Haitian Creole (Kreyòl) is spoken in Haiti by all of its 7.5 million people. It is also spoken in Canada, the United States, France, and other Caribbean nations, including the neighboring Dominican Republic, Cuba, and the Bahamas. It is based on French and on African languages spoken by slaves brought from West Africa to work on plantations. It is often incorrectly described as a French dialect or as "broken French." In fact, it is a language in its own right with its own pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and pragmatics.

Kreyòl has three main dialects, and it is not uncommon for Haitians to speak more than one of them:

• the Northern dialect, spoken in Cap-Haitien, the second largest Haitian city;
• the Center dialect, spoken in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti;
• the Southern dialect spoken in the area of Cayes, an important city in the South of Haiti.
  

Even though Kreyòl is a distinct language spoken by all of Haiti's citizens, it suffers from a negative comparison to French as a result of colonial legacy. Even after Haiti became independent from France in 1804, French continued to be the prestige language of government and of power. Even though Kreyòl has increased in status and was recognized in 1961 as Haiti's official language along with French, it has less prestige than French that continues to provide access to education and careers. Not surprisingly, French is more likely to be spoken by the urban elite that constitutes about 8-10% of Haiti's population. Many Haitians identify themselves as French speakers when they are not truly fluent in the language. In addition, urban French-based schools have been privileged over rural Kreyòl-based schools.

Print media in Kreyòl has been limited due to regional variations in the language and orthography. Newspapers are beyond the reach of many citizens due to language differences, illiteracy, and cost. There are a limited number of television stations in Haiti. Radio is the most important medium. Stations broadcasting in Kreyòl provide a way for Haitians to stay informed about national and international news.

In the large Haitian communities of New York, Miami, and Boston, Kreyòl is the subject of instruction and is also used to teach subject matter in elementary and secondary schools.

Voodoo (Voodou)
The majority of Africans slaves were brought to Haiti from the Coast of West Africa where Voodou, an ancestor-based spiritist-animist religious tradition, is widely practiced. The name comes from a Fon/Éwé word for spirit. Practitioners of Haitian Voudou believe, in accordance with widespread African tradition, that there is one God, or Bondye (from the French Bon Dieu ), who is the creator of all. However, Bondye is distant from his creation, so the worshippers turn to the spirits, or Iwa-yo, as well as to ancestors. The spirits of good, evil, reproduction, health, etc. interact with people on earth and can cause various good and bad things to happen to them. Therefore, one must keep the spirits happy. The dead also play a major role in Voudou: ignored family dead are dangerous, while honored and cared for family dead are helpful.

The central aspect of Voodou is healing people from illness. Healers heal with herbs, faith healing with the help of lwa-yo and even with western medicine. Voudou priests can be men (houngan, oungan) or women (mambo).

Attempts to write Kreyòl date back to the 18th century, but because of its low status in Haiti little has been written in it, and French was the language of literacy. There were several competing orthographies, all based on the orthographic traditions of French that did not accurately represent the sound system of Kreyòl. The first writing system independent of French was developed in the 1940s by McConnell, an Irish minister, and Laubach, an American linguist. It was based on the International Phonetic Alphabet. In the 1950s, Pressoir and Faublas, two Haitians educators, modified the McConnell–Laubach spelling to include changes that were more closely related to French. The Faublas–Pressoir orthography was used until 1975 when an orthography that combined the two systems was developed. It employs a consistent one sound- one symbol correspondence. This spelling system was formally approved by the Haitian government in 1979. Today, most Haitian language materials are written using this orthography.

Take a look at Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kreyòl and in French. You can readily see similarities and differences between the two languages in vocabulary and in grammar.

Despite recent efforts to increase the literacy rate in Kreyòl, progress has been slow. Although experts agree that it is easier to become literate in one's first language, many Haitians do not see the value of becoming literate in Kreyòl. In addition, there is a lack of textbooks in Kreyòl and of teachers willing to teach Kreyòl literacy.

Haiti has produced well-known writers and poets who wrote exclusively in French. However, with the recognition of Kreyòl as an official language, novels, poems, and plays are being written in it. In 1975, Franketienne wrote Dezafi, the first novel written entirely in Kreyòl.

Haitian Creole words in English
Most of these words have to do with the religious traditions of Haiti.

Indiana University Creole Institute
Wikipedia article on Haitian Creole
UCLA Language Materials Project
The Creole Clearinghouse
Kreyol - the Language of Haiti
Less Commonly Taught Languages Course Database