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I'm going to be going to Haiti a lot over the next few years so I'm taking online Creole classes to try to learn the language. My question is would it be beneficial to take French classes at my school? Would it help me understand the Haitians at all? I have studied French but for me it is almost impossible to understand Creole (I can catch some words, but pronunciation and grammar is very different to French).

but, as the first answerer said, most Haitians understand French, so, you can use it to communicate there. French is the second official language of Haiti, so it's probably safe to assume that taking French classes will help you and the Haitians understand each other.

Would knowing French help me understand Haitian Creole?