Learning Mauritian Creole

I've been looking since I arrived in Mauritius about 2 years ago and have not been able to find anything.  Rumour has it that there was a Creole language dictionary / phrase book that had been previously published, but is no where to be found.  Every book store I have been to says that there is one and that they are sold out and they have no idea if they will ever get it back in stock.  Good luck in finding something and let me know if you are successful.

Tell your friend to go to the bookstore in Caudan, Port Louis. They have at least two different books about learing creole. I have this one:

Mauritius: Its creole language

It's quite good. It explains the grammar, some history, some culture as well as phrases and dictionary.

Thankyou! Will send him on the mission!

I did buy a book from a stationery shop in Port Louis behind Vandome builing (Habib Bank). Its English into Creole as well as French. I paid MUR 100 for it.
Both languge seems difficult to learn.

Oh dear! I've been told that Creole was a lot easier to learn than French, but this was from someone who grew up learning both & I guess when you know something that well it always seems easy! Will give it a go though. Thanks.

Has anyone heard of a book called 'Creole in Seven Easy Lessons' by Mark Frew? Found quite a few mentions of it on the net but can't seem to buy it anywhere?

Kreole is not a difficult language to learn to speak, but it is difficult to write. Although there have been attempts to define a grammar, there is no agreed orthography and it is still a very ad-hoc language.  Some write in Kreole with French vocabulary, others more phonetically. Pick up a book written in Kreole from a bookshop and you will probably find it a struggle, but so would some Mauritians. 

The language is easier than French to learn, but if you know French, you will be at an advantage with the vocabulary.  I would say, given my experience, that the best way to learn the language is to pick up a phrasebook and interact with Mauritians.

Learning a little Kreole will certainly help in day-to-day interactions with others, and perhaps improve your experience while on the island.  It will certainly help you avoid getting ripped off!  That said, if you don't speak French, I would say learn that first.  English may be the official language, but French is much more important.

A good starting point seems to be the wikipedia entry, wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritian_Creole

Thanks for your reply, I did to French as school level but i'm afraid that's very rusty now!! Perhaps I'll brush up on that first!

I would also suggest French. We got here and were debating which to do. Everyone understands French. The French is a good place to start, and when you are here you will pick up Creole from those around you. But in my experience, most people understand full French. This is far easier to learn, as there is so much help out there.

Thanks, Oh well, looks like it's back to the verbs etc. Just ordered a 'learn french' set of cds. I'll have them on in the car as I drive round doing my job! Think I'll just stick with oral for the moment and worry about writting it down when I get there. I have several cousins in France so I'll tell them to speak to me in french from now on, I suspect we'll be having very short conversations for a while! LOL

les remerciements très beaucoup de votre aide! 

Donna x

Don't worry about creole, learn french and you will pick up creole very easily afterward.

Hi,
I got given "Mauritius: Its Creole Language" as a leaving present.  It is a good book, more by far than just a dictionary; - it has even got three pages on Creole swearwords, but for me its most valuable lessons are: 1. the language appears to be mostly french, but a little bit truncated/anglified e.g. "I can't find my keys" would be " Mo pa pe trouve mo lacle" (ignore the absence of accents, UK keyboard), and 2. I agree with earlier posters and yourself - it is an unnecessary complication - I'm going to brush up my rusty french and concentrate only on that.
But if you're still interested in the book, its ISBN is 9781854250988 and Amazon has copies.
regards
Tristram

Thanks Tristram,

Have decided to brush up on my french and take it from there. Think I'll only confuse myself if I start trying to learn creole as well!

Donna

My advice would be learn french first. You can pick up creole while you live here.

Avoid learning creole from any books whatsoever, because even  Mauritians find it hard to read and write creole.If you want to polish up on your french in Mauritius as well, try L'alliance Francaise in Bell Village.They have courses tailored for Expats to help them learn French quickly.

Hope this helps.

Hansa.

Hansa,

Thanks for your post, LOL! If mauritians have trouble reading or writing creole then I don't stand much of chance at all do I!

I'll stick to learning French for now and see how it goes when I get ovr there.

Donna

Yes learning french is good enough, and to learn creole you have to be in mauritius and have a creole speaking environment but its not impossible, lots of expats after a year or so can pick up creole its just a matter of time

zeina

Speaking personally I have learned Creole easily and find it a huge advantage ....I had little resource to any books but picked it up by being amongst the locals.

the best solution is to be friend and communicate with local people here, you will learn little by little creole language.

Thxx

I have a copy of that creole dictionary if u want to make zerox of that book I will lend it to u.