Fun Fact #5: Although the official language of Belize is English, most of the population speaks both English and Spanish with ease. So for someone like me, who took Spanish all throughout my schooling, it seems like a pretty nice deal. I can speak English on a regular basis, but if necessary I know enough Spanish to survive. Nice, right? That's when they throw the Creole at you. In theory, I'm fairly certain that Creole is a combination of English and French, but it's an entirely different story from the Creole I've heard in New Orleans, and I cannot understand it whatsoever. Here are a couple of example sentences:
Creole: Weh di go aan.
Translation: What's going on?
Creole: Da weh ih deh?
Translation: Where is he?
Yeah I know, it's insane. Try keeping up with multiple teenage girls who are all using it at once. You know what it's like to go to a nail salon for a pedicure and be so self conscious the entire time because all of the workers are speaking in Chinese and laughing, and you just know that it's about you? That's exactly what it's like to be surrounded by people speaking Creole. It's impossible to pick up, and usually I catch about every 15th word or so. I don't know how they do it, but Creole is probably the most difficult language I've ever come across, and it's one aspect of Belizean culture that I won't be able to bring back with me.
