Talk:Demographics of Haiti

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Literacy: (2003 est.)
Definition: Age 15 and over that can read and write
Total population: 52.9%
Male: 54.8%
Female: 51.2%

It doesn't say which language that 52.9% is literate in, Creole or French. (anonymous comment)

There's a good reason for that. Many Haitians speak some French in addition to kreyol. Most who go to school are educated in both languages, even though they usually don't end up needing the French in whatever vocation they choose.

Because of these factors, the visitor to Haiti will encounter something of a continuum from pure "kreyol ayisyen" through various mixtures (called simply "kreyol" or "kreyol fransesize" -- the original meaning of "creole" was a mixture of French and another language), to pure French for some government business, interaction with foreigners who are uncomfortable with speaking a mixture, professions such as medicine, law, and engineering, and resident ethnic minority communities.

Considering the political chaos that has racked Haiti in the last 20 years, it is very likely that the collectors of these statistics lacked the resources to produce a statistically significant separation of the language (or languages) of people's literacy for the entire country. In any case, I doubt they considered it particularly relevant. Why, you ask, would they think that?

Consider, for example, how you would categorize someone who falls into the kreyol fransezize area (which, depending on your definition of literacy, could range from less than 10% to more than 90% of all literate Haitians). Do you have just one "fransezize" category, or do you break it out further? I have witnessed (and sometimes been party to) numerous conversations between two people who both were proficient in some kind of kreyol fransezize, in which major misunderstandings ocurred, or even mutual unintelligibility! And if someone speaks only pure Kreyol, but can read some French if asked to do so, are they considered literate in ayisyen, kreyol fransesize, or French -- or two of these, or all three?? For that matter, is kreyol fransesize even a separate language, or is it simply a patois or dialect of either ayisyen and/or French? You see where this is going? The correct answer is: It cannot possibly matter to anything, so why worry about it?

Today, with official documents and the vast majority of signage and print media in kreyol, the one statistic that really matters is literacy in kreyol ayisyen, which in some quarters is understood to include dialects of francified kreyol, provided there is not so much French that the typical speaker of ayisyen cannot understand. This particular section of the literate public probably includes all literate people, excepting the smallest handful of ethnic French -- who certainly could learn to read the language just fine, but may choose not to. (Or in some cases, they may be able to read it just fine, but are not about to admit that fact to a stranger!)

Another factor that makes the breakout less relevant is that, 10 years ago, the overall functional literacy rate was closer to 20% than 53%. The Aristide and first Preval administrations mounted a truly, stunningly massive literacy campaign in the 90's and early noughts (00's). In terms of citizens it touched throughout the country, in both urban and rural areas, it was probably the largest government program of its time. So the literacy number has been in rapid flux. Additionally, all of these newly literate people were being taught kreyol ayisyen, so the breakout percentages by language will have also been in flux -- even assuming people agree on what to call a "language" in Haiti.

I hope this helps, rather than causing more confusion! Fowler Pierre 13:02, 7 April 2006 (UTC)