Sāmoan Language Resources

Soʻo le fau i le fau
Literal Translation: Join the hibiscus fibre to hibiscus fibre
Proverbial Meaning: Unity is strength.

Version: January 22, 2014

The following is a compilation of information for helping those interested in learning Sāmoan. There are other resources available. This list constitutes information that I have found to be most useful. If you know of better ones, feel free to let me know.

Start Here:

Gagana Samoa: A Samoan Language Coursebook (now also available electronically on Google)

Audio samples for Gagana Samoa

A Samoan Dictionary by George Pratt - Google eBook
iPhone Samoan Dictionary by Nikle LLC.

Other Books

Samoan Dictionary by G. B. Milner. This book is easy to buy from Wheelers in New Zealand. They will ship to the U.S.
Tusiʻupu Sāmoa by Papaāli`i Dr Semisi Ma`ia`i. This book is a relatively new book and is primarily printed by Little Island Press. Wheelers carries them but in low stock, so recommend ordering from Little Island Press direct. This is definitely a must-have.

Download these documents

Peace Corp Samoan Language Handbook
John Mayer's Samoan Language Program Guide - Start at Page 74
Document from Samoan Language Week in New Zealand
Flashcards for learning Samoan - contains flash cards but unfortunately no audio samples. These can be viewed with Mental Case.

Useful Video Lessons

Audio Files

There are very few audio resources available. Neither Pimsleur nor Rosetta provide language training for Samoan. These are pretty much the only two well compiled sets:

Samoan audio recordings created Samoan Peace Corps office's language training staff.
Audio samples from Gagana Samoa (same as above).
Digital Dialects - by Craig Gibson- contains text plus audio segments and interactive quiz game.

There is also a Samoan Language 101 course on saolelei.com. The audio samples seem pretty good but I have no idea what you get for the $99 per year fee.

Other Reference Materials

A Samoan Dictionary by George Pratt - Google eBook
Online Samoan Dictionary by Michael Billington - this is one of the best I've seen.
Learn Samoan - lets you jog your memory fast.
iPhone Samoan Dictionary by Nikle LLC.
Samoan language software for MS Office, Adobe Products as well as other translation/proofreading software including Samoan language module for Skype.
University of Hawaii at Manoa and Brigham Young University - pretty much the only two places in the US to get formal Samoan language training, other than the Peace Corp. Otherwise you'll have to try your luck in Samoan churches (e.g. in Carson- California, Salt Lake City- Utah, Auckland- New Zealand).

Learn About Samoan Culture

Samoa Sensation - relatively good site for general information about Samoa- though the web interface could use a lot of work.
Matt's Samoa Blog - a truly excellent blog about Samoan culture that is not in the travel guides.
Current News from Samoa
Samoa World Forum - Good way to learn about the culture and slang which tends to further confuse attempts to learn the language.
OneSamoana Forum
Samoan Legends - Attempts to document legends as a means to help you practice learning the language.

Radio Stations

A good way to gain more exposure is by listening to native speakers. They will speak way too fast, but gradually you'll start to pick up the words as you learn more of the language. It will also help you get a handle on how to pronounce words.

Awesome Samoan Songs

Songs will also help you wrap your tongue around pronuncation of words and keep you motivated. Also the songs are usually sung slower than how words are spoken on the radio giving you an opportunity to slowly translate. Lyrics are also typically available online to give you another opportunity to practice translating. Unfortunately few songs are translated into English.

E Lē Galo Oe - Vaniah Toloa
Uso Song - Alo Key (lyrics, translation and ukulele chords)
Ua E Manumalo - Peace Chapel
Samoa Matalasi - Jamoa Jam, also Corina Chang (Peace Corp volunteer)'s version.

Food

Another way to learn more vocabulary is to eat Samoan food.
Here are a few restaurants in California and O`ahu:

Samoana Market and Bakery - 6082 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90805
Oloa Samoa - 1906 Oceanside Blvd, Oceanside, CA 92054
Poly Grill and Bakery - 1329 East Carson Street Carson, CA 90745‎
Jin's Market - 2161B N School St, Honolulu, HI 96819
Tammy's Polynesian Market - 94-839 Farrington Hwy, Ste 101, Waipahu, HI 96797

Avoid

Samoan Educator Disks - Dated and difficult to use software. (web link no longer exists).

Some Tips As You Learn

Start by learning how to pronounce the letters. Be patient with this and get it right or else everything else afterwards will get screwed up. Even if you are just pronouncing words without knowing their meaning- just practice having them roll off your tongue correctly.
Since there are only 14 letters in the alphabet (5 vowels, 9 consonants) you will often find words with lots of vowels, which adds a bit more of a challenge when learning vocabulary.
You will learn faster if you feed your brain simultaneously in 3 ways: reading the text, saying the words out loud, and writing it down. Do not substitute hand writing for typing on a computer. It is not equivalent- which is one of the main failings of the Samoan Educator Disks listed above in the Avoid section.
Also as you become more experienced you will often find it's easier to translate from samoan text to english text rather than english to samoan. So really proof of whether you really know the language is to be able to easily do english to samoan translation.
Samoan is a context language. That means where a word is used can affect its meaning. Therefore dictionary entries will often have several seemingly unrelated meanings for any given word.
Often on the Internet native speakers will leave off symbols when writing words, like macrons (the dash above a vowel such as the one above the a in Sāmoa) or the reverse quote symbol (called a glottal stop in the word faʻamolemole). Leaving the symbols out can change the meaning of the word and can also be a source of confusion for beginning learners. For example: tama means boy, but tamā means father. loʻu means my, lou means your.
Learn some basic pronouns relatively early (e.g. I, you, he/she, we, they) since so many conversations you typically hear (especially on radio or in songs revolve around people). However samoan pronouns are a more of a challenge to learn because they have the notion of inclusive vs exclusive forms, as well as singular and plural forms. You will learn those in detail from the Gagana Samoa book mentioned above.