Expressions of the Heart

Are you ready? To test your Pidgin English skills, I will write the next paragraph using many of the Pidgin words we have learned. If you have kept up with all of our blogs teaching you Pidgin English, I'm sure you'll understand it all. So here we go!

Ho howzit everybody? Right now we jus stay chilling and relaxin in da beatiful Hawaiian weather. Stay real hot right now, but pretty soon going get cooler. But you know what? Wen the weather stay this hot, the buggah make um real good fo go to da beach! And I know I wen say um choke times already, but Maui get the meanest sunsets ever! The best is wen you get some ono grinds too. Wen you grind um on the beach, the buggah taste so much betta!

Most of these words were taught in our previous blogs, but there are some that might need a quick explanation. Some words in English are slightly altered by changing or shortening the ending of a word. For example, many words in English that end with an "er" will be changed to an "ah" sound in Pidgin. For example, "better" becomes "betta," "more" becomes "moa," and "where" changes into "wea." Also, some words are shortened by removing the last letter of the word. In the paragraph above, we can see that the word "just" changes into "jus" and "for" becomes "fo." This is easy to get the hang of because it sounds really similar to standard English.

Now on to another one of our wonderful poets here at the Maui Language Institute. Yoshiyasu comes to us all the way from Japan. Today we will be treated to two of his works. So here's Yoshiyasu!


-Maui-

Big sea, Big sky
Big beautiful island
Too big to enjoy by bike
No choice but peddling for me with no driver's license
I'm already tired


-Jiro- It's my hamster's name who died last year

Hey, Jiro
You weren't just my pet.
You were like my family,
my friend,
my brother,
my partner,
my healing,
And like the end of my life.
Your death left a big vacuum in my heart.

Hey, Jiro
What are you doing?
Are you watching me?
Please watch me from heaven.
From your death,
I decided to love all animals.
But I'm sorry,
I can't like insects anyway.


Okay folks! We'll see you again soon. Aloha!

Words to Soothe your Soul

We're back with more poetry to soothe your ears and warm your hearts. As an added bonus, we have more Pidgin English coming your way as well. If you haven't had the chance to read our past blogs filled with Pidgin English lessons, you might go ahead and do that now. Don't worry, we'll still be here when you get back ;-)

The Pidgin English in our last blog was rather long, so we'll give you a breather and make this lesson an easy one. I'm sure you'll understand and remember this word as soon as you finish reading this blog. That's because the meaning in both standard English and Pidgin are the same. The difference lies in how we use this word to construct a sentence. In fact, I think the way we use this word in Pidgin is actually easier than standard English. Let's jump right in and see what this new word is!

The word we will learn in this blog is "can." Not the type of can you put food in, but the verb meaning that you are able to do something. The reason why I said that this word is easier to use in Pidgin is because it can be used all by itself to convey a whole meaning. For example, in standard English, if someone asks you "Can you finish all of your homework by tomorrow?" If you are able to do this, a standard answer would be "Yes, I can do it." In Pidgin, all you need to do is say the word "can" and the meaning will be conveyed. What is probably even more useful is the phrase "no can" which means "I can't do it, or I am unable to do it." Let's look at some examples to ingrain this word into your permanent memory.

1. Alan: Ho, you can eat all dat by yourself?
Kawika: Can...garans I can grind um all!

Translation:
Alan: Wow, you can eat all of that food by yourself?
Kawika: Oh yea, I guarantee it.

2. Scott: We go build the house ourself!
Morris: No can! We no can do um by ourselves!

Translation:
Scott: Let's build the house on our own!
Morris: That's impossible, we can't do it by ourselves!

3. Rocky: No can do dat you!
Manuel: Can!

Translation:
Rocky: Hey, we can't do that! (because is physically or mentally impossible, or prohibited)
Pono: Oh yes we can!

See? No problem right? In our next blog, we'll be writing some of the blog in Pidgin only, so can test yourself to see how much you know.

On to our featured poet! Today our poetry comes from Nhu, who comes to us from Vietnam. Let's see her words as they come to life on our computer screens.


Maui's Beauty

Endless wind
On Towering Haleakala.
Sun's orange
As a ripe mango.
Coconut leaves sing
A summer song.
In the peaceful ocean
Gigantic humpbacks
Are acrobatic.
A green turtle dances
Next to a stingray
Under fresh sunshine.


Motherliness

Immense as Pacific Ocean.
Sweet as green spring.
A wake when a baby cries at night.
You worry when I fall down.
Always alongside me.
You give me fortitude and vigour.
Standing firm before ups and downs of life.
Smiling but prevents harm from my enemies.
Never stop learning.
When I have a first date.
You are excited more than me.
You wonder how that guy is.
When I study for exams.
I always have a hot bowl of soup or noodle.
I want to take care of you forever.
Mamma! you are not only a great mother.
You are a best teacher, and a good friends.




As you bask in the warmth of Nhu's poetry, I shall bid you adieu. But like always, we'll be back in the blink of an eye.

Summer Fun in the Sun

Aloooooooha! Our summer session has just ended and our students are officially on summer vacation. We start our Fall I session on August 17th, so our students have a few weeks to unwind and enjoy the rest of the summer.

We also had a few students who completed our program and will be parting ways with us. While it's sad to say goodbye to our students, we are also filled with happiness and admiration knowing that they will continue to challenge themselves by pursuing their goals in life. Many of our former students have taken the skills and experience gained from the Maui Language Institute and are utilizing them in their everyday lives. We have students pursing college degrees at universities all over the world as well as former students who have jobs that use English.

As you all know by now, an MLI potluck always has great food and entertainment. It is a time for all of us to get together and celebrate the wonderful memories that we have made over the past few weeks with one another. The food was excellent as always. There was so much food that it was impossible to eat it all! Our students provided the entertainment by reading their poetry and showing us their storytelling skills. It was amazing to see how well the students performed in public! Their pronunciation was impressive and their enthusiasm was contagious.

Here's the Pidgin English for today! Today's lesson is about the word "stay." In English the word "stay" has several different meanings. It can mean to remain, to wait for, or even to take up residence. However, the word "stay" in Pidgin English can also take on a totally different meaning. It is usually used with the progressive tense of verbs (verb+ing) or adjectives to express a current situation or state. For example, when you want to ask someone what they are doing right now, you would say "what you stay doing?" This would be translated as "what are you doing right now?" While this sounds confusing, it is pretty easy to get the hang of. I think it will be easier to understand this concept by looking at a few examples.

1. Dave: Ho, what you stay doing?
Alan: I stay eating.

Translation:
Dave: Hey what are you doing (right now)?
Alan: I'm eating (right now, at this very moment).

2. Micah: I stay hungry!
Joe: I stay hungry too, but I no can eat cause I stay broke!

Translation:
Micah: I'm hungry!
Joe: I'm hungry too, but I can't buy anything to eat because I'm broke!

3. Jack: (Talking to Pat on his cell phone). Ho, where you stay?
Pat: I stay at the beach.

Translation:
Jack: Hey, where are you right now?
Pat: I'm at the beach (at this moment).

You'll hear this word used quite a lot among native speakers of Hawaii Pidgin English. Using this word correctly will make your Pidgin English sound very natural. So make sure you put this word into your Pidgin arsenal!

Here's an important detail you should remember. Because "stay" is used to describe a current and ephemeral state, adjectives that describe a permanent or long-lasting state will sound a little funny. For example, adjectives that describes a person's natural appearance would sound strange because it's a relatively permanent situation. Thus, saying something like "She stay pretty" would sound a little weird. If you did say that, the underlying meaning would be "she is pretty NOW, but she wasn't pretty before/won't be pretty in the future."

Wow! That was quite a long Pidgin English lesson that we had today. But the word "stay" is such a useful word that it is worth explaining. It's that time again where we have come to the end of another blog. No worries! We'll be back in no time with more wonderful updates for you. Pau for now!