I went to a Jamaican Patois class. Why was I so scared to speak it?

Centuries of historical baggage surrounds this form of speech. But I’m vowing to overcome shame and connect with this part of my culture Don’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox?

Sign up here Recently, my sister sent me and my mum a graphic promoting a Jamaican Patois (or Patwa) class on Instagram, organised by British teacher and author Naia Lewis . It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before – Patois and other Caribbean Creole forms of speech are rarely treated as legitimate languages. As a descendant of Caribbean migrants to the UK, I grew up surrounded by Patois, but had…