Jamaica talk · Languages in Jamaica
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Languages in Jamaica
Languages in Jamaica
Jamaicans speak Jamaican Creole natively, also known locally as Patois (pronounced "patwa"). Its pronunciation and vocabulary are significantly different from English, despite it being based on English. Despit not being official, some of the billboards and signage use phrases like "Eberyting is ah right" to mean "Everything is all right."
Although all Jamaicans can speak English, which is also the official language, they often have a very thick accent and foreigners may have trouble understanding them because. Some Jamaicans speak a little bit of the other popular languages, like Spanish.
You will usually Jamaicans say "Waah gwan?", "Waah appen?", or "what tah gwan", the Creole variation of "What's up?" or "What's going on?" More formal greetings are usually "Good morning" or "Good evening."
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Jamaica
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Jamaica Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.