Although English is spoken by most people except the very young and very old, Fijians are usually more comfortable speaking Fijian, and Indians speaking Hindi. In almost every case a missionary's Hindi or Fijian will be inferior to a Fiji resident's English, but missionaries greatly benefit from learning one of the mission languages. Learning a language shows the missionary's love for the people and allows him/her to participate in discussions (typically given in Fijian or Hindi), understand conversations without an interpreter, and talk with small children and the elderly.
Fijian is related to polynesian languages such as Samoan and Tongan. There are many dialects for various regions or even villages. The Bauan dialect is the most common and can be spoken by all Fijians. Although it is initially very foreign sounding to the English speaker, Fijian is quite learnable because it has consistent pronounciation, logical grammar, and a compact vocabulary. Early Wesleyan missionaries created an anglicized alphabet for Fiji. All of the scriptures have been translated into Fijian and are preferred by many Fijians over the English versions.
All sample language files below are in Real G2 format, but not streamed. Get the Real player here if you don't already have it. |
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| Video Fijian sample (381KB) |
Audio Fijian sample (211KB) |
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| Audio Bislama sample (241KB) |