Monday, August 31, 2009

Kanaha Beach Clean Up and Potluck

Hey everyone! It's a beautiful Monday morning here in Maui, and the weather is hot as usual. Last month we went to the Kahana Beach Park and volunteered by cleaning up the area. We joined forces with the County of Maui Volunteer Center and the King Kekaulike High School Key Club in this endeavor. We searched every nook and cranny for trash and left no stone unturned. After a couple of hours, the beach looked as if its natural beauty was untouched. Not only were we filled with accomplishment and pride, but we also got to meet and have fun with lots of new people.

After we finished cleaning up, we celebrated in our usual fashion with a potluck. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore, and then we just relaxed on the beach sharing laughs and good times. To whet your appetite, let me talk about some of the food that we had to eat. We had some standard items such as pizza and fried chicken, but we also had a few unique items such as Korean "vegetarian" rolls with Spam, sushi, and an amazing variety of freshly baked cookies and desserts.

With all this talk about good food, it's only fitting that I teach you the Hawaiian word for delicious. The word is "ono," and it's pronounced "oh-no." I already used this word a couple of times in my past blogs, but I thought I should talk about it in more detail. This word is a good example of how Hawaii Pidgin English incorporates many different languages and cultures together. Ono comes from the Hawaiian language itself, but we use it together with standard English or other Pidgin words in conversation. For example, when eating something tasty, you might say "Wow, this is ono!" If you wanted to use more Pidgin for that sentence, you could say something like "Ho, dis buggah is ono!"

This brings us to the end of another blog but have no fear! We'll be back in no time with more fun updates! Until then, check out all of our pictures from our beach clean up day! See ya!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

We're on Facebook!

Welcome back to the MLI blog! It's nice to see all of you all again. We are just starting our Fall I session! By the way, the MLI is officially on Facebook! So if you have an account, just search for the"Maui Language Institute" and we'll show up in the results. You'll see a button at the top that says "become a fan." Click this button and you can see all of the new updates and pictures that we post. If you don't have an account, you can sign up at www.facebook.com It's completely free and allows you to keep in contact with your friends from all over the world.

Well I know that you must be a Pidgin English expert by now but it never hurts to learn a little more. Today let's build on what we already know by taking a look at a common saying in Hawaiian Pidgin English. The phrase is "broke da mouth" or "brok da mout." As we learned in the last lesson, the "da" comes from the English word "the." The word "broke" in English can have several meanings. It can be the past form for the word break, or it can also mean a person that has no money. Both meanings are used in Pidgin as well, but this phrase uses the meaning of something "breaking." The word "mouth" doesn't change its meaning, so it just refers to the part of your body that you eat and speak with. If you take notice, this phrase has a literal meaning along the lines of my "mouth is broken." However, when used in actual conversation, this means something that is really, really delicious. So if go to a restaurant and eat something that was absolutely delicious, you can say that it was broke da mouth!

Today we are featuring Anh, another talented poet who will amaze you with her works. So without further ado, here's Anh!


Stealing.

I steal my husband's mango,
But he doesn't know that I steal his mango
He is looking everywhere, I fear
When he asks me; Honey! Where is my mango.
Ah! I smile and I say
"don't know."



Maui Love

I love Maui too much.
I feel very mild by the weather
And the mountain, sky, cloud, and sea.
I want to hug them all.


Tarnish

A wine cup shared with you
Second cup, I drink it all,
I feel ok!!!...
Third cup I drink all too,
I'm feeling buoyant.

But I am tarnishing.
By the fifth cup I can't drink.
I am already tarnished.
When I look, one person becomes two people.
Ohh! What happen?

I go to bed!!!...


Okay everyone! Time to say goodbye for now. Just like always, we'll be back again soon. See ya!

Monday, August 3, 2009

A Little Pidgin, a Little Poetry

...and we're back! In just a couple weeks we will be starting our Fall I session. It will be nice to see all of our returning students again. We are also looking forward to meeting our new students that are joining us this year. It's amazing to see people from all over the world using English as a common language to communicate.

Now that you have a quite a few Pidgin English words in your repertoire, I'll do something a little bit different today. I'll write out a few dialogues using Pidgin that you would hear if you came to Hawaii. These dialogues will help you to get a feel of the natural use of Pidgin, and how it flows in everyday conversation. It will also help you to see how the words we have learned can be implemented and used in different situations. I'll translate the first two, but I'll leave the last one for you to translate. I'm sure you'll do great. So let's get started!

1. John: Ho howzit bra, how you?
Mike: Ho I stay good bu, how you?
John: Good good. Long time I neva see you..what you stay doing now?
Mike: I stay working at the mall. Eh you like go get something fo grind? I stay on my lunch break now.
John: Oh shoots bu, we go!

Translation:
John: Hey! What's up, how are you?

Mike: I'm good man! How are you?

John: I'm goo
d. I haven't seen you in forever! What are you doing now?
Mike: I'm working at the mall. Hey, you wanna grab a bite to eat? I'm on my lunch break right now.

John: Sounds good, lets go!


2. Adam: Ho bu, we going go to one club tonight, you like come?
Roger: I like go but I no can! I get choke homework tonight.
Adam: Nah no worries! Bra garans you going get one A!
Roger: No ways bu, I gotta study. But if I pau early I go meet you guys afta.

Translation:
Adam: Hey we're going to a club tonight. Do you want to come?

Roger: I would love to go, but I can't. I have so much homework to do tonight.
Adam: Don't worry about it! I'm sure you'll get an A!

Roger: No way! I have to study tonight. But if I finish early I'll meet up with you guys later.



3. Rick: Ho, I going move to one new house next week. You can help me move?
Joe: Oh yea bu, can. What time?
Rick: We gotta start by 2 o'clock bumbai no can finish before get dark.
Joe: Shoots I come your house 2 o'clock.
Rick: Hey mahalos ah!
Joe: Yea bu no worries.

You may have noticed the words "bra" and "bu" have been used quite a lot in the previous dialogues. An equivalent to these words in English would be "brother," "bro," or "man." For example, the phrase "hey man, how you doing?" would be translated as "ho bra, how you?" in Pidgin. Or in English slang, the phrase "what's up brother?" can be roughly translated as "what's up bra?" in Hawaii Pidgin.

We have another talented poet for you today! His name is Hidenori and he comes to us from Ehime, Japan. Let's take a look at a couple of his poems!


Especially MAUI

Island Maui, sunny language Aloha.
Flowers Maui, sunshine Mahalo.
Ocean Maui, Endless Waves.
Sky Maui Hovering Breezy.
I can hear Whispers to Maui.
Like Ocean Waves, and Wind.
Now new Maui Birth again.


Hawaiian Salt

A sweet taste of the ocean
A hot electric shock - woah!
I can't eat a lot.

But pass me more
Hawaiian salt
Salty as Japanese
Barbecued chicken

But not soft of sifting
like regular salt
More like rich red
chunky island earth
Or blood in the mouth

Whoa! - I need water.


It's sad to say but it's the end of today's blog. Come back again soon cause we'll have more updates in no time. Aloha for now!