The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

Growing up, I used to hear my Dad say often to some people: “Sa’m di ou fè a, sé pa li ou fè” (You did not do what I told you to do).

What if Haitians did not have a language problem? What if the real problem was communication?

Many people thought that the inability for the general population to speak French instead of Kreyol was an handicap to the development of the country. They started to push kreyol into classrooms and more than 20 years later, comprehension is still a problem. Language is just one requirement for good communication. Communication is tight up with beliefs, experience, prior knowledge or lack of, and of course education.

Example #1. Many years ago I gave a guy in his 40s direction (in Kreyol) to a location. “When you get to the light, turn right”. Well, he got lost because he turned right at the first occasion; he did not drive to the light first.

Example #2. I texted someone in Kreyol and I said “…then you should ask your family to pay you back with interest”. She replied to me and said “… what, you want my family to pay you back?”.

These 2 examples have little to do with the language (I have many more). The spoken language was kreyol and all parties involved were native Kreyol speakers. It has more to do with comprehension. Many people cannot paraphrase nor rephrase what they heard. Many cannot follow direction.

The more we focus on whether Haitians should speak Kreyol or French, the more we are moving away from the real issue. The consequences of literacy or language without comprehension are chaos. When you tell the population to take one step to the left, you will create chaos because people are moving in all direction.
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”.