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Vanuatu has hundreds of languages, in fact, more languages per capita
than anywhere in the world. The official language is a compromise
- Bislama, or Pigeon English. This is one of the most fun
languages ANYWHERE for us because English-speakers can usually puzzle
out the meanings and can make themselves understood. Many of the
rules are very simple. Spelling is simplified. All verbs end
in "um", for example "Me likum yu". There are only a few
prepositions - no "by", "for", "as", and so on. They use "blong"
for almost all of them. The most important rule is "sound it out".
Look at the sign on the left and say it over and over before I translate
it. Loosely, it means "Fund for building one youth school".
Birds are usually called "pigeons". A parrot is a "bigfalla
(big-fellow) green pigeon". And so on. |