I vividly remember as a very junior kiap asking local people how long it would take the patrol to travel to its destination and being baffled by expressions like 'i long wei liklik', 'ino long wei', 'em i klostu', 'em i long wei liklik' and 'em i long wei tumas'. I wonder if it will cover the subtleties of things like how long it may take to go from one place to another? To use English as an analogy, it is more accurate to talk about the various dialects of English spoken across the world rather than regard it as one specific language.Ī speaker of Jamaican English would be barely comprehensible to a speaker of the English spoken in Glasgow, let alone that spoken in Buckingham Palace.Įnglish as a written language is considerably more codified than the spoken language although colloquialisms still find their way into it.īearing all this in mind, whatever version of Pidgin is taught by ANU, I would assume that the focus will be on understanding the basic grammar, such as where to put your bilongs (blo) and longs (lo), and developing a rudimentary grasp of pronunciation. The language has evolved to reflect local pronunciations and usages, rather like English has across the world.

I am aware that the Pidgin I learnt was that of 'taim bilong kiap' and so is necessarily an archaic version of the language. Joe Herman asks a very pertinent question to which I think there is no easy answer. They’ll also understand the culture and everyday life of PNG including work, travel, and family relationships.Īll in all, a great initiative and a well thought-through introductory program. They will also be able to communicate in speaking and writing Tok Pisin, using simple phrases and sentences to greet, give and understand instructions, and ask questions and provide answers about personal things and what they encounter in everyday life.

Upon successful completion of the one semester course, students will have the knowledge and skills to recognise and pronounce all Tok Pisin vowels and consonants with appropriate intonation and produce basic phrase and sentence structures to allow short conversations and the reading, writing, and translation of short basic texts. They will have also covered the main features of Tok Pisin grammar and will have a command of pronunciation. By the end of the course, students should have an active vocabulary of approximately 1,000 of the most frequently used and useful words in Tok Pisin.

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