Tristan da Cunha

The Language

Although all Cunhanians can speak good English (at school, half of their classes are taught in English to encourage global awareness and bilingualism),  most families prefer to speak their native language, Cunhan, at home, and to friends,neighbours, and they overjoy in seeing their language being spoken by tourists. Being able to speak even a few phrases of Cunhan will earn tourists great respect wherever they visit on the island. Language is a very important value in Cunhan society, so we would greatly appreciate travellers' efforts to learn our customs and ways.

Here are a few key phrases and words (in standardised Cunhan):

Hello - κιμβια - pronounced kim-bee-ah

Goodbye - αιδνακε - pronounced aid-nay-k

Hi-bye (to say when passing someone, but not stopping for a chat) - τυfεδωα - pronounced too-fed-wah

How are you? - ωοηυ ραε μαι? - pronounced wor-hoo ray my

I am well, thank you - ψοκυλ, ηυλα μαθι - pronounced yo-kool (thanks), hoo-lah mah-kee

I am not so well, thank you - ψοκυλ, ηυλα μασι - pronounced yo-kool, hoo-lah mah-see

What is your name? - κιενγ ραερ μασνε μαι? - kee-eng ray-er mass-er-nay my

My name is... - ηυλα ηυλλα μασνε... - hoo-lah hoo-lah mass-er-nay...

Where is the bathroom? - σωυαψγυα σαν? - s-why-gwar san

The bathroom is over there - σωυαψγυα νασ - s-why-gwar nas

Somehow, although all states warred with each other for hundreds of years, there has not been too much differentiation in dialects between cities, villages and states. The only notable difference is pronunciation of certain words, e.g. the Cunhan for goodbye, αιδνακε, has much debate surrounding it. Patriaens will tell you it is pronounced 'eyed-niy-k', while the other states pronounce it as 'aid-nay-k'. αιδνακε has been standardised to Willocia's, Callumbias' and Wisteria's pronunciations for political and correspondence reasons, however, Patriaens have not ceased to pronounce it their way; pronouncing it 'eyed-niy-k' is the mark of a Cunhanian from Patriae.

The alphabet used in Tristan da Cunha for the language of Cunhan is almost identical to the Greek one, using Greek ({} stand for letters that are not in the Greek alphabet): α β χ δ ε {} γ η ι φ κ λ μ ν ο π θ ρ σ τ υ {} ω ξ ψ ζ

The 1st {} letter is: f

The 2nd {} letter is: v

Ancient Cunhan letters bore resemblance to Greek letters, so, when explorers finally landed in Tristan da Cunha, they recognised this and introduced some of the Greek alphabet, as well as new letters. It is not known if they bore resemblance to the Greek alphabet coincidentally, or if, in the BCE era, Ancient Greek explorers found a passage by way of the sea to Tristan da Cunha, and introduced it then. However, unlike Greek, there are no capitals and Cunhanians have a unique way of writing their numbers. The alphabet was organised with reference to the order of the English alphabet, matching 'equivalent' or 'similar' letters (with similar sounds) in Cunhan to the matching letters of English.

It is believed that approximately 900 people are native speakers of Cunhan. These are the people who speak it at home, as their first language. The other residents of Tristan da Cunha speak it at home, but as a second language, and then build on that at school. At school, children are taught to read, write and the grammar skills that are important for their education and understanding. All Cunhanians can speak at least two languages, Cunhan and English. However, many are able to speak many more languages, and German, French, Latin, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian and Hindi are able to be learnt as well. If any translations are needed by tourists, please contact the Customer Relations department in the tourist office, (11 Quallace Road, Queen Mary's Peak, 1000, Tristan da Cunha) for more information.

The Medical Treatments

There are many treatments that are given to different types of illnesses, diseases and medical problems.

The Emblems

In Tristan da Cunha and each respective state, there are many traditions and festivals celebrated, both in keeping with the past and the present.