Language

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 letter in Samoan language. Macrons are also used for example tama with two short “a” sounds, but tamā with a long “a” sound at the end means father.

Here is a list of some helpful words in Samoan:

• Talofa (Hello!)

  

  https://omniglot.com/writing/samoan.htm

• Ioe (Yes) 
• Leai (No) 
• Fa’amolemole (Please) 
• Fa’afetai (Thank You) 
• E mafai ona e fesoasoani mai? (Can you help me?) 
• 'Ou te lē malamalama. (I don't understand.) 
• E te iloa tautala fa'aIgilisi? (Do you speak English?)
• O lo’u igoa o… (My name is…)

Learning a few phrases in Samoan can make traveling to the country easier because it allows a little communication. It is also received as a sing of respect when a foreigner tries to learn a native language.  Technologies like google translate can be somewhat helpful however they are not 100% accurate. Other websites and books can be a good resource for helping communication between two languages. However, remember that words can have different meanings and there are different messages imbedded in the words. For example I found a flyer written in Samoan and translated the text through Google Translator, as you can see it translated the words pretty well but the message behind the words is still hard to understand. According to the flyer children are made of steel, if that was taken literally it would mean the children are shine metal robots. Instead one could perceive this message as children are strong and they represent strong family bonds.

The above example is also an example of how language influences our view of reality. The word steel in English is very literal. It is a hard shine piece of metal. In Samoa it could mean something totally different or have multiple meanings. It could also be a figure of speech for something else. There are also a lot of words in the Samoan language that are the same but have different meanings depending on the pronunciation or the context it is being used. Language is very important to culture and sometimes can even be an identifying characteristic of a culture.