How do I get an LLM to write natural Haitian Creole instead of French-flavored Kreyòl?

Question

When I ask a model to answer in Kreyòl, the output is understandable but it sounds translated from French: French spellings, French sentence structure, formal vocabulary nobody uses. How do I improve it?

Accepted Answer

A few techniques that measurably help:

**1. Show, don't just tell.** Put 3 to 5 short **examples** of the Kreyòl you want in the system prompt, written by a native speaker, in your app's tone. Models imitate examples far better than they follow abstract style rules.

**2. Be explicit about orthography.** Name the standard orthography, used by the Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen and in schools, and list the errors you keep seeing:
~~~
Write in Haitian Creole using the standard orthography.
Use "ki jan", not "comment"; "kounye a", not "maintenant"; "yo" as the plural marker.
Do not use French spellings (write "kesyon", not "question").
Prefer everyday spoken vocabulary over formal French loanwords.
~~~

**3. Don't translate from an English or French draft.** Asking the model to "write in English, then translate" produces translationese. Ask it to answer **directly in Kreyòl**.

**4. Pick the model by testing.** Kreyòl quality varies a lot between models and versions. Run the same 30 to 50 prompts through each candidate and have native speakers rate naturalness blind (without knowing which model wrote what).

**5. Keep a glossary** for domain terms (technical, medical, financial) and include it in the prompt. Consistency matters more than any single "perfect" word choice.

**6. Collect feedback.** A 👍/👎 plus an optional "better phrasing" box builds a dataset of preferred Kreyòl that you can reuse as examples.

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