The Languages of Vanuatu

Someone posted a comment on my Q & A blog about the French language in Vanuatu so I decided a good topic would be on languages in Vanuatu. Also, who are you that posted the comment?

Here the 2 official languages are French and English and the National Language is Bislama. Then there are over 100 local languages and with a population of about 200,000 that makes the most languages per person in any country in the world.

French and English are the official languages, meaning they are used for government purposes. These include school and some government offices, but I’d say mostly Bislama is used in government offices because it is the common language for everyone. When the French and British ran a Condominium government, they set up various schools throughout the country. So now the schools remain using the language in which they were founded. I’m not sure on the actual figures, but I’d say English is the language in probably two thirds and French in one third of the schools. With that being said, all of the students learn the other official language starting in 4th grade. It’s like a foreign language in the states where it is only taught a couple hours a week to begin with. So at the English schools they have a class called French and at French schools they have a class called Anglais. I think it is way too confusing for the students. Like the students in year 10 here are studying for their national exam in French, but they don’t even have a fluent grasp on English yet. So sometimes the questions will ask for them to translate something in French into English, but they just don’t know the English words.

In general, I find the students that went to French schools have a very good grasp of the language. They tend to use French when speaking to each other. However, at English schools the people are more reluctant to speak English and often just use Bislama.

Bislama is the national language and it began as a Pidjin English but has evolved to its own language. It has influence from French and English. Lots of things sound just like English but with an accent, but other words come from French like “Lafet” means party and comes from the French “La Fete” or “sora” means ear and comes from the French “Les oreils”. Then there are some words that were just created in Vanuatu like the names of plants and animals. Bislama is very simple to learn because there aren’t very many rules in the grammas and once you learn basic sentence structure, it comes quite naturally.

Local languages are very abundant with each island often having many different languages that are still in use today. The local language is a child’s first language, typically. Then they will learn Bislama by hearing visitors from other villages or islands speaking it as well as all national media. When they go to school, starting in 1st grade they will learn French or English and then in 4th grade they will start learning the other language. They have an amazing ability to learn languages. Also, oftentimes they know multiple local languages. Like if you get married and move to a different island, you will most likely learn that island’s local language because that is what all the people speak on a day to day basis.

In terms of the question about how French would help here, that would depend what you were doing. I for one don’t really ever use it. Sometimes I’ll read some French articles in the newspaper (the newspaper contains articles in the 3 main languages). Other times I’ll listen in on the French class, but I don’t really help in that at all because I’m sure the French teacher has a much better grasp on French than I do. I think if you were to come work at a French school, then obviously knowing French would be pretty important. Other than that, I guess French would be used in the tourism industry with tourists from France and New Caledonia (a French territory that neighbours Vanuatu).

Alright, well there’s a bit on languages in Vanuatu.

Everything here is progressing as usual. The flight schedule has now been changed again so we now have 2 flights a week instead of just one. Also we have a new plane coming here that we bought from China. It’s a big one – 16 seater- as opposed to the canoe or tin can that held about 8 people (if they didn’t have any bag). Also there’s talk going around that the Prime Minister is going to come to our island to visit, but the water was rough so the ship couldn’t run. Maybe next week. He would be coming just to do an official visit, but he actually comes from Futuna too so it is a pretty big deal.

In other news, I am craving salty French fries and mozzerella sticks with tomato sauce and maybe also some pizza. Do you think Dominoes would deliver?