Do you want to report "I am from the UK, however, I find myself speaking patois to my Jamaican mother a lot. Is this normal?"
me, my mom & dad all loved in Jamaica (them childhood+, me just a few) Today they speak mostly patois, me mostly southern english with a few patois words & phrases in there. little brother (born American) usually understands us when we speak, but he can’t speak patois
I was born in Jamaica but moved to the US at 5, even when I was down there I never spoke patois, so at home I never did either. But as I got older I realized i speak half way between American English and patois at home without ever realizing.
It’s not, Jamaican Patois is a very looked down upon language even amongst Jamaicans today. I’m a fairly young millenial who grew up in Jamaica, my mother (young boomer/ older gen x maybe) literally beat me if she heard me speaking patois.
Jamaican culture is very classist and Patois was predominantly spoken by the lower class. This person implies that their family migrated in their grandparents generation; though is was cheaper + easier back then to do so, to make it in America you would need some funds which typical lower class Jamaicans wouldn’t have. Therefore I can only assume this commenter’s grandparent would have been raised in a more class conscious Era, in a more class conscious family.
P.S Lower class in Jamaica is nothing like lower class in the US. E.g my family was lower class my father could not read, and my mother never finished school past the 8th grade. The only way we got into the US was that my dad’s ex wife filed for him in his twenties, and he sold drugs to make money to get my mom and us into the states (which he promptly went go prison for).
However your parents speak that’s usually how you will speak. My cousins son was born in the US Inglewood CA. My cousin only speaks patois so his son is fluent. Not sure how common it is but yeah it’s possible.
