas cu tres.
No more than three.

No menos cu cincu.
No less than five.

Mi ta skirbi un carta.
I write a letter.

Mi ta bini cas.
I come home.

Mi ta come cu gustu.
I gladly eat.

Mi ta bai Roxy.
I go to Roxy.

Mi ta bebe awa í limonada.
I drink water and lemonade.

Mi ta sinta riba un stul.
I sit on a stool.

Mi ta traha tur día.
I work all day.

Mi ta drumi tur anochi.
I sleep every night.

Mi ta sali un or'.
I go at one a'clock.

Mi ta duna mi mama tur mi placa.
I give my mother all my money.

Mi ta cumpra paña nobo.
I buy new clothes.

Mi ta drenta oficina ocho'or.
I enter the office at eight o'clock.

Mi ta huma un paki' cigaría pa dia.
I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.

Mi ta biba den Klipstraat.
I love in Klipstraat.

Nos ta skirbi tres carta.
We write three letters.

Nos ta skirbi tur día.
We write all day.

Mi amigu í mi amiga ta skirbimi hopi.
My friend and my girlfriend write me often.

Ayera nan a skirbi cuater carta.
Yesterday they wrote four letters.

Nan ta skirbi cu pen í ink.
They write with pen and ink.

Nan no ta skirbi cu potlood.
They do not write with a pencil.

Nos no ta malu.
We are not ill.

Nos ta salú.
We are in good health.

Nos ta come bon.
We eat well.

Nos ta bebe hopi awa.
We drink much water.

Nos ta traha bon.
We work well.

Nos ta gana hopi placa.
We earn much money.

Nos ta bai cine.
We go to the movies.

Nos ta bai cas í nos ta bai drumi.
We go home and we go to sleep.

Mi no ta huma hopi.
I don't smoke much.

No mas cu un paki pa día.
No more than a pack a day.

Sr. Jansen ta na cas.
Mr. Jansen is at home.

E ta come.
He is eating.

E ta come pan.
He is eating bread.

E ta bebe awa.
He is drinking water.

Ami ta bebe kòfi.
I drink coffee (though).

Nan ta sinti den sala.
They are sitting in the parlor.

Nan ta bebe kòfi tambe.
They are also drinking coffee.

Cu placa nos ta cumpra hopi cos.
With money we buy many things.

Nos ta cumpra buki, skrif, potlood, pen, etc.
We buy books, copy-books, pencils, pens, etc.

Mi ta dunabo.
I give to you.

Mi ta mirabo.
I see you.

There we go! A lot in the first lesson. Coming up I believe there will be more passages to translate and vocabulary to learn. As I said, this book isn't particularly organized, but I like it.

Please drop a comment or email me here if you have any suggestions, ideas, corrections, etc.

Thanks guys!

Brian

"Prome les" guided grammar overview

2010-02-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

Starting my walk through E. R. Goilo’s Papiamentu Textbook with the first lesson. More info on this series here.

This lesson includes personal pronouns, common words, and other phrases. This post will only show the more grammatical side of the lesson: the other phrases and material that is more for conversation and translation will be in future posts.

Personal Pronouns

mi: I, me

bo: you

e: he, him; she, her; it

nos: we, us

boso: you (plural)

nan: they, them

Note: polite form of you (like in the Romance languages) is according to the person’s title/gender. For example señor for speaking politely to a man and señora/señorita for a woman. Pretty easy. Also, doktor for a doctor, etc.

Three Important First Verbs

ta: to be

Mi ta Nos ta

Bo ta Boso ta

E ta Nan ta

tin: to have (used without the “ta” present particle)

Mi tin Nos tin

Bo tin Boso tin

E tin Nan tin

haci: to do

Mi ta haci Nos ta haci

Bo ta haci Boso ta haci

E ta haci Nan ta haci

Negating Sentences

To construct a simple negative sentence, use the word “no” before the verb or verb particle.

Word Order

Papiamentu sentences are always in the Subject + Verb word order, like English and many of the other Indo-European languages.

Basic Verb Conjugation

Verbs are almost always conjugated in the present tense with the particle ta, coming from the spanish “está”. More up to come in Lesson 14.

The two other simple tenses, viz. past and future, use the particles a and lo respectively.

For example, a synopsis in the first person singular (“I” form) of the verb bai, “to go”:

Mi ta bai: I go; I am going; I do go

Mi a bai: I went; I have gone

Mi lo bai OR Lo mi bai: I shall/will go

Note (1) that the translation can differ according to the best suited for context; and (2) that the future particle lo can be placed before or after the personal pronoun. Etymology of lo: from Portuguese “logo”, or “luego” for “later on”.

Wow, this lesson has a lot! Keep up the good work!

Articles: definite and indefinite

Articles in English are “the” for definite and “a/an” for indefinite. In Papiamentu they are e for definite and un for indefinite. However, note that the articles are not necessarily used in the same instances or as often as in English.

Numerals

(More to come in the sixth lesson)

(1) un (11) diesun (80) ochenta

(2) dos (12) diesdos (90) nobenta

(3) tres (13) diestres (100) cien (sien?)

(4) cuater …etc… (1000) mil

(5) sinku (20) binti (9000) nuebe mil, etc.

(6) seis (30) trinta

(7) siete (shete) (40) cuarenta

(8) ocho (50) cincuenta

(9) nuebe (60) sesenta

(10) dies (70) setenta

Plurals

The ending for plural, -nan, is only added when absolutely necessary to convey a “more-than-one” meaning. Notice it is the same as the pronoun for “they”, nan.

Wow! So that’s the grammar overview for today. Lots of vocab and conversations to come in future posts. This book is somewhat unorganized; I have to say. It’s kind of messy with some typos but I still do love it. And I kind of have to considering it’s the only Papiamentu textbook for English speakers. Again, more info on the book here.

Anyway let me know what you guys think and feel free to email me here as always!

Brian

Papiamentu Textbook

2010-02-28T08:44:00.001-08:00

Papiamentu Textbook by E.R. Goilo, eleventh edition, published 2000. Me and my lovely little textbook! Bought it on Amazon a couple years ago (I’ve been into Papiamentu for a while now) and have been looking it over a lot recently. Kind of sporatic but is really the only textbook out there for learning Papiamentu if you’re an English speaker! This is the eleventh edition as I said, and it’s doing me well so far.

What I’m going to do is start posting little blurbs, phrases, and mainly translation exercises from the book and I’ll always link back to this post for clarification on what it is I’m posting.

Now that I’ve gotten my welcome and about me, introduction to the language, and Papiamentu vs. Papiamento posts out of the way, on to the textbook series! Make sure to check out those linked posts.

Enjoy! I’ll be posting some links and photos in as well. I hope people are starting to find this blog…

Brian

Papiamentu vs. Papiamento

2010-02-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

Before we get into the “meat” of the posts here at iPapiamentu, I’d like to take a minute to examine an important aspect of Papiamentu: it’s two main dialects.

Please note that I am no expert on the linguistics of the language nor have I comparatively studied these two dialects in depth; I merely want to present what information I have found to clear up some common misconceptions concerning Papiamentu’s phonology, spelling, and vocabulary.

So, to start off: the language has two main dialects, “Papiamentu” in Curaçao and Bonaire; and “Papiamento” in Aruba.

The largest difference, as seen in the names Papiamentu vs. Papiamentu, is the orthography, or spelling. Papiamento in Aruba retains a more etymological approach (from its Spanish & Portuguese roots, see more here), using often “c” instead of the more phonetic “k”, “o” instead of “u” (as in the name), “cc” for “ks”, and “y” instead of “i” sometimes.

Other differences between the two include its spoken sound: Papiamento in Aruba apparently sounds more like Spanish. There was a general noted difference in lexicon and intonation as well.

So, that’s that. I’d like to note that I will be using the Curaçao dialect, or Papiamentu. You may have already noticed that I am always referring to the language as Papiamentu. I am doing so because a) Papiamentu is more prevalent (in two out of the three islands), b) my textbook seems to lean towards it, and c) I am planning a trip to Curaçao this spring.

I think in general the differences aren’t stressed too much. And, as I mentioned in the last post, Papiamentu is primarily spoken as opposed to written. I imagine that the differences are like… hm… trying to think of an analogy. Maybe like the differences between some of the Romance languages, maybe the Italic ones. Wikipedia has a cool comparison here. Maybe like Sicilian vs. Italian — both mutually intelligible, but you can sense the difference.

Let me know what you think, and email me here as always. Drop a comment if you like, too!

SEE MORE

Dialect differences @ Wikipedia here

Orthographical comparison of the two in a sample @ PageF30 here

Papiamento language, alphabet and more @ Omniglot here

Introduction to Papiamentu

2010-02-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Bon día!

This post will be a little introduction to the history and current usage of Papiamentu (the five W’s and how) for those who aren’t yet familiar with the language, or for anyone interested in learning a little about the basics.

I’ll do a post later on introductory phrases with links & stuff. This one will just be about what the language is, etc.

WHO

Papiamentu is spoken by some 320,000+ people of many diverse backgrounds, including Afro-Caribbean, Dutch, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Levantine and Asian. One theory states that it developed as a creole over time through use with people of indigenous descent communicating with Spanish settlers, while another theory states that it developed in more modern times through usage with African slaves and slave importers. It is mostly accepted that this diverse language was created out of a need to communicate with the many peoples in the region, including the African slaves, Dutch and Spanish settlers, indigenous tribes and other European and Asian peoples.

WHAT

Papiamentu is a creole language that was developed predominantly from Portuguese and Spanish, with vocabulary influence coming from English, Dutch and Arawak Indian native languages. Originally beginning as more of a pidgin tongue for intercommunication, Papiamentu has developed itself over the past couple centuries (years disputed) into a rich, complete literary language. However, it is mostly a spoken language and therefore continues to be standardized and refined, in terms of writing system, phonology and grammar.

WHERE

Papiamentu is the most widely spoken tongue of the three “ABC” islands of the Caribbean Netherlands Antilles: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (koo-rah-saoh). It is also spoken on the island of Sint Eustatius. It has official status both in Aruba and the collective Netherlands Antilles.

WHEN

This section relates much to the “what” section above, concerning a bit of the history and development of the language. As stated, Papiamentu derives from a need for communication between the diverse cultures of the ABC islands: Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, indigenous tribes, Afro-Caribbean slaves, and more. An important date, though, concerning the “when” of the story is 1634 when the Dutch laid claim to the three islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Again, because this language was developed, not designed (like a constructed language like Esperanto, which I happen to love — retposxtu min se vi estas Esperantisto!), there is not much written history or documentation on years, etc. So, it can be summed up that much of Papiamentu’s development occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries and it continues to change and grow today.

WHY

Ah, some of this becomes a little redundant; I apologize. However, I want to complete these five W’s. Why… let’s see. Well, I would assume that, when dozens of different cultures with different languages come together in one place and need to communicate, new and interesting things come about. This is one of the reasons why I love Papiamentu so much! Some may think it odd to not have a “pure” background, but I think that having all of this diversity mixed as a “salad bowl” (some may use the term “melting pot”) of a language, it creates a really cool tongue that we now know as Papiamentu.

HOW

Papiamentu came about from “pidginizing” or “creolizing” different aspects of grammar, vocabulary and phonology of a mix of European tongues: Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English; as well as native Arawak tongues and other words in the mix. My guess for “how” would be that people would communicate, and if they understood each other, they decided on a specific word to signify a specific meaning, and the process just kept going on. Aren’t creoles fascinating?

So, there we have it! A little introduction about Papiamentu from me to you. Can’t believe I just wrote that whole thing. Hope everyone liked it. Really happy to have this blog going! I miss blogging; I kind of stopped with my vegetarian blog here you may want to check out.

Upcoming posts: “Papiamentu vs. Papiamento & dialects”, etymology, basic phrases, link roundups, textbook notes, translator stuff, and more!

As always, email me here, and feel free to drop a comment at this post here.

SEE MORE

Papiamentu entry @ Wikipedia here

Papiamentu, the native language of Bonaire @ InfoBonaire here

Papiamentu language of Curacao @ Curacao.name here

Papiamentu entry @ Papiamentu.net here

Welcome to iPapiamentu!

2010-02-28T08:38:00.000-08:00

Bon bini na iPapiamentu!

(Welcome to iPapiamentu!)

Hi! My name is Brian, and I love languages. I’ve always loved Papiamentu for its charm and curious creole qualities, but have found a renewed interest in studying the language for my upcoming visit to Curação this spring.

My hope for this website is to help acquaint myself and others with the language of Curação, Bonaire (and Aruba) with fun, daily posts on cool resources, links, pictures, videos, discussion, book reviews, and anything else you can think relating to this wonderful language.

Due to the unfortunate lack of Papiamentu learning resources, I hope iPapiamentu will be of assistance for anyone looking to learn the language. I was inspired after I found another blog by R. Harrison, Papiamentu Tur Dia, to start iPapiamentu, and I hope you enjoy it!

Upcoming posts will include reviews on my Papiamentu Textbook, links to cool resources around the Web, and other introductory stuff on Papiamentu and where it’s spoken.

Let me know what you think; I’d love to hear from you! Email me here as always.

Brian, 14, USA.