Wednesday, August 17, 2005

More notes on fijian grammer

A refresher on vocab:

"Bula" -- Hello, life, good, etc.
"Moce" -- goodbye
"Vinaka" -- Thank you, your welcome, good, etc.
"Set" -- Okay, No thank you, Done, etc.
"Io" -- Yes
"Sega" -- No


And pronunciation:

Consonants:
"C" is pronounced as a soft "th" as in "this" but not "thin"
"D" is pronounced as "nd" almost always
"B" is pronounced as "mb"
"G" is pronounced as "ng" as in "singer" but not "finger"
"Q" is pronounce as "ng" as in "finger" with the g voiced. It may sound as just the "G" at the beginning of words.
"R" is rolled.

All other consonants are as expected.

Vowels are typical spanish style.
A is ah
E is eh
I is long E
O is oh
U is oo

Dipthongs:
AU as in out
AI as long I
OI as in boy
OU as long O

With some new words:

"Chilo" -- excuse me, pardon, etc.
"e vica" -- (eh vitha) -- how much, either price or quantity

1 dua
2 rua
3 tolu
4 va
5 lima
6 ono
7 vitu
8 walu
9 ciwa
10 tini
11 tini ka dua
20 rua sagavulu (sang-a-vulu)

A "bula" shirt is a hawaiian shirt.

"grog" is the local drink, "kava" which was becoming a popular "herbal" supplement because it get's you mildly high, until people started dying from the concentrate.

A "palangi" or "valagi" is a white man.

shoot, I forgot the rest.

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