Let's learn Tongan

I came across this video which is timely with ‘Aotearoa celebrating yet another Tongan language week. To add to Isoa’ great explanation, I want to bring some language and my own personal insight into how Tongans view this important concept.

In any types of faiva (artistry performances) the key objective is mālie which can be thought of as the Italian concept of bravo said of someone that has done something well.

‘Only something mālie would draw forth the feeling of māfana’

Adrienne L. Kaeppler

Underpinning loto-māfana ie the feeling of warmth is one of the four Golden pillars of what makes us Tongan: Tauhi vā (maintaning strong relations). As an oratory culture speech performances are an important part of all celebrations that is often aimed at evoking laughter and crying from the audience. I remember one occasion where my father urged the importance of keeping familial ties strong. He mentioned the word milimili sino which piqued my attention. Something familiar to Tongans growing up is the mothers rubbing coconut oil on babies and childrens hair and skin or coconut oil laden dancers.

“Oku māhu’inga e milimilisino’ ko e me’a ia ‘oku ma’u ai ‘a e māfana.”

– Siniholani

He coined the word friction in Tongan is like milimili sino. When you put your hands together and rub them you get friction and it is with that friction you get warmth. An important part of Tongan culture is milimili sino done before dancing the dancers get warmed up and ready to perform. If the performance which includes the singers performance langitu’a is done right there will be a feeling of māfana that will resonate from the performer.

‘ofa atu Hema

ʻOfa ke mou maʻu ha Kilisimasi fiefia mo homou siʻi ngaahi fāmili. Ko e kiʻi meʻaʻofa eni maʻamoutolu kau mātua’ ke kau aipē ki he teuteuʻi kilisimasi homou loto fale.

ʻOfa atu mei he sino ni ki he sino na.

Christmas greetings and a gift from me to you. Feel free to print and add to your Season decorations at home. I believe Our children can not be what they can not see. The more normal it is to be surrounded by our language at every occassion our children will gravitate towards it.

ʻOfa atu Hema

Mālō e lelei kaunga ako, siʻotoʻofa!

Hello fellow learners! I am always thinking of how i can engage my young learners not only to ignite in them a love of learning for our language but also give them an authentic learning experience.

This school term we are learning about clothes and Tongan clothes in particular tupenu, sote aloha, puletaha. I promised my students they would run a store somehow at the end of term and i am so excited our class will be hosting a Tongan clothes swap. This is a great idea given all the Tongan vala that we have lying around. Why not swap it pass it on to someone else to enjoy.

Koe lea ʻoe Uike’. The word of the week!

Greetings, our learning journey for this new year begins with a word of the week or more like my favourite word or a new word that iʻve come across. 

It is a Tongan greeting which you donʻt often hear as the more popular greeting of mālō e lelei. If you grew up in Tonga then you are probably familiar with the word but for most of us raised outside the kingdom this will interest you.

As with all new words you learn, you quickly become aware of the word around you. And the more i come across it, the more i love it. 

Reading one of the Maui legends in Tongan, Maui greets a lady on one of his epic journies with Siʻoto ʻofa fefine! Greetings Lady!

In the Tongan bible Angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:28) “the angel went to her and said siʻoto ʻofa you who are higly favoured, the lord is with you.” Note there is no mālō e lelei!.

Then on a recent post on facebook i noticed the same greeting on my grandfathers grave. The translation being ‘Dear greetings to you Rev. S Lemoto Tongilava beloved father’.

This greeting has now become a favourite of mine. It just seems more poetic than mālō e lelei so i will be using it more often.

Happy Learning, Tuʻa ʻofa atu Hema 👋🏽