Haitian Creole is a Creole language spoken mainly in Haiti with 8.5 million speakers and another 3.5 million speakers in a number of other countries.
Haitian Creole is based largely on French and is also influenced by various West African languages. Some speakers are bilingual in Haitian Creole and French.
Since Haiti claimed independence in 1804, French had been used as the official language in Haiti. However, Haitian Creole was accepted as the official language along with French in 1961.
Only a small minority of Haitians can speak French fluently. Haitian Creole has three main dialects: Northern, Center, and Southern.
