Smithy Briand at the helm of the yacht Seal. Photo: Karen Earnshaw
After living in the Marshalls off and on for 15 years, the number of Marshallese words and phrases I know and use are pathetically few. ‘Hello’, ‘how are you?’,’ see you tomorrow’ and ‘can I have another glass of white wine’ are about the limit. This is for four reasons: I’m lousy at learning new languages; I’ve spent little time working at it; the language bears little resemblance to anything my ear has ever heard; you can almost always find someone who can understand English. That said, most volunteer teachers who fly off to an outer island come back for the Christmas break four months later fluent in Marshallese (damn it). But, like many cultures, ri-Majol (Marshallese people) love it if you at least try to wrap your mouth around their language, so below are a few words and phrases to get you going. The voice you will hear belongs to former Majuro Hospital employee Smithy Briand, who was happily ‘kidnapped’ from the Marshall Islands by Australian volunteer Virginia and now lives in New South Wales.
Christmas time is underway in the Marshall Islands. Stores are playing Christmas music, V7AB is playing holiday tunes, and decorations are going up all around town. So far, Majuro Atoll Local Government has the most impressive display of lights. Meantime, last week Ministry of Works employees were out adorning the street lights along Amata Kabua […]
The COP29 global climate summit in Azerbaijan features a large delegation from the Marshall Islands, including a significant contingent of young people. They have been speaking on different subject panels, networking with donors and people from other countries, and representing the Marshall Islands in its outreach program at COP29.
The new tax law that was approved recently by Nitijela will not go into force for at least four-to-five months from now. Although Public Law 2024-14 Income Tax Amendment was signed and certified by Speaker Brenson Wase and Clerk Moreañ Watak on October 8, the tax change that affects withholding tax isn’t likely to take […]
The World Bank will pump $60 million into the Marshalls Energy Company for a mix of alternative energy systems for Majuro, Ebeye and six outer islands where MEC supports power operations. There is no funding in the new grant for new diesel-powered generators. The goal appears to be to provide MEC with solar power capacity […]
Journal 11/20/1987 P1 Majuro five still aliveMajuro’s five incumbents head the list of vote getters in the final but unofficial vote count for all Mauro election wards. The unofficial results showed President Amata Kabua at the top, Hemos Jack was second, while Phillip Muller and Tony deBrum were a close third and fourth. Henry Samuel […]
