Tahitian language

Madagascar is different than Mexican

... different than, than Tahitian.

Tahitian's my favorite.

Mm.

[laughs]

Yeah, that's true.

I mean, living in Tahiti here, you know, in French Polynesia, I mean, there are a bunch of people who, you know, they can speak French using a Tahitian accent.

But then when they're in a different context, they just can speak, you know, quote, unquote, standard French with no accent.

And that's quite impressive.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast and conversation with multilinguals.

My guest today is Moinao, and we're having a conversation about the Tahitian language and the culture of French Polynesia.

I learned a ton in this episode, and I hope that you listeners will as well.

Moenel talks to us about growing up in French Polynesia, speaking French, and learning the Tahitian language from her great-grandmother.

She tells us not only about the Tahitian language, but also about the five other languages that are native to French Polynesia.

We talk about the differences within the country among these different languages and we learn about the grammatical structure of Tahitian and what makes it stand out among other languages in the South Pacific.

We definitely spend some time talking about culture in French Polynesia including a rich and meaningful storytelling tradition and the cultural concept of mana that exists in many cultures and countries in the South Pacific.

And if you don't know much about Tahitian food, you will want to hear this.

The island was settled by the mutiny of the Bounty in the eighteenth century, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited British communities.

Its residents today are descendants of that mutineer cohort and their Tahitian partners.

Legally, Pitcairn operates through an elected council and a governor appointed by the Queen.

That structure ensures local autonomy while preserving the symbolic link to Westminster.

He was clad in a scarlet loincloth and a straw hat.

In his hands were presents, a fish, a bunch of greens, and several enormous yams, all of which acknowledged by smiles, which are coined still in isolated spots of Polynesia, and by frequent repetitions of maruru, which is the Tahitian thank you, I proceeded to make signs that I desired to go for a sail in his canoe.

His face lighted with pleasure, and he uttered the single word, Taha, turning at the same time and pointing to the lofty, cloud-draped peaks of an island three miles away, the island of Taha.

It was fair wind over, but a hard beat back.

This required bailing.

Now bailing is one of the principal functions of the vahine.

Vahine is the Tahitian word for woman, and Charmian, being the only vahine aboard, the bailing fell appropriately to her.

Tahai and I could not very well do it, the both of us being perched part way out on the outrigger and busied with keeping the canoe bottom side down.

They seem to be all half-breeds in strange conglomerations of dozens of different races.

Nineteen able labourers are all the trader at Taiohe can muster for the loading of copra on shipboard, and in their veins runs the blood of English, American, Dane, German, French, Corsican, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Hawaiian, Pamotan, Tahitian, and Easter Islander.

There are more races than there are persons.

But it is a wreckage of races at best.