Claim: Haitian Creole is based on a language in the Indo-European family.

Haitian Creole -LRB- -LSB- ˈheɪʃən_ˈkriːoʊl -RSB- -LSB- kreyòl ayisyen , links = no -RSB- , -LSB- kɣejɔl -RSB- ; créole haïtien -RRB- is a French-based creole language spoken by 9.6 -- 12million people worldwide , and the only language of most Haitians . It is a creole language based largely on 18th century French with influences from Portuguese , Spanish , English , Taíno , and West African languages . Haitian Creole emerged from contact between French settlers and African slaves during the Atlantic slave trade in the French colony of Saint-Domingue -LRB- now Haiti -RRB- . Haitians are the largest creole-speaking community in the world .   The usage and education in Haitian Creole -- which is not mutually intelligible with French -- has been contentious since at least the 19thcentury : where Haitians saw French as a sign of colonialism , Creole was maligned by francophone elites as a miseducated or poor person 's French . Until the late 20thcentury , Haitian presidents spoke only French to their fellow citizens , and until the 2000s , all instruction at Haitian elementary schools was in French , a foreign language to most of the students .