Understanding St. Croix Language

Do St. Croix people speak English?

St. Croix is the biggest island of the four that makes up the U.S. Virgin Islands. Like I always say, it’s Puerto Rico’s next door neighbor. That dot on the map that you see next to Puerto Rico, well, that’s probably St. Croix.

My husband and I were raised on that tiny island before we moved to Florida. Because we are part of such a rich culture, that culture is a part of our daily lives. Our two children were born in Florida and have been exposed to both Florida and St. Croix’s culture.

Some days we have many laughs, teachings and questions like “what did you say?” because of the split in backgrounds.

My husband and I have never lost our accents nor Crucian (person from St. Croix) dialect, so when we speak to one another, sometimes our kids get that confused look on their faces like we are Martians.

Me: “I will pick you up at tree o’clock today”.

Daughter: “Mommy, what is tree o’clock? There’s no such thing as tree o’clock. Why can’t you say, three o’clock? It’s just a number!”

Me: Sorry for naturally speaking, my love.

Or when something disappointing happens, we say “geese and bread”. “Mommy what is geese and bread? There is no such meal as geese and bread? No one eats that.”

When we are listening to music like reggae music or calypso music, the kids ask, “Are they speaking Crucian language? What are they saying, I can’t understand them”. Hun, just because someone is speaking with an accent or a different dialect that doesn’t mean they are all from St. Croix or that it’s a different language.

Different cultures may have different accents, just like here in the United States. Someone from Florida may speak differently than someone from Alabama, but they all live in the states.

In St. Croix, we speak English. Broken English, that is English with a dialect.

At this point, our kids have gotten used to our dialect, but sometimes, they just can’t help themselves in starting a Speech class and teaching us how certain words are said.

When do we speak Crucian the most?

If you ever want to bring the Crucian accent out in us, put us around other Crucians. If we are around other Crucians or islanders, our accents are loud and strong.

Statesiders have no chance of keeping up with our conversation because especially the Crucian speaker, tends to speak very fast using broken English. You might catch a word here and there, but by the time you connect the idea, we’ve gone on to a different topic.

Oh, and if we ever ask a Statesider a question using our dialect, the look on their faces is priceless.

Me: “So weh pah you goin tomorrow?”

Statesider: “Ummm, tomorrow, uhhh”.

Me: “Yeah, tomorrow.”

Statesider: “Yeah”.

Another conversation that bites the dust. In translation, I’m just asking “So, where are you going tomorrow?”.

Like I said, broken English. One can pick up just the English parts of the sentence, but get totally lost on the rest of it. It’s actually really fun to use at times like chasing telemarketers or speaking in codes when we don’t want others to know what we are talking about.

But if our kids are around, we forget they can crack the code and we are back to detention Speech class learning how to speak proper English. Darn it!

Do we ever hold back our Crucian dialects?

Unfortunately, there are times that we don’t speak Crucian. Usually, it is in a professional environment such as meetings, at work, or meeting new people for the first time. Because the dialect can be so difficult to understand at times, we usually don’t speak it in these situations.

I am a Speech therapist and part of my job is helping children to produce correct production of sounds, as well as create grammatically correct sentences of the English language. How can I teach this if I’m speaking broken English?

Teaching a student to say “cyar” instead of “car” certainly won’t be beneficial for them or teaching them to say “he goin down de road” instead of “he’s going down the road” or “de gyuls dem is pretty” instead of “the girls are pretty”, is indeed a way to fail the second grade.

Also, when I have to attend meetings with parents, it is important for me to communicate in a way for them to understand me. I’m not saying that I hide my Crucian accent, but I do try to use proper English just so we can have successful communication.

What’s the one thing I wish others knew about the Crucian dialect?

I AM NOT A JAMAICAN! Now that I think about it, I should get a shirt and matching hat that says this.

As soon as I start speaking to someone for the first time and they hear an accent, the first question that pops up, “Are you from Jamaica?” NO, I’M NOT!

Jamaica is not the only island in the Caribbean. There are many more islands that make up the Caribbean and we all have different accents.

Also, please, please stop saying “Irie, mon” to us. I have ear bleeds every time I hear this. “Mon” is not even part of the Crucian dialect. Surprise, surprise.

I find it can be very offensive when people assume that because we have an accent, we are from Jamaica and that we always say “Irie, mon”.

I really like Jamaica, but I love St. Croix even more and it’s important that people realize there are more to all of us than just what we say and how we say it.

Now you know that yes, people from St. Croix do speak English. Crucians have a dialect resulting from the broken English, and I hope this article helped you to understand a little more about the way a Crucian speaks.

Read this if you are thinking about moving or going on vacation to St. Croix, U.S.V.I.

Eventhough many St. Croix residents and visitors speak other languages, it’s important to know that Crucians do speak the English language.

Do you have a dialect from a different country or island than those around you? What are some issues you run into sounding different from everyone else? How do you solve your dialectal issues? Please share where you are from and your daily dialectal differences with us, we would love to hear from you and don’t forget to subscribe.