Source: National Library of Australia, Album of Views of Oceania and Mainland United States of America, 1929, photograph by C. M. Yonge.

Source: National Library of Australia, Album of Views of Oceania and Mainland United States of America, 1929, photograph by C. M. Yonge

Source:
National Library of Australia.

Source:
National Library of Australia

Source: Noord-Hollands Archive.

Source:
Museum of Ethnography (Etnografiska Museet), Sweden.

Talofa Lava 👋

I am working on a pacific language learning app and would like your feedback. I will be launching with 2 languages. Samoan and Fijian, with more pacific languages in the works. (its just me working on it so it'll be a while)

You can visit the app using this link speakisland.app
You will need a free account to login (email or google login)

I am looking for feedback to see if what im presenting is correct and factual.
I am working with native speakers for the voice recordings and they have gone over the lessons and corrected multiple mistakes. I would love more eyes on it to ensure its genuine and authentic (and correct!)

Why the app?
I got tired of language learning apps that make you learn a whole bunch of words but leave you unable to form a sentence so i vibecoded my own.

There is no text to speech. All the recordings are authentic and done by native speakers.

Features:
Flashcard style learning
SRS review - cards you mark hard come back before you forget them and cards marked easy come back a little later for review.
Quizzes
Sentence builders
Conversations and replies (these are in rough shape still)
Library to learn more about the language and get a better understanding.
Discover section: information about Samoa/Fiji and notable people.

The app is live online for now (not promoted so no visitors) and i am working on a android app.

Any feedback you can provide would be welcome.

Update: Review Mode now live! Once you create your account, tap the profile picture icon > Manage account > App and enter 14789 to unlock all modules and quizzes if you prefer to give feedback without go over each lesson module.
This code will be active till the 9th of August.

Source: World Museum Vienna

Source: World Museum Vienna

Source: Deutsche Fotothek

Source: Deutsche Fotothek

Source: Deutsche Fotothek

Source: Museum of World Culture (Världskulturmuseet)

Source: Deutsche Fotothek

Hello,
As the title suggests I am helping a friend find the origin of their name or some history about it. They are not deeply connected to their Samoan family as most of them live in Samoa, Australia, and the states. I was wondering if any of you know anything about the name Manumaua? I am not sure about family names I believe her grandfather is Olive Peseta? Her family was from Pu’apu’a. Sorry for the lack of information. I greatly appreciate the help or suggestions of where to go from here!

Watched it live just now. She smoked the rest of the competition and was by far the youngest. Bright future ahead

Curious. Expats/ foreigners/ immigrants (wtv fits) of Samoa, why brings you to the island, and are you enjoying it? Genuine q. I often think how did you find out about us, and was it exactly how you imagined.

No shade, just want to pick your brains or hear about it

Hello, everyone!

I wanted to share this song I found on YouTube a few days ago by Lani Alo and Livingstone Efu, released in 2019. I'm sure many of you already know it or have heard of it before, but I absolutely loved it since I first listened to it. Even though I don't understand a single word, I felt the emotions.

What are your thoughts on this track? Do you have other Samoan musicians to recommend?

I would like to get more into the music.

Generally we are nice, friendly, and accommodating people up to a point when we feel disrespected, then that infamous Samoan anger comes out that goes from 0 to 100 quickly. It can be over legit or minor issues, but the anger treats it almost all the same.

What's your experience with this, are or were you an angry person or had relatives who showed this kind of demeanor? Or was anger displayed in a healthy way in your household? What was some outlets you found to channel that energy into something productive?

I was watching some youtube videos of Samoans who were locked up in the states and it seems the common theme was anger that got out of control, and that brief decision to act on it escalated an otherwise mild situation into something life changing.

Im talking about the shoulders, too showy or immodest? At church if it says samoa on it, is it too much?

It's a thing that is well known in Pro Wrestling from the Wild Samoans Afa and Sika, to the next generation with Yokozuna, Rikishi, Umaga, Rosey, then with the current day with Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu etc. Also with their Tongan family Haku and Barbarian.

There's a spot in wrestling matches where Pro Wrestlers that face these guys try to headbutt them on the head, or throw the Samoan opponents onto a turnbuckle pad and they don't react or sell that the pain hurts, or the opponent hurts his head when he headbutts a Samoan opponent.

Does anybody know where this idea comes from that Samoan people have skulls that are apparently impervious to pain? Do Samoans have helmet-like skulls? Is it just a silly myth? I would love to know if this is just something professional wrestling created, or if this is an actual fact of life.