A Little Taste of the MLI

Hey there! I told you we would be back in a flash! Thursday, October 8th was the last day of our Fall I session. I can't believe how fast time is flying by! The one good thing about coming to the end of a session is our wonderful potluck. If you have been reading our blogs, you know that we celebrate the end of each session by having a potluck party. Many of our students showcase their culinary prowess by cooking succulent dishes that taste amazing. We also had lots of great entertainment. Some of our students acted in skits and presented some of their work from class. One of our students even serenaded us with his solo ukulele music. Our students also got to play a fun, easy game. Students vote for their favorite person in specific categories such as “the best cook”, “the best singing voice”, and “the best laugh” just to name a few. The winner of each category was rewarded with a fun gift. Some students won Hawaii calendars and others won Hawaiian key chains or Hawaiian luggage tags. One student received a beach mat for winning the “best tan” category! That’s it for our MLI update. Now, let’s get onto the Pidgin Lesson.

Today's Pidgin English lesson is simple and sweet. This phrase is easy to learn and can be used in a variety of situations. The phrase is "chance um." The meaning of this phrase is to "take a chance" or to "go for it!" A literal translation of this phrase into standard English would be "chance it." Let's take a look at some real life examples.

1. Tyler: Bra, I don't know wat for do. I got one mean job, but the buggah is in New York. I don't know if I going go or not.
Micah: Bra, chance um!

Translation:
Tyler: I don't know what I should do. I just landed a great job, but I would have to move to New York. I don't know if I am going to take it or not.
Micah: Dude, go for it!
Steve: Ho, Angela, she's mean ah! I like talk to her but I don't know wat fo say...Jeff: Nah, chance um!

2. Steve: Ho, Angela, she's mean ah! I like talk to her but I don't know wat fo say...
Jeff: Nah, chance um!

Translation:
Steve: Hey, don't you think Angela is absolutely gorgeous? I want to talk to her but I don't know what I should say....
Jeff: Go for it man! Take a chance!

See? Nice and simple right? We've reached the end of another blog, but keep practicing your Pidgin English and we'll see you soon!

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!

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!

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.