Tây Bồi

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Tây Bồi, is a term used for a type of verbal communication which consists of "massacred" French words mixed with Vietnamese words spoken by non French-educated Vietnamese, usually those who worked as servants in French households or milieus. Literally, it means "French(Tây)[of- or spoken by] male servants(Bồi)". During the French colonisation period, French people had male household servants, due probably to the fact that no Vietnamese would ever think of letting their daughters/sisters/wives work for foreigners. The term is used by Vietnamese themselves to indicate that the French language spoken is very poor, incorrect, and ungrammatical.

Tây Bồi is perhaps the Vietnamese equivalent of the term "Francais petit nègre" ("little nigger French", again literally) which refers to the same rudimentary broken French spoken by uneducated natives or hired help or servants in French African colonies.

"Bồi" is the phonetized word for the English word "boy", borrowed from British colonial culture. In the USA, in the South, the word was also used to refer to male servants, and is still used today in a pejorative or joking way.

One should note that the French government/colonisers or protectors opened French public schools [from pre-kindergaraten through the Baccalaureat II] to take care of their compatriots/expatriots' children's education. The staff was all French. Vietnamese children were admitted also, if they could pass an entrance examination, tailored to their age and grade level. The Vietnamese elite class spoke French well, and those with French Baccalaureat diplomas could attend French Universities in France and in its colonies. Today, in Vietnam, standard (Parisian) French is taught in some schools as a second language.

2004 U.S. presidential nominee John Kerry, who speaks excellent French, was probably exposed to this Tây Bồi when in Vietnam, and probably understood most of it. Tây Bồi is remarkably close to the stereotypical "broken" French spoken by foreign characters, e.g. in comics.

[edit] Examples

Vietnamese French	Standard French	Literal English	English
Moi faim	J'ai faim	Me hunger	I am hungry
Moi tasse	Ma tasse	Me cup	My cup
Lui avoir permission repos	Il a permission de se reposer	He have permission rest [noun]	He has permission to rest
Demain moi retour campagne	Demain, je retourne à la campagne	Tomorrow me return [noun] countryside	Tomorrow, I return to the countryside
Vous pas argent moi stop travail	Si vous ne me payez pas, j'arrêterai de travailler	You no money me stop work	If you don't pay me, I'll stop working
Monsieur content aller danser	Monsieur est content d'aller danser	Mister happy to go to dance	The gentleman is happy to go dance
Lui la frapper	Il la frappe	He her to hit	He hits her
Bon pas aller	Bon, n'y vas pas	Good, not to go	Good, don't go
Pas travail	Je ne travaillerai pas	Not work [noun]	I won't work
Assez, pas connaître	Assez, je n'en sais rien	Enough, not to know	Enough, I don't know
Moi compris toi parler	J'ai compris ce que tu as dit	Me understood you to speak	I've understood what you've said

(Bickerton 1995: 163)[1]

[edit] See also

Languages derived from French see also French-based creole languages
In the Americas: Haitian Creole (kreyòl ayisyen) • Michif • Lanc-Patuá Antillean Creole • Louisiana Creole (kreyol lwiziyen) • Chiac In Africa: Seychellois Creole (Kreol) • Mauritian Creole • Réunion Creole In Asia: Tây Bồi