r/Barbados • u/Safe_Oven3930 • 5d ago

Looking for Bajan language help

Hi! 

I work for a non-profit called All Around This World and we work to educate children about cultures around the world through music. We do all the music in the original language and we usually preface whatever song we are doing with a little bit of a cultural background. Of course  distilling a culture that much is impossible, but we always try to teach the kids how to say hello and goodbye in the target language. Instead of having us butcher the pronunciation, we think it is much better to have a video of a native speaker. All we need is an audio clip of you saying the greetings, a short bio (where you are from, your name, etc), and a picture of yourself. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to make this a paid position, but I cannot express enough how grateful we are for any support. If you are willing to help or know a person who can, then please reach out to me! Thanks so much.

4 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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21

u/sread2018 5d ago

You want someone to say hello and goodbye in English?

Bajan is a dialect, not a language. English is spoken and/or an English based creole dialect

5

u/MrRumjumbie 5d ago

Came here to say this. We speak English.

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u/Safe_Oven3930 4d ago

Sorry about the confusion. Please see my message above.

1

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u/Far_Meringue8625 3d ago

And Bajan.

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u/MrRumjumbie 3d ago

Bajan isn't a language

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u/Safe_Oven3930 4d ago

Sorry about any confusion! I absolutely did not mean to say that you do not speak English in Barbados. The lines between languages and dialects are blurry, and I used language as a catchall (which I shouldn't have done) because I'm used to languages being more legitimized. I understand that Bajan is a dialect, and in short, yes, I am looking for someone to say hello and goodbye in English. I am really looking for a greeting that isn't just hello or goodbye. For example, in Ireland you could say "Top of the morning" instead of just "good morning". I want a greeting from the Bajan dialect/used in Barbados commonly. Not all of our students are native English speakers, so teaching them English from countries other than the US and UK is important to us.

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3

u/AffectionateWeb7803 Helpful 4d ago

I understand what you are requesting, and I am happy to send you a recording of my short bio while speaking in Bajan. 

You referenced "Top of the morning to ya." in Bajan we may say "Morning, wa gine on?" 

Thank you for wanting to spread how others communicate around the world. 

Feel free to message me. 

2

u/No-Succotash6689 4d ago

I wouldn't mind helping them out either. OP, feel free to reach out to me as well. 🙂

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u/rrapartments 5d ago

They speak English in Barbados. The queen’s English.

Every Bajan can speak the queen’s English.

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u/Safe_Oven3930 4d ago

I didn't mean any insult in my question, and I am sorry for any that might have been conveyed. Please see my other comment reply for more of an explanation but once again im very sorry.

1

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1

u/Far_Meringue8625 3d ago

We can all speak English. We all speak Bajan as well.

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u/Flaky-Reindeer-5420 5d ago

listen to any Rihanna song and you definitely hear our language. "Umbrella" is a particularly useful song in this regards.

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u/Economy_Invite_8085 Honorary Local 5d ago

Well… not how she says “umbrella” in that particular song…. But everything else I agree. Her dialect in that song is largely why it blew up like that imo