The pride of one's self is the mother language and no matter how fluent you are in other languages but if you can't speak your mother tongue, maumau le olaga.

I was born and live overseas but have been to Samoa many times with mum and dad or just me. Overseas many of my friends when I spoke to infront of palagis often whispered to me in response then I end up shouting back e aua le musumusu ma fefe fua i le palagi ae makua leo kele mai.

Some found it embarrasing when I speak Samoan infront of palagis but I am so proud to show my true colour ae makua kuu i lau ee fa'aSamoa.

How encouraging the outcome of the research and it is now up to the education system in Samoa to implement the result iga ia maukigoa e fa'amalosia le gagaga Samoa ia avea ai pea le kakou gagaga ma mikamikaga mo le Samoa.

Well think about Russia, France, China etc etc whose leaders are bound to improvise their mother tongue at all times whether with in or overseas with other world leaders in a tandem media conference they speak their own languages with interpreters taking the link in between.

Except, our PM and other of our leaders they always converse in English when attending foreign visits instead of fa'aSamoa lakou ae fa'aIgilisi fa'amakalaupu ... just no pride being Samoan speakers.

As per research, I'm no female so here's one male who assumed to have been a speaker and writer of the foreign language

This is a subject that has been of interest to me for a long time and it is interesting what the statistics bear out which is absolutely nothing...the debate will alway carry on.

All sides have valid points to make but we must not forget English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and to ignore that would be to the detriment of our country and future generations.

It is the language of commerce for most of the countries that we deal with ie.. Australia and New Zealand.

Yes, we must always be proud of our Language but we must also understand the limitations that it presents when we start to ignore the English language.

We have Professors at the National University and I know for a fact that they would rather be proficient in both English and Samoan then in Samoan only. They also know that at the very essences of the English language and its very core you will discover that it Samoan and English are very similar.

Improvement in the use of both is still important, ignoring one would be to our and our future generations detriment...


Nothing is always as it seems....

I was born and brought up in Samoa. I came to NZ when I was 17 years of age. Since then the whole of my education was in English and luckly I still retain and can still speak fluent Samoan. I feel that it is great to retain my Samoan language however I find that reading material for University type literature it is a lot easier to understand in English. Some medical words can be very hard to translate into Samoa so therefore to have an understanding of the English language can make learning of these subject a lot easier. I am proud to speak my Samoan language anywhere I can I also do it with my children as well. Tofa Soifua, Manuia le aso.

This is a very interesting study. However, which island was this survey conducted? Was it done in both Samoa and American Samoa? That would be interesting. I wonder how Samoan students in Tutuila feel about learning English versus their primary language.

This type of study is up for discussion and debate. I do how Samoan students feel about learning or relearning the Samoan language in a mainstream culture such as the USA, New Zealand and Australia. The real question to ask is whether the "YES" group would prefer to be bilingual (Samoan and English) or monolingual. Bilingual education has been a hot topic in education for many years and will continue to be so.

My concern is that way too many Samoan students raised in foreign countries (USA, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, etc.) have abandoned the use of their primary language (Samoan). They believe that by abandoning their Samoan language it makes them more "white" or more educated. What a false concept. What's worse is that parents promote this type of thinking without realizing future consequences such as identity loss, confusion, loss of primary language, low self-confidence, etc. Additionally, too many parents (I'm generalizing here but I'm sure there are exceptions to this) who try to speak to their children in English. Sometimes the parents' English is what we call "papagu" and students pick up on this speech. Then when they attend school, teachers have a difficult time to reteach basic concepts and correct the broken English learned at home... the best solution is to speak to your children in the Samoan language. This problem isn't unique to Samoans, it's very common with other English languager learners such as Hispanics, Filipinos, Vietnamese, etc.

I'm always very proud of my heritage and what it stands for. I admire those of us who promote the use of our language. There is no shame in speaking two languages. In fact, most employers pay extra for employees that are bilingual.

Keep up the good work. Hope to hear what you think about this. Send me an email on your thoughts... I'm currently doing some research on the progress of Samoan students here in the United States... and so far, it doesn't look good.

I want to cut in on this. I also was born in Upolu. My parents brought me and fmaily to the States at the age of 9. I didn't speak Eanglish..but learned as I go. My brothers and sisiters picked up English and began to speak to each other with it. That was 1979 when we left Samoa and now, 2008, my brothers and sisters still speak english to each other when conversing. I, refuse to speak to my brothers and sisters in english, my reasons behind it..I was not raised in English and my family are begining to lose their native tongue. When my sisters and some brothers talk in Samoan, I can tell they're losing it. I yelled at my sisiter once, because when she spoke in Samoan, she was really bad, I felt she could speak it better but she was to lazy and didn't care about her language. My sisters and brothers do not pronounce words right. They're not trying to lose it, its because they not using it. Even in writing I still do it in Samoan to them.

Now, as for my kids, its a little difficult. I decided to put it to a test and speak both. Its tough in Kindergarden but it gets better. My daughter (12), is the doing very well, top of her class and speaks both.

As far as prefference in Samoa. I think our native tongue should be first, English second. English is ofcourse very important, is the language of the world, learn it or stay put in Samoa because you will not get anywhere without it. Allow students to choose it as a course in school. I bet they'll all take it. You're all correct. Sane, you're awesome. Good take bro. Don't have your e-mail.

E iloa oe ma lou faasinomaga o lau Gagana faatasi ai ma au tu ma aga! O le Gagana Samoa foi lea o loo "Tasi" ai Samoa! E le pei o le tele o nisi motu o le pasefika! E tele gagana ma e aliali ai foi le le tasi o ia atunuu! E mou lou Faasinomaga pe afai ua amata ona mou ese atu lau Gagana! Uu mau lau ganaga e iloa gofie ai lou tagata! Gagana Faaperetania aua le manatu mama i ai aua o le gagana o le lumanai ma le malamalama lautele i soo se itu o le lalolagi!

Faamalosi i le tupulaga e aoao le gagana faaperetania e te mafai ai ona lautele lou tomai, lautele lau vaai ma loloto lou malamalama ma lau tofamamao i tua atu o lou siosiomaga - SAMOA! Fautuaga, aua le matamuli e tautala i lau oe lava gagana i ou lava tagata - ae maise atunuu i fafo.

O lo'u malamalama foi i ai, a le lelei ma atoaatoa lau Gagana Samoa e faapena foi i lau gagana faaperetania e le atoaatoa foi. Ia lelei ona aoaoina le Gagana Samoa i aoga ona faapena foi lea ona lelei ma malamalama le aoaoina o le gagana faaperetania! O le luitau mo tupulaga samoa aua nei augata ma paie e aoao le gagana faaperetania (English) it is a MUST i tupulga Samoa ona malamalama i le Gagana Faaperetania!

O la'u toe foi atu i Samoa ua ou faalogo i le tautatala a tamati i le faasamoa ua tele ina le sa'o atoaatoa le faaaogaina o le gagana, ae ua le mafai ona faasa'oina i le faleaoga. Ma ua amata ona tautatala ai le lautele o tagata matutua. O se faanoanoaga tele lea i le gagana samoa ua i ai nei. eg. "O le mea faapea lea".

Iloa o gagana e 2 "BILINGUAL" o se mea sili lea ma le taua! Luitau le tupulaga Samoa ina ia su'e pea suega i le Gagana Faaperetania se i vagana ai le Gagana Samoa lava ia e faasamoa! O le luitau foi lea i faiaoga samoa ina ia lava aoaoina i gagana uma e 2 - Gagana Samoa & Faaperetania.

A le faaaogaina loa le Gagana Samoa i suega, o lona uiga o le a faapalapala foi faiaoga Samoa i le aoaoina o le gagana Faaperetania, ma le maua ai e tupulaga samoa le tomai ma le oa i le gagana faaperetania...o le faitotoa lea o le lumanai o tupulaga Samoa mo Samoa lava ia!!!

O tatou o loo i nonofo i atunuu i fafo, ia tatou taumafai e tautatala pea i la tatou gagana i le fale ma o tatou aiga faapea foi tatou Samoan Community pe a tatou faatasitasi!

Mo e nonofo i nisi atunuu e leai ni Samoa, at least pe iai sau tusi paia samoa, ona pau lena o le tusi samoa e matua "fluent" lelei atoatoa ai lau faaasamoa. E mafai lava ona a'o ai lau faasamoa i lou lava fale! Faafetai lava!