Tohi Vagahau Niue

Fakaalofa lahi atu!  My dictionary finally arrived this afternoon.  Here is a photo that I found online.  What can I write about this dictionary?  First of all, let's take a look at the title of the book which is Tohi Vagahau Niue - Niue Language Dictionary (Niuean-English with English-Niuean Finderlist).  Tohi means book and vagahau means language.  Perhaps at the moment there is no word in Niuean meaning dictionary so this is expressed by Niuean Language Book or Tohi Vagahau Niue.  It is a hardcover book 596 pages.  Here is a link for Amazon and another for Google Books.  The first 39 pages are exclusively for User Notes.  They are written in detail and perhaps might not be of much interest for the average language learner.  I spent some time reading through to get a general idea of how to use the dictionary and get a better understanding of the process used by the editors.  On page 39 there is an address of interest and I shall include it here just in case someone might want to know it:

Niue Language Commission
PO Box 32
Alofi
Niue Island, South Pacific

I found some information online about an organization called Matakau Vagahau Niue and wonder if this is the same group.  I found the name translated as Niue Language Association and although the two names are different in English (Niue Language Commission and Niue Language Association), they could just well be the same organization.  By the way my dictionary has matakau listed as team, organization, group.  Also, there is an example sentence using this word:  Ko e matakau gahua lima he tau mamatua fifine.  It's the women's craft group.

Taking a look through my Niuean dictionary, I am more than pleased with the work that the editors did in order to accomplish this!  I am most impressed with the example sentences which give more insight into using the words correctly.  Also, for many of the words the Nuclear Polynesian or Proto-Polynesian term is listed.  For example, if I look up the word mata n. face, eye at the end of the entry, it has [PN *mata 'eye, face'] written which could be very useful when making comparisons with other Polynesian languages.  I spent several hours today studying and looking up new words in my dictionary.  So far, I am truly pleased with the dictionary, but if I must write a word or two of criticism, I would have to mention that sometimes it is a little confusing to find a word.  Perhaps I haven't fully understood just yet how the dictionary has been arranged and once I get used to it, I will be able to find words even faster.  Let me give you one example.  When I tried looking up the word matakau from above, I naturally looked for it as a headword.  It wasn't listed.  Next, I sort of had an idea that it might be two smaller words written together and looked for mata.  Just by chance, mata seems to be an extremely popular word and there is mata1, mata2, mata3, mata4 and mata5.  Next, I had to look under each headword for matakau as a subword.  Luckily, I found it in mata1 and didn't have to continue to mata5!  Mata1 - Mata5 runs from pages 209 - 218.  It might take a few minutes to locate another word like this or could this be an isolated case?  Still, I am really satisfied with the dictionary and will use the spelling listed inside for studying the language, keeping in mind that there may be spelling variations by different native speakers.

I will sign off with a phrase I found in my new dictionary.  Kia fakamafola hō finagalo. Please let your heart be peaceful.  That sounds so much better than my simple Kia koe that I have been using these past few postings.

Kia fakamafola hō finagalo.

Learn Niue Homepage

Fakaalofa lahi atu!  The above is a screen shot from the Learn Niue homepage which looks like a good place to start learn the basics and get a little acquainted with the language and culture of Niue.  During these past few days I have been using this homepage to make a comparison between Hawaiian grammar and Niuean grammar.  This is how I am making a comparison.  In a Word document I wrote down all the main Hawaiian grammatical points from one of my textbooks with an example sentence of each in Hawaiian.  Next, as I read through the material on the Learn Niue homepage, I write the sentences under the appropriate grammar item in Word.  This is what my comparison notes look like at the moment and they will hopefully change and become much more detailed as I continue to find example supporting example sentences.

Number 05 is for demonstratives.  The example sentence in Hawaiian is Hauʻoli kēia kāne. (This man is happy.)  Working through the material on the Learn Niue homepage, I found these sentences which contain demonstrative looking examples and added them.

Ko e heigoa a e? – What is this? 

Ko e tapulu mafana a na. – That is a cardigan. 

Ko e heigoa a na? – What is that? 

Ko e fua moli a na. – That is an orange.

Of course, I could be making wrong assumptions about the grammar in the Niuean sentences, but as I continue to study, I will edit my comparison notes.  Since I am very much familiar with the material, order and examples of the Hawaiian grammar book, I can organize my notes for learning a new Polynesian language by making such a comparison in Word.  I have started doing the same for Tahitian and Samoan, but have only just started those because of a lack of time, not interest.

The Learn Niue homepage contains a lot of information for a beginner, so check it out!  I am very much impressed with the greetings have audio files in order to hear the language as it is spoken.  Unfortunately at the time I am writing this blog entry here, the audio files are rather limited, but I welcome anything and cannot complain!  After registering for free at the site, you can go into the learning area which has these items:

So far, I have worked through the Common Words/Phrases, Alphabet, Greetings, Questions, and Numbers.  Today I plan on studying the section called Days, Times and Seasons.  Usually, I copy down all the vocabulary and sentences from this site by hand and then look at those notes and type in the sentences in my Word document.  Also, I try to learn the new vocabulary before continuing on to the next section of that homepage. 

Yesterday I got an email saying that my Niuean-English-Niuean Dictionary has been shipped out and expect it either today or tomorrow, more likely tomorrow than today.  Once I get the dictionary, I feel that I can start learning more seriously.  It is almost certain that the editors spent a lot of time and effort checking the validity of the information for the dictionary.  Also, it isn't only a list of translated words as we often find in some of the less studied language dictionaries, but instead, most of the entries have example sentences which I find to be extremely important when learning a foreign language.

Koe kia!

Getting started

Fakaalofa lahi atu!  Greetings!  Soon it will be a new year, 2012, and during these past few days I have been thinking about trying to tackle a new language in the new year.  I made a long list of possible candidates and also looked around the web to get more information about each language and the country where it is spoken.  The area that I am interested in is Asia which has a broad range of language choices.  Narrowing down my choices based on my interests, I want to study an Austronesian language.  Once again, this group contains a huge number of languages and it is difficult to choose, but I thought about a Polynesian language since I have been studying Hawaiian for some years now and know that my knowledge of that language will be a help when learning another Polynesian language.  The obvious choices for me are:  Tahitian, Samoan, Maori, Cook Islands' Maori and Tongan.  I write obvious because I have already purchased some books and dictionaries in these languages and also there are several resources online for studying or using these languages.  I have already studied a little of each of those languages and will probably go back to study them in the future.  However, I was very much interested in Tokelau, Kiribati, Fijian and Niuean after looking around the web.  Compared to some of the other island nations in the Pacific, Fiji is massive and I was able to find so much information about the country and the culture but disappointingly, I wasn't able to get a lot of materials online about the language.  It seems that most of the books concerning Fijian are scare and very expensive.

If you are a Pacific Islander reading my blog here, you might think that I should study your language and believe me, I am extremely interested in this part of the world, but I live in Japan, although I am not Japanese, and have limited resources.  I must rely on the internet.  Even though I did find PDFs written in several languages, it is difficult for a learner of those languages to find good grammar books, dictionaries or other sources for learning.

So why did I chose Niuean?  One of the main reasons is that I found a Niuean-English-Niuean dictionary published by the University of Hawaiʻi and a book published in New Zealand for learning simple conversational skills.  Hopefully with my knowledge of Hawaiian, that dictionary and the New Zealand book, I will be able to master the extreme basics during my short winter vacation this year.  Certainly I don't expect to learn the language overnight, but I am confident that I should be able to learn the most rudiment grammar skills and can later focus on vocabulary, idioms and improving my all over skills.

I still know very little about the Niuean language, but according to my sources, there is no ʻokina (glottal stop) in the language.  Also, another interesting feature is that there is no distinction in possessions (a/o groups) like I have seen in the other Polynesian languages.

A few words about myself here.  In general, I have an overloaded work schedule.  Also, my passion in life is learning languages.  I don't necessarily have to learn them to be fluent.  That would be best, but I find great satisfaction in tearing apart a language, looking at the writing system, hearing the sounds, looking for related languages, discovering the grammar that makes the language tick and most importantly making friends who are native speakers or fellow students like myself.

How long will I study this new language?  What are my goals?  Will I soon give up and move on to another language?  Will this be a waste of my time?  I have great qualms in embarking on a new adventure like this because despite having a lot of free time for a week or so, after that I will find it difficult to squeeze in the necessary minutes, hours needed daily to dedicate to my learning.  I have no idea at all the length of my intended studies.  They could last only a week or a life time.  What are my goals?  I suppose my ultimate goal would be to find a native Niuean speaker and become friends.  Perhaps that is a selfish goal.  Thinking more globally, I realize that there is not a large number of Niuean speakers in the world.  If I could add myself to that number, I would be more than satisfied.  If I never do become fluent or even half fluent, still I will be able to inform people around me about a Niue and its people.  I guess becoming an unofficial cultural and linguistic ambassador of Niue raising the awareness of Niue to those around me would also make myself very pleased.  Will I soon give up and move on to another language?  How soon is soon?  I am certain that I will move on to another language some day.  I want to learn more Polynesian languages!  Will studying Niuean be a waste of my time.  No!  No way!  Certainly not!  Trying to perpetuate another language and culture could never be a waste of time, no matter how little I might personally accomplish in my studies.

What did I do the day before yesterday?  I spent hour after hour surfing the web looking for a language to studying.  That was my first official contact with Niuean.  So, I more or less decided on that day that I would study Niuean.  And what did I do yesterday?  Once again, I spent more time trying to get information together, bookmark homepages, think of an approach.  My biggest accomplishment was ordering the Niuean-English-Niuean Dictionary.  It should get here in two or three days.  After it arrives, I will get started learning much more than today.

And today what have I done?  I spent some time working on the alphabet and pronunciation of Niuean.  Also, I made a new mail account at Google for Niuean.  I also needed that address in order to start this blog here.  I spent an hour or so working on the basic design of this blog, but it is still very simple and I might just keep it that way and spend more time studying Niuean.  I can always change the look of things here later.

Until I get my dictionary, I plan on studying the information presented on a homepage called Niue.  If you click here, you can start to learn with me!

Let me write more later tonight or tomorrow.  Now let me think.  I want to write Goodbye in Niuean.  I learned Koe kia, but I am assuming that is for only one person.  For now, that is good enough.  Remember.  I just started with my lessons this morning!  It might be a mistake, but it will make sense to someone.

Koe kia!