Jamaican Slang EditorialTHE Blog for Jamaican Slang, Patois, Reggae, Rastafari, Real T’ing dem and Jamaica

Have you heard someone kiss-teeth? If you haven’t been around many Jamaicans or even people from African cultures, it is highly unlikely, but kissing teeth is one of those unspoken things that is rampant in Jamaican Patois and many other Africanized countries. You see, kissing teeth is a sound that people exposed or from the African Diaspora make when saying “give me a break” or “come on”.

I first started hearing people “kiss” (suck) their teeth as a child when my father used to do it and I’ve heard people from Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, Barbados and even Brazil do it, among other countries. It is definitely an Africanism that is now part of many cultures and languages in the Caribbean and Latin America. If you travel to Nigeria, you are likely to hear it even if it is slightly longer or louder than what you hear in Jamaica, but you will hear it in a conversation.

Recently, in a conversation with a friend in Jamaica, I heard her kiss-teeth and thought that it was definitely something people outside of Jamaica should know about, especially people wanting to learn to speak Jamaican. Words are only a piece of the puzzle. Body language and other minor details will definitely help you speaking ability.  Below is a conversation where two friends are having a conversation about a new club in Kingston, Jamaica and on more than one occasion you will hear kiss-teeth sounds.  Additionally, you get a good idea of the context in which they kiss-teeth.

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To read more about the phenomenon known as kiss-teeth, click here.

Here is a new video that my man Scally Ranks recently worked on in effort to show people how to speak Jamaican….and it does a pretty good job. Check it out. More goodies like this on the way!!!

I was super excited when I came across these 19 Jamaican Patois Expressions and they definitely changed my life…at least as far as Jamaican Patois/Slang goes. Some of the expressions, I knew, but others were new. It just goes to show you that you learn something everyday. I wish I could take credit for compiling this list, but no. So BIG UP to Jamaican Princess. Read, Re-Read and Study this list… it will definitely help you the next time you are in Jamaica or need to speak with Jamaicans.

If yu caan ketch tief, yu ketch him shut ( shirt) - If someone does you bad and you cannot get revenge, you take revenge on someone close to them

Have you ever heard of Paul Campbell?? Probably not, but you should. Not only is he a great Jamaican Actor and Jamaica’s most popular actor, his acting roles have helped many people learn to speak Jamaican Slang and Jamaican Patois. He has starred in several Jamaican classic films such as Dancehall Queen, Third World Cop and Shottas. Although he was a key actor in all of these films, Third World Cop is where he really is the star of the show and where you hear the best Jamaican Slang. One of his classic lines is :”Wi Run Ting, Ting Nah Run Wi”. I highly recommend following him if you want to learn more Jamaican Slang and Patois. Are the movies Hollywood Blockbusters? NO! But for our purposes, we need to learn more Jamaican, so Paul’s movies are excellent for that.

I would highly suggest checking out his films. He is also a Broadway Actor and painter. To learn more about Paul Campbell, click here.

Otherwise, GO WATCH HIS MOVIES…Yu dun know!

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Yah Mon, Supermodel Kate Moss is learning to speak Jamaican Patois with Jamaican Slang and all. Kate has been learning patois during her periodic visits to Jamaica. Now, if you have a bankroll as long as Kate Moss, then your best choice might be going to Jamaica to learn patois for a few months, but most of us are not able to do that for that long. The truth is that even Kate could use some basic pointers on learning Jamaican Patois and Jamaican Slang when she is not able to zip to Jamaica. Learning Jamaican Patois is like learning any other language, it is vital to take advantage of your time in the county where the language is spoken, but you also need to continue training when you are back home to retain the knowledge and increase fluency. So is a list of the 6 Basic Steps to Speak Jamaican like Kate Moss and many Jamaicans.

1. Begin with the Jamaican idioms. The most noticeable aspect of Jamaican patois to a non-speaker is the heavy reliance on idioms. Idioms like “No one cyaan test,” which means no one can compete with a given person, use both the vernacular and the grammar of the patois. Learning a few of the idioms and their meanings will give you a context for advancing with the patois.
2. Learn the patois’ pronouns. Jamaican uses a system of pronouns that is based on the English pronomial system but differs significantly enough that it needs to be learned. Switch personal pronouns, for example, so “I” becomes “mi” and “me” becomes “I,” and replace possessive pronouns like “mine” with “fi” to start speaking the patois like a Jamaican.
3. Get the vocabulary. One of the most difficult parts of speaking Jamaican patois is the rich and dynamic vocabulary. Though infused with English, the system of Jamaican words is unique. You should learn Jamaican words and the many different grammatical uses that they have. The word “nuh,” for instance, means a general negative that includes “no,” “don’t” and “doesn’t.”
4. Get the tenses and aspects. Perhaps the most difficult part of speaking Jamaican patois is learning how to properly conjugate verbs. Jamaican’s system of verb tenses and aspects is completely different from that of English. Most importantly, you should master Jamaican’s version of the English “to be,” which is frequently left out of sentences or is replaced with a copular “a” or “e,” such as “Mi a di speaker,” to mean “I am the speaker.”
5. Explore inflection and pronunciation. Jamaican patois has a rhythm and lilt that comes from its blend of African roots and Spanish and French Romance languages. You can get a sense of the rhythms of Jamaican by listening to reggae lyrics. The spelling of Jamaican patois—”mon” for “man,” for example—reflects English words softened in pronunciation by Romance accents.
6. Become familiar with Rasta culture. Many Jamaican terms are drawn from the practice of Rastafarianism, a unique Jamaican syncretic religion that combines themes from the Hebrew Bible with the veneration of Haile Selassie, a former Ethiopian ruler, as a messianic figure. Again, reggae music is a good starting point for tracing the influence of Rasta on Jamaican patois. The Jamaican word for “God,” for example, is “Jah,” drawn from the biblical Hebrew “Yahweh.”

Remember, these are the basic steps to learning Jamaican Patois, but you have to practice, practice, pratice and study, study, study! To learn jamaican patois and slang visit www.jamaican-slang.com. SpeakJamaican.com is the home of the Rastaman Vibration, the definitive source on Jamaican Slang, Patois, Reggae and Rastafari…all essential to catching the Jamaican Vibe. To read the original article where these steps come from click here.

I am excited about people learning to speak Jamaican Patois. The thing about Patois is that it is a fun and fast language. Although, learning words is helpful phrases take the learning process to the next level. So here are the 5 Key Phrases to Help You Speak Jamaican:

1) Wha gwaan my yoot? = What’s going on my friend (buddy)?

2) Mi a go foreign = I am going out of the country (abroad).

3) Mi nuh know = I don’t know.

4) We run tings, tings nuh run we = We are in control or We run things and things do not run us.

5) Mi gwaan chat wid di gyal dem = I am going to talk to the girls.

I hope these “likkle” helpful points allow you to speak Jamaican like a Jamaican!

Soon Come

To learn more about Jamaican Patois and learn how to Speak Jamaican, visit www.jamaican-slang.com

Many people question if they speak Jamaican Patois, are they really speaking a language. The answer is yes - Yea Mon! Wikipedia defines a spoken language as: A spoken language is a human natural language in which the words are uttered through the mouth. I would say that Jamaican Patois definitely meets the requirement of being a language.  So, why do so many people  say that  Jamaican Patois is not a language?

I think it has to do with colonization, legacy and class. From a colonization standpoint, Jamaicans continue to have a very close connection to Great Britain, the island’s major colonizer. Many Jamaicans live in Great Britain and have had a major influence on British culture, but Great Britain and the Queen of England have a lasting legacy as far as Jamaica is concerned. The English language, driving cars with the steering wheel on the right hand side, having a Prime Minister, the importance of a yard and many other things are a legacy of the British. In the past, the person that spoke proper English or the Queen’s English was most likely well educated and from a higher class. As a result, those that spoke Patois were looked down upon because they were not speaking the colonizer’s language. Despite the historically legacy of colonization, I think times have changed and Patois is vital to Jamaica’s culture, history and place in the world.

You see, Jamaican Patois is based on English and Spanish, but it is also based on African languages as well and before I forget there is also the American Arawak influence. Although, it would be unfair to discount the role of the English language, Jamaican Patois is heavily influenced by Spanish and even more by African languages. Let me see if I can shed some light on this.

Think back to your Spanish Classes when you had to learn the Alphabet and how to count in Spanish. Well, that was a good lesson to begin to speak Jamaican because some of the pronunciation is identical. For example, in Spanish when you say the word twenty or Veinte, the pronunciation in many places begins with a B sound as though the word were “Beinte”. The same thing exists in Patois. For example, you might hear the word “vex” pronounced like ” bex”. The other area where you can hear Spanish in Patois is the vowel pronunciation or sounds. Most vowels in Jamaican Patois have a similar or identical pronunciation to Spanish. Just listen to some the way Jamaicans say the word “Apple” and then listen to the way a Spanish speaker says “Apple”. There is a striking similarity between the two languages. From a cultural and geographic standpoint, its clear to see the influence of the Spanish on Jamaica…Spanish Town and Ocho Rios are both major cities on the island and each has its own history and legacy.

Just in case you have not been to Jamaica, its a country largely populated by African descendants. There are tons of mixes on the island, but the large majority of the island’s population can trace some ancestry back to Africa. The African influence can be heard all throughout the language. In many West African languages, the third person plural pronoun is used after the noun and this is the case in Jamaican Patois. For example, if you listen to the famous Beenie Man song “Girls dem Sugar” you hear him always say “Beenie Man a gyal dem suga, di gyal dem need…”. This is a clear case of this Africanism being present in Jamaican Patois, but there are many more. In addition to Patois grammar, Patois vocabulary also contains elements from Africa. For example, Duppy is a ghost in Patois, but the word also exist in the Bantu language of West Africa. Another example of an Africanism would be the phrase “wha mek” which really means why. This is said to originate from modern day Nigeria.

Jamaican Patois is certainly a language and it is vital to the historic and cultural identity of Jamaica. The language explains alot about the culture and history of Jamaica. For the children of Jamaicans living in New York or London, Patois and Reggae music might be one of the few mass forms of communication that can preserve their parent’s heritage.

To learn more about Jamaican Culture and Patois, check out my book: The Rastaman Vibration. Stay turned for more lessons and background on Jamaican Patois and Jamaican Culture. In the mean time, check out www.jamaican-slang.com

Soon Come