Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Here is an overview of Save’s first language lesson taught to the tribe on 8 January 2008 or so:

Save taught us basic introductory Fijian. It begins with: Bula sia. Bula sia means hello and there are many different dialects in Fiji with slightly different phrases that all mean the same thing. Bula sia is the Mali Dialect, which we speak on the island and local villages. In the south, the phrase “Bula vinaka” has the exact same meaning.

Next we learned to say, “What is your name?”: O cei na yacamu? Remember that in Fijian, c sounds like a rough “th” – nearly the same a “d”. It is also similiar to spanish in that each letter is pronounced – so the “ei” in cei isn’t blended into one sound – the e and the i are both pronounced.

Next we learned to say, “My name is ”: Na yacaqu o _. In Fijian, q and g are pretty much interchangable. they both sound like “ng” – slight tangent, but this is the same rule with “d” and “b” as well. d sounds like “nd” and b sounds like “mb” – which is way Nadi is pronounced “Nan-di” and Labasa is pronounced “Lam-ba-sa”. So for me, I would say, (pronunciation-wise) “Na ya-than-gu o wa-lo-ta.”

Next, we can say, “How about you?” Essentially, “what about your name?” Vakacava o iko? This one is pretty straight forward as long as you remember the rules for c.

Finally, we say, “I am _” O yau o _. Remember, each vowel is pronounced, so it sounds like “O ya-oo o __.

So to tie it all together, in English it goes:
Hello!
What is your name?
My name is Walter.
What about yours?
I am Nicole.

In Fijian:
Bula sia!
O cei na yacamu?
Na yacaqu o Walota.
Vakacava o iko?
O yau o Cola.

some other words and I phrases I picked up to complement those above:

Seqa na Leqa – No worries (all of Fiji)
Maka na Leka – No worries (Mali dialect)
Io – Yes
Sega – No
Au – I
Au sa… I am…
Au lomani iko – I love you
vakavinavinaka – grateful
marau – happy
waqa – boat
bogi – good night, good evening, or announcing entrance to a village at night
kana – food
ika – fish
ose – horse
Au sia – good
Au sia io – I’m well
gio – shark
yesterday – nanoa
today – nikua
tomorrow – mataka
ocean – wasa wasa
song – sere (ex. vinaka na sere)

for fun in the grog session there is also:
totongi (not sure of the spelling) – punish
modo modo – lazy
maca – empty
moli – finished

Happy language learning! Cheers.

Just found this and Adam’s language help.
Great as it’s what I’ve been looking for.

Lonely Planet do a pocket guide to Fijian which is pretty good. You can pick it up at the airport. There’s also The Fijian Dictionary (a. campbell) which will tell you the 423 different words for Yam !!

This is very good.
To enhance this learning aid how about having the locals pronounce these (and other) words and capture them as MP3 sound bites.
hyperlink them to the [written] words in above guide and we shall have a 21st century Lingaphone.
Best bit of all is that it will get the locals involved with internet technology to useful purpose.