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 good. 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!

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!

A Day at the Beach...

Hey hey hey! Howzit everyone?! We're back again with another blog update! Just this past week we went to the beautiful Kamaole III (a.k.a. Kam III) beach park for our field trip. We had some delicious BBQ, played some soccer, and relaxed on the beach. Here's a short video showing off some of our student's soccer skills.

There's something about the beaches on Maui that make you forget all of your troubles and relax as soon as your feet hit the sand. I also feel that Maui has the best sunsets in the world. What's even more amazing is that you can enjoy watching the sunset on the beaches of Maui virtually everyday since we have warm weather year-round. There's nothing like spending the day on a beautiful beach with good friends and good food.



Speaking of good food, today I would like to tell you a little bit about the local cuisine here in Hawaii. If you have ever been here before, then some of these dishes might sound familiar to you. While Hawaii has cuisine from all over the world, there are some things that are unique to us.

In a past blog, I talked a little bit about the plate lunches that we have here in Hawaii. A plate lunch is basically a main dish served with macaroni salad and rice, but there are countless variations to be found all over Hawaii. Plate lunches are sold virtually everywhere in Hawaii, so it's pretty hard to miss them. Standard items for plate lunches are teriyaki chicken or beef, Korean style BBQ short-ribs, and chicken katsu (breaded, deep-fried chicken filets).

You can also find things like lemon caper mahi mahi and Hawaiian plates which consists of kalua pig (shredded pork traditionally cooked in an imu, or underground oven), lau lau (steamed pork wrapped in taro leaves), (lomi lomi salmon (a salad-like dish that consists of tomato, onions, and raw salted salmon), and poi. Many people have heard of poi, but only a few have taken the plunge and tasted it. Poi is mashed taro root which can vary in consistancy but generally has the viscosity of yogurt. Many people say that taste is rather bland, but is a great combination when eaten with other Hawaiian foods like lomi lomi salmon.

I can't leave today's blog without talking about a dish called "loco moco." A loco moco consists of juicy hamburger patties laid on a bed of rice, topped with sunny-side-up or over-easy eggs and rich gravy. This dish has even travel across the sea and has gained popularity in Japan. I actually ate it several times while I was studying abroad there. Although the Japanese version used either teriyaki or demi-glaze sauce instead of gravy. The buggah is mean!

I don't know about you, but this blog has made me hungry! If you ever come to Maui be sure to try all of these delicious delicacies. I'm going to grab a bite to eat, but I'll be back in no time with another update to satisfy your cravings. Aloha for now!

The Beauty of Words

Hello to everyone out there! I hope that this blog finds you in great health and the best of spirits.

Before we dive into more beautiful poetry, let’s have a quick Pidgin English lesson today. Here is a word that I'm sure you'll understand easily, since the meaning is similar in both formal English and Pidgin English. While there is a difference in usage, the biggest difference lies in the pronunciation. The word in standard English is "winner," but the word in Pidgin becomes "winna" or "winnas." Generally speaking, you would most likely say "winnas" to describe a noun. In fact, most of the time "winnas" is used to describe food as we will see in our examples.

Winnas - Amazing, great, it's a winner!

1. Joe: Ho how’s the food?
Larry: Ho the buggah is mean, especially the steak, it's winnas!

Translation: Joe: How does the food taste?
Larry: Oh it's really good, especially the steak, it's incredible!

2. Shaun: Ho I heard you wen go to dat new restaurant last night, how was? Fred: Ho was winnas!

Translation: Shaun: Hey I heard that you went to that new restaurant last night. How was it?
Fred: It was amazing!

On to our poetry! Today we will hear from our talented poet Ji Hun. So let’s get right into it with his poem called "The Girl."


The Girl

I don't know well about girls.
I can't feel some girl's minds.
You know why?
Because their mind looks like my mom.
You know why?
Because of their eyes seems like deeps rivers.
Even though we can't well speak.
I can feeling something about from your eyes.
Are you? ...
one of my favorite girls.





With that I shall wish you a farewell until we meet again...which will be soon so don't worry!

Poetry in Motion

Hello again! Welcome back to another blog filled with more Pidgin English lessons and creative poetry by our MLI students. So let’s get right to it! Today's Pidgin English lesson covers a phrase which is actually used all over the world. However, the accent and usage is slightly different. The phrase I am talking about is "for real," or in Hawaii it would be pronounced "fo real?” or even “fo reals?

Fo real? - Really? Are you serious? Are you sure? Is that so

1. Jack: Ho I found 100 bucks on the ground today! Pat: Ho no ways! Fo real?!?

2. Jack: Ho you heard that Dave going get married? Pat: What?!? Fo reals?

Now lets move on to our talented poets! Today we will featuring the the poetry of Akiko, who comes from Japan. Here's Akiko!


Mother Island

The soft wind in Maui
Breathes arounds us tenderly
Beautiful birds signing
The wind carries the birdsong
The ocean illuminates in seven colors
It lights up our heart
The sounds of the wave
Is like a beating heart
Giving us the power to live
Mother Island Maui






Miso Soup of Love

You wake up earlier than anyone
I wake up to sounds of cooking
From the kitchen
You cook different kind of miso soup
Everyday
It tastes of mother's tenderness
I learned how to cook miso soup
From you
Someday, I'll cook it
For my beloved somebody




:) I can't think of a better way to end this blog. So see you all again soon! Aloha!