Whale Watching!

Hi everyone! We just got back from our first field trip of the year. On Friday, we went out with the Pacific Whale Foundation on one of their whale watching ecotours. We were able to see lots of
whales energetically jumping and frolicking throughout the Maui ocean. We even got to see a group of 4 or 5 whales swimming together. For those of us who decided to brave the

return trip by sitting near the front of the boat, we were treated to a very refreshing saltwater shower.

I bet everyone practiced and memorized all of the Pidgin English words in last week's blog right? We'll continue to add more words and grammar to each of our blogs so that you'll be speaking Pidgin English in no time.

Let's start off today's lesson by introducing some new words.

Howzit? - How are you? How's it going? Whats up?

Ex.
1. Hey, howzit!?
Hey! How are you?

For those of you who are native English speakers, this word can easily be remembered because it sounds very similar to the greeting, "how's it going?" The only difference is that when you say "howzit?" you don't need to add the word "going" for the listener to understand you.

John: Eh, howzit!
Mike: Howzit!
John: I stay hungry, you like go grind?
Mike: Shoots!

Translation:
John: Hey! Whats up?
Mike: Whats up?
John: I'm pretty hungry. Do you want to get something to eat?
Mike: Sure, sounds good!

I'll end this blog here, but don't worry! We'll be back with more updates and Pidgin English lessons soon. Till next time!

Aloha!

MLI Hawaiian Studies Potluck!

Aloha! Just this past week our Hawaiian studies class had a potluck filled with lots of ono "delicious" fare from all over the world. They had everything from Vietnamese spring rolls, to Hawaiian musubis to Turkish hot cheese buns. We also had to say goodbye to two of our students who completed our program. We wish them the best of luck for and we hope that we can meet again one day!



One of the things that makes Hawaii so great is its diversity of people and cultures. If you ever come to Hawaii, you may notice that many of the people here speak in a different dialect of English. This dialect is called Pidgin English, or Hawaii Creole English. Pidgin English has been influenced by the many different cultures and languages that are in Hawaii. Some of these languages include Hawaiian, Portuguese, Cantonese, Japanese, Filipino, and Korean.


Want to learn some Pidgin? Let's start off with some basic words and that are commonly used in Hawaii.

Grinds (noun) - Food or a meal. Grinds - (adjective) Something delicious.
Ex.
1. Where's the grinds?
Where is the food?
2. This sandwich is grinds!
This sandwich is delicious!

Here is something interesting about this word in Pidgin English. If you change grinds into a non-plural word (grind instead of grinds), it becomes a verb.

Grind (verb) - To eat
Ex.
1. You wanna go grind?
Do you want to eat (something)?


Pau (rhymes with cow) - Finished, done
Ex.
1. You pau your homework?
Are you finished with your homework?

2. You pau eat? or You pau grind?
Are you finished eating?


That's all for now folks! Have fun with these words and stay tuned for more updates!

Welcome Back Everyone!

Hi everyone! I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season. May this new year bring you tremendous amounts of love, joy, and incredible memories. To all of the students returning to MLI, welcome back! For those of you who are just joining us, we look forward to getting to know you.

This past year, I was fortunate enough to study abroad in Japan for a year. Although living in a country where the culture and language were completely different from mine presented a unique challenge, it filled me with excitement and made me grow as a person. It has been one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life. My study abroad adventure reminded me of a quote by the Italian movie director Federico Fellini who said, "A different language is a different vision of life."

Let me end today with an interesting insight about languages. According to Ethnologue, (15th edition -www.ethnologue.com there are 6,912 living languages in the world today. In his book _English Syntax: From Word to Discourse, author Lynn M. Berk writes that English is one of only seven languages in which the main verb is required to have a subject. (Gillian [1987], cited in Lambrechet, 1994, p.191).

Till next time,
Dallen