Fiji Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Languages === {{Main|Languages of Fiji}} Fiji has three official languages under the [[1997 Constitution of Fiji|1997 constitution]] (and not revoked by the [[2013 Constitution of Fiji|2013 Constitution]]): [[English language|English]], [[Fijian language|Fijian]] (iTaukei) and [[Fiji Hindi]]. Fijian is an [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] language of the [[Malayo-Polynesian languages|Malayo-Polynesian family]] spoken in Fiji. It has 350,000 native speakers, and another 200,000 speak it as a second language. There are many dialects of the language across the Fiji Islands, which may be classified in two major branches—[[Central Pacific languages|eastern and western]]. Missionaries in the 1840s chose an eastern dialect, the speech of Bau Island to be the written standard of the Fijian language. Bau Island was home to Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the chief who eventually became the self-proclaimed King of Fiji. [[Fiji Hindi]], also known as Fijian Baat or Fijian Hindustani, is the language spoken by most Fijian citizens of [[India]]n descent. It is derived mainly from the [[Awadhi]] and [[Bhojpuri]] varieties of [[Hindi languages|Hindi]]. It has also borrowed a large number of words from [[Fijian language|Fijian]] and [[English language|English]]. The relation between Fiji Hindi and [[Standard Hindi]] is similar to the relation between [[Afrikaans]] and [[Dutch language|Dutch]]. Indian [[indenture]]d labourers were initially brought to Fiji mainly from districts of eastern [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Bihar]], [[North-West Frontier (military history)|North-West Frontier]] and [[South India]] such as from [[Andhra Pradesh|Andhra]] and [[Tamil Nadu]]. They spoke numerous, mainly Hindi, dialects and languages depending on their district of origin. English, a remnant of British colonial rule over the islands, was the sole official language until 1997 and is widely used in government, business and education as a [[lingua franca]]. {| class="wikitable" |- ! English | hello/hi | good morning | goodbye |- ! Fijian<ref>[http://www.fiji-faqs.com/index.cfm/bula/15/fijian-language.html Fijian Language] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100813233105/http://www.fiji-faqs.com/index.cfm/bula/15/fijian-language.html |date=13 August 2010 }}. Fiji-faqs.com. Retrieved 5 May 2013.</ref> | bula | yadra (pronounced yandra) | moce (pronounced mothe) |- ! Fiji Hindi | नमस्ते ([[Namaste]] in general)<br> राम राम (Ram Ram for Hindus)<br> {{nastaliq| السلام علیکم}} (As-salamu alaykum for Muslims) | सुप्रभात (suprabhat) | अलविदा (alavidā) |} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page