Not Knowing What Jamaicans Speak

[IAmCrystalHeights]

Is it me or do a lot people not know what language Jamaicans speak? It's kind of weird, because I've always known that they speak English, but most people I've talked to have no clue what language they speak. They know about the Jamaican stereotypes like smoking a lot of weed, the funny accent, and reggae music, but that's about it.

How do so many people not know they speak English? One guy I asked said they speak African, and he was a straight-out-of-high-school-to-UC Santa Barbara student (and dropped out) and had a 4.0 GPA from high school. He may have been lying, but he did go to a preppy high school.

Maybe it's just when they speak it sounds so different we think it's not English.

[Chdonga]

At 8/18/16 11:19 AM, Chemich wrote:

At 8/18/16 03:21 AM, Sekhem wrote:

At 8/18/16 12:13 AM, Chemich wrote: Their specific dialect is called "lyaric"

no, it isn't

It's called Iyaric, if you know and then just say that it isn't without providing information otherwise you just look like an asshole.

Sekhem is a bumboclaat. Ignore him.

[WahyaRanger2]

I thought they just spoke pothead and alcoholism.

Mixed with a little living off the tourism.

[billybobthwarten]

At 8/18/16 02:11 PM, kanef wrote: they speak patois and reading newspaper articles in it is fucking hilarious

i'm not even sure what all that ends up saying.

[FinaLee]

Ye, mahn.

[NeonSpider]

It's not that difficult to understand people who speak variants on English dialect (if you're a native English speaker). Not that difficult at all.

People who can't understand people just because their dialect doesn't exactly match theirs just come across as extremely stupid.

I'll give someone a pass only if English isn't their first language.

Tired of all these idiots who can't understand someone because they speak British English or Indian English or South African English or Australian English or Jamaican English or even a different variant of American English which differs from whatever their exact dialect is.

Hell, you should at least be able to make a passing understanding of Middle English and Scots.

[NeonSpider]

At 8/19/16 04:33 AM, Xenomit wrote: I don't think you know what jamaican patois really sounds like

It can be really really really hard to decode sometimes

Yes, you might not know every word immediately. But listen. And generally you can figure out what they're saying.

Is it essential that you understand every word? No. Context clues will fill you in on the rest.

Also a lot of words are slurred together, but if you're paying enough attention you can figure that out as well. It's not a lot different from how other dialects slur words together.

Also you could ask someone to speak slower (something you can't do with a youtube video). Odds are, what seemed indecipherable might even make sense then, and if you're listening closely you can probably figure it out.

I'm not saying I'd want a professor who spoke like that, but for everyday conversation, you'd be able to make do just fine.

[Doge2]

I like the language. Even if i can't understand it, considering its part of the english language with some outside influence