Pijin classes?

I'm going to Solomon Islands for four months to begin with and I wonder if there are any courses or classes in Honiara how to learn Pijin? Books? There is a small Lonely Planet Phrasebook, but I have it already and it's very basic.

You could probably find a Pijin primer in Honiara, but it's not really necessary as Pijin is pretty easy to pick up on it's own (surprisingly, less easy to read). I doubt there's classes for it though.

Ozziegiraffe would be more of an expert in this area (I still make big mistakes in Pijin which can be either hilarious or highly embarrassing; one thing I found is you should not try to translate Pijin into "long" English literally, that's when these silly mistakes happen).

I have no problems in understanding Pijin, as it's English-based. But when I try to speak, I never know if it's Pijin or broken English. That's why, and to avoid "hilarious or highly embarrassing mistakes", I would need more systematic drills. There are plenty of volunteers who speak fluent Pijin, I'll see what I do. Thank you for your reply anyway. Lukim iu!

Hi, Ann. I am not sure of a specific Pijin school - Ausaid and RAMSI organise their own, I think through teachers at Woodford (Honiara International School). Send m a PM about who you are working with, and I could make more suggestions, or find you a private tutor.
Basically, I rely on my friends - I am not nearly as good at speaking Pijin as I am at hearing it either.
However, the basics in the Lonely Planet phrasebook are excellent. Most of what I use, I learn by doing, and discussing with local friends, who often speak flunet English.

Hi Ozzlegiraffe (and Watsoff)
Thank you for your reply and your kind offer to help. I'm a travel writer, and I'm not going to work with anybody. I have been to the Solomons before and I have local friends, so I have many opportunities to practise. It's just that in order to practise, I must have some fundament and some structures to step on. And I need the "push" to go to a class regularly. As my friends and my partner are fluent in English it becomes somewhat artificial to speak Pijin with them. I was a little disappointed of LP phrasebook, as I found the sector about Bislama much more systematic. So if you have any suggestion I would be very grateful. A written grammar would be very helpful. If you happen to know something about Kwaio as well, I would be more than happy, as I want to learn that too.
Ann

My "adopted" brother is East Kwaio, but I think both E. Kwaio and W. Kwaio languages are slightly different to each other. The best (probably the only) way to learn one or the other is through a native speaker. Are you going to East Kwaio or West Kwaio? I'd be interested in hearing about that.

And, like Ozziegiraffe, I'm better at hearing it than speaking it. My SI friends all say that Solomons Pijin is the simplest of the three (Bislama and the more complicated PNG Pijin); it doesn't really matter how you phrase things, just so long as you try. Often easier said than done. I use broken English more often than not; when a friend from Bougainville (but resident of PNG) asked for a route to the beach from some local villagers, they either did not understand his Pijin, or refused to understand ... anyway, a quick "where beach?" from me got us the answer kwik time.

But some folks in Honiara insist that they don't understand "bush" Pijin, as the local languages give rise to different accents which can make Pijin quite unintelligible. That's what they told me, and I suspect it's true because I find the further out I go the less Pijin I understand (add my failing hearing to that and at times it sounds almost like gibberish).

I also agreee the Solomons' variety is the easiest of the three pidgins.
Locals often told me that "Papua New Guineans speak real Pidgin, ours is just crooked English", which is of course a bit of an overstatement, but still, SI Pijin is the closest to English by far.
Also Solomon Islanders speak the best English of the three countries, making practicing harder - I only had to speak Pijin to the traditional people in East Kwaio.

I found "Pidgin" easiest to learn in Vanuatu, where the francophone part of the population speaks little or no English.
As Bislama is probably the furthest from English, this only needed some modifications to turn into pidgin from PNG or the Solomons.
But the three pidgins are still close enough to be considered dialects of the same language - if only they ever got around to harmonizing the spelling systems! Even Ni-Vanuatu can understand PNG pidgin, for the most part.

As for the Kwaio language, good luck.
I'd definitely start by searching far and wide for a written resource like at least a basic grammar, as in my experience Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages can have quite complicated grammar which one can't expect local frieds to be able to explain.
Locals usually try and teach one just single words or sentences, which is not the way to really learn a language for me.

Ann,
Another possibility for classes and advice in both languages is SITAG (Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group) who are the local branch of Bible translators, and about to publish the whole Bible in Pijin. I am not sure where they are with the Kwaio language, though, as most of my connections are Lau, Kwarae'ae or Are'Are.

The gift shop at the King Solomon Hotel in Honiara was selling a very good Pijin "dictionary" come teaching aid that includes an explanation of grammar as well as covering some of the more common "mistakes" people make when learning Pijin. It was written by 2 ladies one a long term ex-pat I think and a local lady who was/is a teacher.

Tanggio tumas for your positive replies. I have printed these pages and will bring them with me. Now I feel more encouraged that I can learn Pijin by myself (in spite of lacking self discipline!). Maybe I have no need for Pijin in its strict sense, but it would simply be nice to chat with the women at the market, showing respect for their country and language.

I found the books below when googling, but the problem is that I want to hear some personal experience.
For example, is the Kwaio dictionary about East or West Kwaio? (I want to learn the East variety.) And if these varieties are different, is there any point in buying this one? I doubt I can find it in Honiara, so I would have to buy it in Australia in advance, without knowing if it's useful.

Linda Simone & Hugh Young: Pijin blong yumi.
Keesing, R.M. 1975. Kwaio Dictionary. Canberra: Australian National University

If somebody wants to keep in touch with me during my visit, please mail to ann.lindvall-at-papyrusbok.se
Bae bae iufala
Ann

Ann - please check you PMs - the e-mail address you posted doesn't seem to work, with with hyphens or underscores.

I wanted to avoid @ for viruses and spams. So just replace -at- with an @. Ann

Roger Keesing was an anthropologist who lived with the East Kwaio bush people on and off for years. If any non-Kwaio knows the language, he does. If you could get the book, it should be good.

I have now found a Kwaio grammar by the same author:

Keesing, R.M. 1985. Kwaio grammar. Canberra: Australian National University