Creole is an effective solution to a unique and complex problem.
We speak 4 languages in Belize; English, Spanish, Maya and Garifuna.
We could be very much like the Biblical story of Babel if it where not for the Creole dialect evolving from the need to have one common spoken understanding.
There are more opinions on Creole being a dialect or a language than options on a Swiss Army Knife.
I have a dictionary that says Creole is a language that has evolved from the mixture of two or more languages and has become the first language of a group.
Right or wrong Creole has been a reason for success in a working nation of mixed backgrounds.
Another Creole has recently evolved in the exchange of text messages, written as Creole to be able to communicate to a lot of very different people.
Brief text message exchange has given birth to symbols and terms that are global text Creole. : )
A language that everyone can understand.

You left out a few. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=BZ

  Hi,
from what I've heard, "creole" is french-based. In Belize, the dialect is kriol, which is based on english. Other influences to kriol are spanish, western african languages and miskito. An interesting parallel is the "pijin", spoken in the Solomons.

    Dan

When I first came to Belize, I thought that the kriol was similar to the Jamaican patois I was familiar with. It does have some similarities, but I am still on the newbie end of understanding Kriol. Jersey, in the Channel Islands, also has a local patois, but that has a French origin. Regions of France also have patois of their own. I'm sure regional dialects are common all over the world.

Creole or kriol, 1/2 dozen or 6, same things. It was never intended to be a written language. Frech Creole in Louisana and Haiti, English Creole in Belize and other parts of the English Caribbean. It is also a ethnic label as well, we even have "Royal Creole" in Belize, the original creole families who know run most of Belize.

SIN

Belizean kriol will never be a "language that everyone can understand". BECAUSE it is not a language - it's a dialect. What Dan said is a good description.

Oh, and Louisiana "creole" is nowhere near Haitian Creole (while both are formal-French based).

/sak pa seh?
/weh deh gwaan?
/how YOU doin'?

Never thought i would agree with Sin, 'Not meant to be written,I agree.
Not a Language ,I agree but National Geographic seems to include it as one of the five spoken in Belize....?

You got that right......I'm originally from Louisiana and knew some of that "creole". Thought I'd be hot sh__ when I went to Belize. Not a chance..........say what?

Loansum, I too hail from Louisiana.. sha I tell ya wut!!

Oh dawlin' ya make sick fa da home!!