Papiamento in Aruba: An Interview With Ramon Todd Dandaré

 Hat tip Diario (Aruba)

Ramon Todd Dandaré is an Aruiban linguist and expert on the history and development of Papiamento, the creole language spoken in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. 

Several years ago, I interviewed Ramon in Aruba while researching my book on Papiamento (The Story of Papiamentu*: A Study in Language and Slavery, University Press of America, 2002).

* The language has two different spellings. It is generally spelled Papiamentu in Curaçao and Bonaire and Papiamento in Aruba. This is due to the fact that Aruba has more Spanish/Portuguese influences in the language while the other two islands have more Dutch influence in spelling. Since this article originated in Aruba, I am using the Aruban spelling here.)

Ramon is actually Colombian by birth but immigrated to Aruba and is considered one of the foremost linguistic experts in Papiamento. In the below article in the Aruban daily, Diario, Ramon gives an overview of efforts to institute Papiamento as the language of school instruction in Aruba over Dutch. This is still an evolving process over the past few decades as Papiamento has gradually gained official status along with Dutch.

The article is translated from Papiamento by Fousesquawk.

 https://diario.aw/categories/noticia/general/aruba-tin-casi-400-ana-bao-di-dominio-hulandes-y-ainda-n-a-logra-pa-papiamento-bira-lenga-di-instruccion-den-ensenansa

Aruba has been under Dutch control for 400 years and has not yet succeeded in making Papiamento the language of instruction in education

Today is International Mother Language Day

* Ramon Todd Dandaré with reflection on Papiamento

Oranjestad (AAN) Today it is important to recognize the value of mother languages. And more than one form of communication is represented, but it also reflects the history, culture, identity, and connection with the roots of a country.

For many people, their mother language is the foundation of their identity and the pillar upon which their personal and social development is based.

In this article, the focus is on the importance of preserving the mother language, in this case, Papiamento. Its influence on the way of thinking and feeling, and the concrete benefits it can bring for local and global communities.

To elaborate on that, Diario interviewed linguist Ramon Todd Dandaré. A person always available when it concerns sharing his knowledge on the issue of Papiamento and language.

Ramon began saying that since the moment Europeans arrived in the Caribbean, there has been European influence. When education began and people began to do research, two languages were very important. These were ancient Greek and Latin.

After the Romans conquered Europe, the majority of the countries, when they began to study, everybody did it in Latin. He mentioned, for example, Saint Agustine wrote a book, more or less in the year 400 (1625 years ago). A book entitled, “Confessions”.

St Agustine was born in North Africa. He was African. Afterward, he went to Italy. Since the time he was in Africa, he studied Latin. He wrote his book in Latin because Latin was the language of study. Afterward, little by little, the European countries began to use their own language.

For example, the Netherlands began doing their study in Dutch rather late. England began first, Todd Dandaré explained.

He added that at that time, the national language was introduced in teaching, but before that, all books were written in Latin.

The same thing happened to us here. We are a Dutch colony. Since 1636, Aruba has been a Dutch colony with some short changes over the course of history. For a few years, it was English, for a time, French. But generally, and naturally, we cannot exclude Spain. Aruba was Spanish from 1499 to 1636. At that time, it became Dutch, he stated.

400 years under Dutch control

Aruba has been under Dutch control for almost 400 years. (Under) the Dutch, during the time of slavery, a slave could not learn Dutch because it was prohibited and also prohibited to become a Protestant. Because of that, at that time, the Catholic Church made use of the opportunity and began to Christianize the slave population. They did that using the language of the slaves, Papiamento. 

The Catholic Church did a lot for teaching, and the slaves who received teaching, after being freed from slavery, received teaching in their own language, Papiamento.

Dutch Government demanded teaching be in Dutch

Ramon Todd Dandaré explained that at a certain time, there was a proposition in the Netherlands that the government subsidize education. A proposal was also made to do so in the colonies as well. But when the government of the Netherlands began to subsidize education, they inserted an obligation that all education must be in Dutch.

Before that, he continued, the slaves had been taught in Papiamentu. The first book of the Catholic Church in Papiamento was in 1825. There are no copies of this book because it was lost. But it is known that in 1837, Monsignor (Martinus Johannes) Niewindt published a book entitled, “Short Catechism for use by the Catholics of Curaçao. Afterward, the Catholic Church continued to publish in Papiamento.

There is also a dictionary (word list) from the year 1859 in three languages, which was published in Curaçao. At that time, Curaçao was the capital.

When the law on subsidizing education came in 1907, the Dutch government required that education must be in Dutch. Therefore, all education began to be in Dutch since that time, Ramon Todd Dandaré said.