The very first time I came to Guinea-Bissau, my colleague picked me up from the airport and we went to a restaurant for lunch. We asked what the special for the day was. “Kaldu di porku” the waitress told us. Porku…. Pork! Perfect! As an American, who am I to turn down a bacon-adjacent meal?!

Imagine our surprise, when our lunch soon arrived. No pork in sight. Instead, an entire octopus was placed in front of us. Lunch was served!

This was my very first lesson in Guinea-Bissau creole. “Porku” does in fact mean “pork”. However, it sounds very similar to the word for octopus, “Polvu”! 

Thankfully, not every Creole lesson has to involve an unexpected octopus. 

As English speakers who have become fluent in Guinea-Bissau Creole, we wanted to share some of the resources that helped us along the way. Not all of these resources are created or owned by us. They are simply a collection of the sources we have personally used as we learned to speak Creole and communicate with our neighbors, friends, and family here in Guinea-Bissau.

If you're trying to learn Guinea-Bissau Creole yourself, you've probably already discovered one of the biggest challenges: finding good resources can be surprisingly difficult.

Even though Guinea-Bissau Creole is a robust, fully functional language spoken widely throughout the country, it has never been formally standardized or established as an official national language. As a result, it can be surprisingly difficult to find consistent information about it, including even how to spell its name. You may see it written as Kriol, Kriyol, Krioulu, Crioulo, or simply Creole.

Many of the resources that do exist were created for Portuguese speakers rather than English speakers. Even finding basic grammar explanations or vocabulary lists can take some digging. You won't find it on Google Translate, and while Duolingo has an option for learning Klingon from StarTrek to facilitate your intergalactic travel, they have yet to “boldly go where no one has gone before” when it comes to Guinea-Bissau Creole.

So, after piecing together different resources over the years and figuring out what actually helped us learn, we've put together the resources we found most useful below.

Bon sorti (good luck)!

Peace Corps Crioulo Language Lessons

Originally published in 1991, this guide is definitely showing its age in some of its vocabulary, but it is still a useful resource for learning basic Creole grammar and vocabulary.

One thing we particularly like about this guide is that it starts with an overview of the major grammar concepts, giving you a quick way to see how the language works as a whole without having to work through every lesson first. If you want to get a grasp of the basic grammar and then dive deeper into practical lessons, this is a great supplement to Let’s Learn Kriol: Complete Guide.

Creole Verbs Online Flashcards

At the end of the day, language learning requires some good old-fashioned, boring rote memorization! We have created an online set of flashcards of Creole verbs, organized alphabetically by letter, so you can practice them.

The nice thing about Creole is that there aren't any verb tense conjugations. Once you've learned the base verb, you don't have to memorize a whole chart of different forms for different subjects and tenses. Anyone who's had to fill out endless conjugation charts in their high school Spanish class should appreciate this!

You can view the flashcards without an account, or create a Quizlet account and join the class to access Quizlet's additional learning tools and activities.

Have a different platform you prefer for studying? Send us an email (info@servantstomissions.com), and we’ll be happy to provide you with the Excel list we used to build the Quizlet set so you can import or adapt it for your preferred platform.

You can find a Guinea-Bissau Creole translation of the Bible in the YouVersion Bible app, or read it on desktop here.

If you are using the Bible app, search for “Crioulo, Upper Guinea” under languages. The Bible "version" is listed as povB.

If you want to use the Bible as a tool for understanding Creole, reading the English and Creole versions side by side can be especially helpful. We have found that the NLT English translation is often the closest match to the Creole version, making it easier to follow along and figure out the meaning of unfamiliar phrases.