i loved listening to the fijian language on our trip and came home wanting to learn it, just as someone might want to learn french after returning from paris. i kept wishing i could understand what they laughing and chatting about and i wondered what the english language sounded like to someone who has never heard it before. theirs has a beautiful sound to it.
each day the ladies wrote a different 'fijian word of the day' on a blackboard and drew a little picture. i immediately became an enthusatic student, looking forward to finding out the new word each morning and then repeating it to anyone who would listen, namely matt. the first word we learned was kaka meaning parrot and for the rest of the trip i was obsessed with trying to find the kadavu kaka that i had read about before we left. when we landed on the island it was painted in bright colours on a sign next to the airport shed. sadly and despite staring up into the trees for half of the trip i always heard it but i never saw it.
above
the elusive kaka! this sign is one of the first things you see when you land in kadavu.
most words were easy, you can't get kaka or koko wrong but other words like oca for rain are a little harder, especially for australians. when we see oca we immediately (and perhaps in our own 'occa' accent) pronounce it exactly as it reads. c's in fiji are actually pronounced as th and the o is drawn out so you would say 'oootha'. i learnt this the hard way when we walked past three fijian teenagers and it was raining. i smiled, said bula and then thought i would impress them with my skills. clearly i said it wrong as they looked at me puzzled. when i pointed to the rain they laughed and repeated the correct word back to me encouragingly and in their friendly manner. there are also silent n's, so kadavu is actually said kandavu and nadi is nandi.
below
the fijian words i learnt and still think of in my head now when i happen to say them.
bula - hello
marau - happy
kaka - parrot
wasawasa - ocean
katakata - hot
koko - village
uca - rain
waisavu - waterfall
vinaka - thank you
veiwali - laugh
moce - goodbye
i wish i knew more words and phrases but it's quite hard to remember the more complicated ones, especially if you're not hearing (or annoyingly repeating) them each day. waisavu is an easy one to remember as matt's housemate ben (who we call gm) is half fijian and it's his surname, from memory his dad was a village chief a long time ago. it's a shame most australian's choose not to continue with language studies after the compulsory learning we do in school. i guess we've never really had a need to. fijian's speak excellent english as it's taught from an early age in most schools. for that reason i really admire them, they can easily make you laugh in english and then they have, what feels like to us in a way, their own secret and special language that most visitors will never understand. it really is lovely to listen to and if you ever go to fiji make sure you take the opportunity to learn from the locals. you will come away with much more than just words.
each day the ladies wrote a different 'fijian word of the day' on a blackboard and drew a little picture. i immediately became an enthusatic student, looking forward to finding out the new word each morning and then repeating it to anyone who would listen, namely matt. the first word we learned was kaka meaning parrot and for the rest of the trip i was obsessed with trying to find the kadavu kaka that i had read about before we left. when we landed on the island it was painted in bright colours on a sign next to the airport shed. sadly and despite staring up into the trees for half of the trip i always heard it but i never saw it.
above
the elusive kaka! this sign is one of the first things you see when you land in kadavu.
most words were easy, you can't get kaka or koko wrong but other words like oca for rain are a little harder, especially for australians. when we see oca we immediately (and perhaps in our own 'occa' accent) pronounce it exactly as it reads. c's in fiji are actually pronounced as th and the o is drawn out so you would say 'oootha'. i learnt this the hard way when we walked past three fijian teenagers and it was raining. i smiled, said bula and then thought i would impress them with my skills. clearly i said it wrong as they looked at me puzzled. when i pointed to the rain they laughed and repeated the correct word back to me encouragingly and in their friendly manner. there are also silent n's, so kadavu is actually said kandavu and nadi is nandi.
below
the fijian words i learnt and still think of in my head now when i happen to say them.
bula - hello
marau - happy
kaka - parrot
wasawasa - ocean
katakata - hot
koko - village
uca - rain
waisavu - waterfall
vinaka - thank you
veiwali - laugh
moce - goodbye
i wish i knew more words and phrases but it's quite hard to remember the more complicated ones, especially if you're not hearing (or annoyingly repeating) them each day. waisavu is an easy one to remember as matt's housemate ben (who we call gm) is half fijian and it's his surname, from memory his dad was a village chief a long time ago. it's a shame most australian's choose not to continue with language studies after the compulsory learning we do in school. i guess we've never really had a need to. fijian's speak excellent english as it's taught from an early age in most schools. for that reason i really admire them, they can easily make you laugh in english and then they have, what feels like to us in a way, their own secret and special language that most visitors will never understand. it really is lovely to listen to and if you ever go to fiji make sure you take the opportunity to learn from the locals. you will come away with much more than just words.
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