Tons of Papiamento / Papiamentu to listen to online

Just in case you haven't found it yet, there's a ton of content in Papiamento online here, which seems to be the YouTube account for a tv station in Curaçao:

Basically, Papiamentu is a creole composed of a lot of Portuguese, some Spanish (but since the two languages are so similar it's often impossible to tell if a word has come from one or the other) and some Dutch as well, since Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire are officially a part of the Netherlands.

Since it's a creole that means its vocabulary is mostly from these languages but the grammar is ridiculously easy in comparison, making Papiamento the language you wish you had had to learn in high school instead of Spanish:

Verb conjugation

Most verbs are conjugated by means of the word Ta: (present tense)
This is in fact an abbreviation of the Spanish Present Participle: Estar

To Be = TA

I am - Mi ta
You are - Bo ta
He is She is It is - E ta
We are - Nos ta
You are - Boso ta
They are - Nan ta

The Past Tense
I was / I have been = Mi tawata

Short sentences:
I am glad = Mi ta contento
I am happy = Mi ta feliz
I go = Mi ta bay
to go = bay


To Have = Tin

I have - Mi tin
You have - Bo tin
He has She has It has - E tin
We have - Nos tin
You have - Boso tin
They have - Nan tin

The Past Tense
I had / I have had = Mi tawata tin

Short sentences:
I have money = Mi tin placa
money = placa


Can = Por

I can - Mi por
You can - Bo por
He can She can It can - E por
We can - Nos por
You can - Boso por
They can - Nan por

The Past Tense
I could / I could have = Mi tawata por

Short sentences:
I can dance = Mi por baila
to dance = baila



Well, that was easy.

One other good thing about Papiamento is that it's located in a stable part of the world with a relatively good economy, unlike some other creoles like in Haiti, the Solomon Islands, and so on. It also has a nice mix of both Romance and Germanic languages, and for us Idists it's nice because it looks a lot like Ido. Here's an example from the main page on their Wikipedia:

Wikipedia, ta un proyekto di komunidat ku e meta pa krea un ensiklopedia, den tur idioma, riba internèt. E Wikipedia na papiamentu te ainda tin 311 artíkulo.

E proyekto akí ta habrí, esei ta nifiká ku tur hende por kontribuí na e proyekto akí. Aktualmente nos ta buskando hende ku den nan tempu liber por traha artíkulo i asina kontribuí na e Wikipedia na papiamentu. Tambe por tradusí artíkulo for di un otro idioma den wikipedia na papiamentu.

E Wikipedia na papiamentu ta ofisial desde 26 di mart 2006.

Back to the main subject: there's a ton of content in Papiamento online at that channel, including such videos as these:

ALCALA-CENTRO PRO ARTE

Gobiernu di Korsou a tuma e desishon ayera pa sondea posibil

(something about the government coming to a decision to make the art centre possible)



and:

JULIEN LOPES RAMIRES DROGA 2007

Duana a konfiská un total di 723 kilo droga den 2007 i 9000

(this one's about a drug raid)



They also have an official website here.

I plan to do another "compare language X to Latin" with Papiamento to see how much it could appeal to the Latin revivalist movement, and with a comparison to Ido as well to see which is closer.