Dominican Republic Languages

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In other languages: Español

Dominican Republic

Languages

Description

The population of the Dominican Republic speak mostly Spanish.
The local variant of Spanish is called Dominican Spanish:

• It closely resembles other Spanish vernaculars in the Caribbean.
  
• It has similarities to Canarian Spanish.
  
• It has influences from African languages.
  
• It borrowed words from indigenous Caribbean languages particular to the island of Hispaniola.
  

English and French are mandatory foreign languages in both private and public schools.
Some private educational institutes provide teaching in other languages, including Italian, Japanese, and Mandarin.
Haitian Creole is the largest minority language in the Dominican Republic and is spoken by Haitian immigrants and their descendants.

Mother tongue of the Dominican population, 1950 Census

Language	Total %	Urban	Rural
Spanish	98.00	97.82	98.06
French	1.19	0.39	1.44
English	0.57	0.96	0.45
Arabic	0.09	0.35	0.01
Italian	0.03	0.10	0.006
Other language	0.12	0.35	0.04

Word List(s)

Spanish

• Spanish Genealogical Word List
• Useful Spanish phrases (Omniglot)

French

• French Genealogical Word List
• French Word List
• Useful French phrases (Omniglot)

Haitian Creole

• Useful phrases in Haitian Creole (Omniglot)
• Accilien, Cécile and Jowel C Laguerre. Haitian Creole phrasebook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Available at: WorldCat.

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Spanish

• Spanish Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)
• Spanish Pronunciation Dictionary (Forvo)
• Spanish grammar (Wikipedia)

French

• French Language Consonants and Vowels (Wikipedia)
• French Language Alphabet (Wikipedia)
• French Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)

Haitian Creole

• Haitian Creole Consonants and Vowels (Wikipedia)
• Haitian Creole Grammar - Pronouns, Articles, Verbs, etc. (Wikipedia)
• Haitian Creole Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Spanish

• Spanish Letter Writing Guide
• Spanish Handwriting Clarified
• Learn Spanish (duolingo)
• Spanish dictionary (Lexilogos)
• English to Spanish Dictionary (Glosbe)
• The Spanish Script Tutorial (byu.ed)

French

• French Language
• French Handwriting
• English to French Dictionary (Glosbe)
• Learn French (duolingo)
• Learn French (Babbel)

Haitian Creole

• Vilsaint, Féquière and Jean-Evens Berret. English Haitian Creole dictionary. Coconut Creek, FL: Educa Vision, 2005. Available at: WorldCat.
• Theodore, Charmant. Haitian Creole dictionary & phrasebook. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2009. Available at: WorldCat.
• Targète, Jean and Raphael G Urciolo. Haitian Creole-English dictionary. Kensington, Md: Dunwoody Press, Dunwoody Press. Available at: WorldCat.

Additional Resources

• Dominican Republic (Britannica)
• Reynolds, Donna and Laura L. Sullivan. Dominican Republic. New York, NY: Cavendish Square Publishing, 2023. Available at: WorldCat.
• Valdman, Albert. Haitian Creole : structure, variation, status, origin. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2015. Available at: WorldCat.