"A Piece of Paradise"

"Jamaican Patois"

"Is jus cause God did love de whole a wi why him sen him ONE Son fi come dead fi wi, so dat all a de people dem who believe seh Him real woan dead but wi live fieva". John 3:16


The official language of Jamaica is English, the official language of Jamaicans is Patois. Patois is "English," but is made up of phrases, chopped up words, and a mixture of words from other languages. It often happens that I can listen to two Jamaicans speaking Patois, which is English, and not understand a word they are saying. Since arriving, I have been working hard on learning Patois, but it is not easy. One of the big stories here lately is a local Bible society is attempting to translate the Bible into Patois. Above is a persons guess at how John 3:16 would read. A major problem with this endeavor is that Patois is not necessarily a written language and many Jamaicans cant write it or read it. Anyway, it is a very flavorful part of Jamaican culture and hopefully I will be able to impress people with my patois in a few years.