Patois

[Hussyband]

I like to read the editorial and more salacious sections of a couple of the online Jamaican news papers. While I think I have gotten a basic understanding (often simply by context) of Patois on a written level, I can not understand 1/10th of what is being said after multiple trips, and would only make a fool of myself were I to try and communicate that way. Once in a while I turn the Jamaican radio stations on with the iPad. Callers who really get going on some of those shows may as well be speaking Martian for all of my supposed understanding . I think it is one of those things where either growing up with it, or nothing short of a total immersion into the language will serve to understand.

[Lola]

On the flip side I was having a typical English-speaking conversation with a 10-yr old Jamaican girl I've known a long time about a topic she knew of but had very little actual knowledge. I went too far too fast and she said "I don't understand a word you are saying, it is like you are speaking Chinese."