Samoan Culture

https://www.intrepidtravel.com/us/samoa/samoa-adventure-145753 Imagine this, hearing the waves crashing on the beach in the background, the birds singing in the huge blue wide-open sky. Massive palm trees line the beach with an endlessly green landscape in the background. Bright beautiful flowers peak out through the green and an ice-cold tropical cocktail sits in your hand. While it may be true that this is the scene in Samoa what this image doesn’t portray is the culture of the islands. Many people, when traveling to countries with other cultures, don’t consider how to immerse themselves in the culture of the country. If you are wanting to travel to Samoa, I would suggest that you learn a few words or phrases in Samoan, and non-verbal gestures to communicate properly. I would also suggest doing some research on the native religion and worldviews of the Samoan Culture. This blog will be discussing these obstacles in more detail. Before traveling to Samoa begin learning the language f...

Samoans place a high value on education, and it is very important that children in the country complete at least primary schooling. The country has a 98% literacy rate, and it is mandated by the government that children complete at least a full eight grades. There are three levels of education in Samoa, primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary education consists of grades one through eight. Primary schools are present in every village and are government run in tandem with religious organizations. Secondary education is grades nine through thirteen. These schools are located in districts, and students often have to travel from their home islands to the main islands every day to attend. Tertiary education consists of bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees.  There are also several trade programs that are classified as tertiary education. There are two main higher education institutions in Samoa, the College of Tropical Agriculture, and Trades Training College. https://www.samoago...

https://www.facebook.com/1550797885157597/photos/pb .100068744135866.-2207520000./1677380092499375/?type=3  Samoans have a very traditional approach to medicine and healing. They often use herbs and special healers to cure illnesses. There are four types of traditional healers in Samoan culture. Taulasea heals physiological illness. They heal social and physical disease through advice. They traditionally spoke with ancestors and ancient great leaders. The belief is that one’s mind, body, and social health are all connected. Samoans believe that when a social change happens to a person that person becomes possessed by an ancestor. This possession is called mai aitu or ghost sickness. The fofo is a massage healer. They manipulate the toala , or nectar of being. The fofogau is a bone setter, and falatosaga is a midwife. These healers use herbs and ancient ways to heal. These healers are usually women. Samoa was introduced to western medicine and illnesses when settlers first...

For many Samoans, business involves fisheries or agriculture as this is the main source of income for people on the islands. However, there is still business etiquette that needs to be followed. In Samoan business culture, it is very important to show up to the meeting either slightly early or right on time but never late. Be aware that meetings may start late because Samoans run on their own time. At the beginning of the meeting, it is expected that a gift be given to the higher power in the meeting. This gift-giving is done publicly as a show of appreciation. If the gift is inadequate, apologize and state it is a token of appreciation. Samoans care more about the gesture of the gift than the gift itself. When one is accepting a gift, they bow slightly and raise the gift above their head to say thank you. This gift-giving is usually the greeting and start of the meeting. Always dress modestly when attending a Samoan business meeting. For men, this will mean a t-shirt and trousers,...

  Nonverbal communication is extremely important in everyday communications. For example, a person might say a nice thing to another person and then roll their eyes. While the words are nice the nonverbal communication tells another story. In different cultures body language and facial expressions can have different meanings and often times they can tell a different story then they actual words being spoken. Before traveling to another country or communicating with someone form another culture it is important to research nonverbal etiquette. This is so that you don’t show signs of disrespect on accident but also, so you know how to properly communicate. This can be very difficult because often times we subconsciously send nonverbal cues to people we are talking to in our own culture. In my personal culture holding eye contact is a polite thing to do in a conversation and it shows that you are interested and focused on the conversation. In Samoan etiquette holding eye contact ca...

The two primary languages spoken in Samoa are English and Samoan . The Samoan language is the oldest Polynesian language and around 510,000 people are fluent in Samoan. There are two different speech registers , colloquial Samoan ( tautala leaga ) which is informal speech, and formal Samoan ( gagana fa’ aaloala ) which is polite speech. Formal Samoan is used with people of rank or official business. Colloquial speech is used between family and friends. When English was introduced, it was taught to the Samoans and now it is the second most common language spoken in Samoa. English became the lingua franca of the country, and it was widely adopted. Samoan schools teach primarily in Samoan, but English is taught as well as a secondary language. The Samoan alphabet consist of 17 letters. Constants never appear together and syllables consist of a vowel alone or a constant plus a vowel. Apostrophes are used to emphasize breaks in a word or certain letters. The apostrophe is considered a le...