One of the cool things about Jamaican Slang and Patois is that the language has not been institutionalized yet. Now, there is an effort to translate the Bible into Jamaican Patois, but this is still some years away. What I mean about being institutionalized is that there really is not a “right” or “wrong” way of writing the language. Now, there IS a right way to speak the language in terms of pronunciation and grammar, but there is no formal way to right words in patois. For example, I was just reading a small note in Jamaican Patois and I saw the word FIRE written in several ways: Fiyah, Fyah, and Fiah. Crazy right?

Now, I usually spell the word Fiyah, but no one spelling is wrong in this case. This is an important thing to remember when learning and communicating with people in Jamaican Patois. Some words do have a proper spelling, but many do not, so just get out there and speak Jamaican Patois.

To learn more Jamaican Slang and Patois, check out the Rastaman Vibration available to www.jamaican-slang.com