Sana Saleem, Linda Aumua and Unitec alumni Felix Chong.
An opening ceremony for Fijian Language Week (6-12 October) was held at our Mt Albert campus today, with more than 50 kaimahi gathering to celebrate our language, culture and identity.
We invited our Unitec Fijian alumni Felix Chong as our chief guest who talked about his inspirational journey with Fulton Hogan. We had a traditional Fijian yaqona ceremony as part of the opening ceremony, followed by a shared lunch.
All Fijian staff wore the blue kalavata to celebrate today’s event with lots of bula smiles on display.
Special acknowledgement for two staff who are part of the Fijian staff committee:
Jone Tawaketini – recipient for Le Moana Mua – Ako Aotearoa
Sana Saleem – recipient for LIANZA Award of Professional Excellence 2024
The 2024 theme for Fijian Language Week is:
‘Vakamareqeta na Vosa Vakaviti – Nurture and sustain the Fijian Language’.
The theme is d
erived from the overarching Language Week Series theme for 2024, ‘Sustainability’.
About the Fijian alphabet
The Fijian alphabet is made up of all the English letters excluding the letter “x,” though the letters “h” and “z” are also rarely used, and primarily are only found in borrowed words.
Vosa Vakaviti (Fijian language) has five vaueli (vowels):
a, e, i, o, u
Vowels are mostly pronounced as they would be if they were spoken in Spanish, Italian and German:
A as in “ah” as in father
E as in error
I as in me or sit
O as in for or toll
U as in “oo” in food or too.
Key words and phrases – Vosavosa leleka vakaviti.
Try out these phrases!
Vakaviti English
Ni sa bula vinaka Greetings to visitors/guests
Bula Greetings to you two (dual)
Dou bula Greetings to three or more people (plural)
Vaka cava tiko? How are you?
Au bulabula vinaka tiko I am well
Vinaka vakalevu Thank you very much/very good
Moce Goodbye (to someone who is going) / Goodnight
Au lako mada yani Excuse me (to get past)
O lako ivei? Where are you going?
Curu mai Come in
Wananavu Great
Vosa mai vei au Speak to me
Io / Sa donu Yes / Ok
Sega No
Congratulations all -well done!
Vinaka levu Team! awesome acknowledgement and well deserved.
Toso Viti Toso!
Lolomas team. A wonderful acknowledgement of our Fijian family. Way to go and as usual sooo awesome. Vinaka vaka levu
Congratulations to you Sana and Jone! And thanks for the language lesson – that is really helpful info.