Samoan Culture

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...