1GreatResort.com

The Web Site For Out of the Way Fiji Travel

Most of the people in Fiji speak English fluently, while their mother tongue may be Fijian, or some other Pacific Island language. Knowledge of a few words of Fijian, especially greetings will make your stay in Fiji all that more fulfilling. Please be aware that Fijian has no pure b, c, or d sounds, as they are spoken in English. When the first missionaries arrived in to Fiji they came up with a system with one letter for each Fijian sound. To avoid confusion, all Fijian words are pronounced phonetically, so you should be aware that:

B is pronounced as mb, such as in lumber,

D is pronounced as nd, as in end,

G is pronounced as ng, as in sing,

Q is pronounced as ngg, So Beqa, becomes (Bengga)

C is pronounced as th, as in that,

English	Fijian	Phonetically spoken
BBQ	Lovo	Lovo
Bring	kauta mai	kou ta my
Cold	Liliwa	Liliwa
Come	lako mai	la ko my
Drum	Lali,	larli
Eat	kana	Kana
Excuse me	tulou	too low
Fast	vakatotolo	vaka tortorlor
Fijian Drink	Yaqona, "Kava"	Yan gonna
Give	Solia	Solia
Go	lako tani	lako tani
Good morning	ni sa yadra	ne sah yandra
Goodbye	sa moce	sah more they
Hi, or Morning	ni sa bula	nee sah mbula
Hello, Greetings, Good Day	Ni sa bula	nee sah mbula
Hot	Kata Kata	cutta cutta
House	vale	vale
How much	E vica,	ay veetha
Gift, Handout	Kari-Kari	Carry-Carry
Lady, Mrs. or Madam	marama	marama
Little, A	vakalailai	vaka lie lie
Luau, Party	meki	Mek-key
Lot, A	vakalevu	vaka levu
Mister, Mr. Or Sir	turaga	turanga
No	sega	senga
No Worries, no problems	Seqa na lega	Senga na lenga
One	dua	ndua
One More	dua tale	ndua tale
Please	yalo Vinaka	yarlo vee naka
Rain	Uca,	ootha
Slowly	vaka malua	vaka malua
Sun	Siga,	singa
Whale Tooth, "Gift"	Tabua	Tambua
Thank you very much	vinaka vakalevu	vee naka vakalevoo
Thank you/Good	Vinaka	vee naka
Toilet	vale lailai	vale lielie
Two	rua	rua
Village	koro	koro
Water	Wai	Wa hi
What is this	na cava oqo	na thava orng-gor
Yes	io	ee o

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