Front Street Escapades

Aloha! We're back once again for more fabulous updates here at the Maui Language Institute. This past Friday, we went out on another one of our fun field trips. We went to Lahaina, a town filled with history and wonderful sights. It's no coincidence that the name Lahaina comes from a Hawaiian word meaning "unmerciful sun." The weather in Lahaina is usually hot and sunny, which makes it a perfect place to explore the town by foot or to take a leisurely stroll on the along the beach.

For our field trip, we explored Front Street, which is a popular area filled with lots of interesting shops, historical sites, and amazing restaurants. Lahaina is also the place to be if you are an art lover. There are many art galleries here, as well as an art night with special events that happen every Friday night. The Lahaina Town Action Committee has a website that lists many of the upcoming events and you can check them out at http://www.visitlahaina.com/

After arriving in Lahaina, we walked around and explored the many shops and historical sites on Front Street. The beautiful sunny weather provided us with an absolutely breathtaking view of the ocean and the West Maui Mountains. After we did a little shopping and sightseeing, we decided to grab some lunch. We went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant. We chose this restaurant because our advanced Film Studies students had just finished studying the movie, Forrest Gump. When the restaurant hosted a raffle to see how much our group knew about Forrest Gump, they were surprised to discover that our students knew answer!

And now on to our Pidgin word of the day! Today's word is "manini (rhymes with "panini")." A Manini is actually the name of a species of fish, but in Hawaiian Pidgin English, it carries a meaning of something small or insignificant. While it can be used to describe the size of something, it is often used to describe a situation (and how insignificant it is). Let's take a look at an example.

1. Micah: Ho I gotta walk all da way to school tomorrow!
Adam: What? Bra, that's so maninis!

Translation:
Micah: Man....I have to walk to school tomorrow!
Adam: What are you complaining about? It's only 5 minutes away!

2. Wesley: I gotta do my math homework by tomorrow!
Josh: Ahh sooo minini dat!

Translation:
Micah: I have to finish my math homework by tomorrow!
Josh: That shouldn't be a problem at all! (Implying that Micah should be able to finish his math homework quickly because it's easy).

Another word that carries the same meaning is "minors." This word is probably easier to understand because it has virtually the same meaning as the word "minor" in standard English. The only difference is that in Pidgin English, an "s" is added on the end.

3. Mike: Ho, you no have choke work fo do today?
Billy: Nah bu, minors!

Translation:
Mike: Hey, don't you have a lot of work to do today?
Billy: Nah, it won't be a problem at all!

Okay folks! That's all for now but stayed tuned for another update coming soon! Aloha!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat...

Hi everyone! We're back with another blog to satisfy your Pidgin English cravings and to fill you in on the fun events taking place at the Maui Language Institute. This past Friday, we took another field trip to the Kahana Beach Park. The last time we were there, we volunteered by helping to clean up the area. So we decided to have a little fun this time and go canoe paddling! We got to experience the feeling of sailing over the beautiful waters of Maui. Some of our students have never tried canoe paddling before, so it was especially memorable for them. After we worked up our appetites from all of that padding, we got to enjoy “choke” food at our potluck. Just like always, there was an amazing variety of culinary treats made by our students. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the warm Hawaiian sun in the company of good friends.

By the way, if you are ever on Maui, there is a wonderful event celebrating the culture and artistry of canoes that takes place every year called, "The International Festival of Canoes" and it showcases master canoe makers from all over the world. You can actually see tree logs being carved into full-sized canoe hulls. You can check out pictures of last year's event at http://www.mauifestivalofcanoes.com

Since I'm sure that all of you that have been reading our blogs have mastered basic Pidgin English words and phrases by now, today's word will be a little more esoteric. It's actually an easy word to learn and to use, but it is not used in conversation as much as the other words taught in this blog. The word is "poho" and it comes straight from the Hawaiian language. Poho describes something that is wasteful, as in the English phrase "what a waste." Let's take a look at some examples.

Jack:Ho, wat wen happen to all the food the other night?
Mike: Oh, we wen throw um away.
Jack:Poho!

Translation:
Jack: Hey what happened to all of the food from last night?
Mike: Oh we threw it all away.
Jack: What?! What a waste!

2. Alan: Ho, how’s your cousin, he stay med school ah?
Trevor: Ho bra, he had one scholarship and everything, but he when drop out.
Alan: No ways....ai some poho ah!

Translation:
Alan: Hey how is your cousin doing? He's in medical school right?
Trevor: Even though he had a scholarship to go to medical school, he dropped out.
Alan: Are you serious?! That's a shame (waste)!

If you could read and understand those Pidgin English sentences without looking at the translation, congratulations! This is what a typical conversation in Pidgin English might sound like. I must leave you all once again, but another blog update is on its way! So I'll see you soon! Aloha!

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!

Upcoming Field Trip!

Hello! The arrival of spring in Hawaii makes it a perfect time to head down to the beach. Our students will be going on a field trip in a couple of weeks to learn how to paddle canoes in the oceans of Maui. We will also have lots of delicious food to eat while we relax our worries away on the beach. We'll take lots of pictures, so be sure to check back soon!

For today's Pidgin lesson, let me introduce you to a word that you probably haven't heard before.

Bumbai (Bum-Bye) - 1. Later, after, at some other time. 2. A conditional clause with a nuance of "if you do something, then this will happen." However, the most common usage of this word is to express a later point in time (definition 1).

1. Jack: Eh, you get one test tomorrow ah? You better go study.
Frank: Nah no worries, I going study bumbai.

Jack: Hey, you have a test tomorrow right? You should go and study now.
Frank: Don't worry about it, I'm going to study later.

2. Jack: Ho it's raining! I going play in the rain.
Frank: Eh no do that...bumbai you going get sick.

Jack: Wow its raining! I'm going to go outside and play in the rain.
Frank. You shouldn't do that because you might get sick.

Got it? Great! See if your Pidgin knowledge is up to par by seeing if you can understand this next paragraph:

Howzit! Spring is da best time fo go to da beach. On our MLI field trip, our students going paddle canoes jus like Ancient times. And of course going get choke ono grinds too!

That's all for now! There is going to be more fun updates soon, so stay tuned!