Barbados

Language Level: Basic

Standar Accent: British

Source: Speak Up

BARBADOS!

Barbados is the perfect destination for a winter Holiday with its golden beaches, relaxed resorts and friendly people. Barbados is a part of the West Indian archipelago and, while its rocky, eastern coast faces the wild Atlantic Ocean, the Southern and Western coasts offer sheltered beaches, transparent water and average temperatures of 28º centigrade. Each year thousands of tourists arrive at the island’s international airport, near the capital Bridgetown.

LITTLE ENGLAND

The island is nicknamed “Little England” and is a wonderful mixture of English tradition and African spice. Here you can enjoy exotic dishes such as spicy pork stews and flying fish, alongside the typically English baked beans on toast. The official language is English, although Barbarians, or “Bajans,” also speak a Creole dialect which uses English words with African grammatical structures. Visitors will be surprised to find Bridgetown’s Trafalgar Square and its imposing statue of Lord Nelson. Places names are also strangely familiar. There’s a stretch of rocky coastline called Scotland, while there are resorts with names like Brighton, Worthingt  and Hasting.

RUN AND FUN

Visitors can tour the island’s many historic sites, visit pirate caves and enjoy short cruises around the island. The more adventurous can take a submarine tour and see the island’s incredible coral fauna. There are bus services to most places, or visitors can rent a car or motorcycle. Drivers should avoid another of the island’s attractions: Bajan rum – through a visit to a distillery, such as Mount Gay, not far from Bridgetown, is recommended. Finally, as the sun sets, everyone goes to the colourful rum shops, The Barbarian equivalent of the English pub, to enjoy a pleasant evening among friends.

Curiosities (no audio available)

Island Culture

Amerindians, the first  people to inhabit the island, travelled from Venezuela in canoes around 1600 BC. The first Europeans to reach the island were the Portuguese explorer Pedro Campos named the Island Los Barbados beard-like roots of the island bear-likes roots of the island’s fig trees.

English settlers arrived in 1627 and later brought 70.000 African slaves to work on sugarcane plantations and the island became the world’s top sugar producer. In 1930s all Barbadians won the right to vote in free elections and the island itself won freedom from Britain in 1966. The British influence, however, remains evident Victorian houses on the island, and in cricket, the Barbados’ national sport.