Everyone speaks English in Fiji but it’s always fun to try and use the local language (every visitor learns “bula”, but there is much more you can pick up easily!). As well as giving yourself amusement and a sense of achievement, the locals always appreciate visitors giving their language a try – and they will be more than happy to give you tips and practice.
A few pronunciation pointers – words with a ‘d’ have an unwritten ‘n’ in front – For example, Nadi is ‘Nandi’ and the marinated seafood dish, kokoda, is pronounced ‘kokonda’. You put an ‘m’ before ‘b’ in words like Toberua (“Tom-berua”) and “Lam-basa” for Labasa. The unwritten “n” also goes before a “g”, so Sigatoka is ‘Singatoka’ and Naigani is Ninegani’. And a ‘c’ is pronounced ‘th’, as in the Mamanuca Islands (‘Mamanutha’) and moce is ‘mothay’ (goodbye).
Hello/Hi – ni sa bula or just ‘bula’
Good morning – ni sa yadra or just ‘yadra’
Goodbye – sa moce or just ‘moce’ (remember, ‘mothay’)
Please – yalo vinaka or just ‘vinaka’ (this is also ‘thank you’)
Excuse me – tulou (pronounced ‘two low’)
One – dua
Two – rua