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.
Journal 12/25/1987 P1 Back in the ‘Nick’ of timeAir Marshall Islands HS 748 plane arrived in the Marshalls last Friday, just in time for the heavy load of the Christmas season. Government officials joined AMI staff for an inspection tour of the 748 and a reception markings its return after checks and servicing in New […]
For the first time, the annual Christmas lighting hosted by Mejerik Club was at the Jeṇrōk track and field last week. Multitudes of onlookers flooded the area eager to witness the illumination of the Christmas lights. Christmas carols were sung by Majuro Baptist Christian Academy and Marshall Islands High School. Midway the program, rain came […]
As the World Aquatics Swimming Championships reached its busiest day for Pacific island swimmers last Saturday in Budapest, Hungary, Jaya Corder represented the Marshall Islands with pride in the men’s 50m freestyle event. Competing in a short course 25m pool, Jaya made the most of the moment, achieving a personal best and enjoying the incredible […]
HILARY HOSIA Waylon Muller and Damien Jacklick retained their top roles for the Marshall Islands Wrestling Federation following an election Tuesday at Aliang Restaurant in Uliga. Waylon was re-elected President with Damien as Vice President. The other person to retain his role as Secretary was Carthney Laukon. The Federation welcomed new member John Peralta for […]
SHERMAN HOGUE* Students at US Army Garrison–Kwajalein Atoll were chosen by NASA to conduct a down-link from the International Space Station to have questions answered by NASA Astronaut, US Space Force Col. Nick Hague and Flight Commander, Astronaut Sunita Williams. Students, staff and family enjoyed watching the crew flip in zero gravity as they answered […]
