The first Jamaican Patwa lesson is up on youtube. Here it is.

This video is a great way to get started learning Jamaican patois. It is a very basic lesson that will teach you fundamental patterns of how this “language” works. It will also show you how similar it is to the English language. You will be able to identify patterns to make your future lessons even easier.

Jamaican Patois Isn’t Standardized

It is also important to remember that the Jamaican Patwa language is not standardized. There are no standard spellings for any words, so you might get a bit confused if you focus more on the spelling and not on how to say certain words.

Jamaican Patwa Is About Speaking

What you are hearing is an approximation based on how the words sound. You might see these words spelled differently from other sources. The main thing is that you understand how to pronounce what you are reading. You will eventually come to a pattern where it becomes easy to identify what is being said based on the spelling.

The Jamaican Patwa Lesson

The first thing you want to know is that the structure is very similar to English, with pronunciation also being similar. The Jamaican Patwa language is essential English mixed with Spanish and African words. The people of Jamaica came mostly from West Africa, and if you look at videos on YouTube, you will find that they are certain tribes that sound very similar to Jamaican Patois speakers in Jamaica. The way to get the best out of this lesson is to focus on getting your pronunciation correct. This lesson is structured in a way that will showcase easy-to-understand actions we do in our daily lives. You will be able to see the difference between the spelling and pronunciation of basic verbs in the language. It will give you a good idea going forward of what to expect with other Jamaican patois lessons.

Jamaican Patwa vs. Jamaican Patois

Another big difference you will see is how the name of the language is spelled. The difference lies in whether you are spelling the name in a formal or informal setting. For Jamaicans, Jamaican Patwa is what the name of the language sounds like when spoken at home. When academics start writing about the Jamaican Patwa language, you start seeing the Jamaican Patois spelling. It is crucial to remember that there are no differences between these two words. It is the same “language” being written in a different way.

This was a fun lesson to put together, and I hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as I did creating it. There are plenty of other options to see on the website, and you can check them out to learn even more.

Any comments and suggestions would be gladly appreciated. Also, if you have not noticed, I try to make these videos as close to the rosetta stone model as possible, so expect much more.