Ambai wagai enduwas & other Simbu phrases
19 June 2011
BY PETER KRANZ
MY WIFE Rose speaks excellent Kuman and Tok Pisin (natch!) and pretty good English. I speak middling Tok Pisin and even less Kuman. My English is passable.
I've been trying to nail down the translation of some Kuman words. Maybe PNG Attitude contributors can help. Here are a few -
Beans = pinga
Bird = kua
Brother = angra
Chicken = kondwagee
Dog = argh (puppy)
Greens = ambwa or mogwana
I don't like = kinde kaninga
Large bird with the black tail feathers - kua sine mige
Love= kaninga
My wife = embanum mockwa
Naughty bits - tratna
Pandanus = komba
Pig = bugha
Pumpkin = olghwa
Sister = ambai
Sweet potato = kaya
Water = nigl cor
Wife = mockwa
What I have learned is that much Simbu pronunciation cannot be easily translated into English, e.g., the 'ng' sound, or the 'gl'. These are double-consonant africatives or plosives.
Well that's your language lesson for today.
Editor’s note: From the mists of my distant past emerges wagai (beautiful), endawas (come here) and endapas (go away). But it was a long time ago and my memory may be as bad as my spelling - KJ
As a young Simbuan, I found it very helpful when I came across this post about the Kuman-English Dictionary.
I surely know that, when reading the dictionary, it will help me communicate and write fluently and effectively in my Kuman language by knowing and maintaining my identity.
Posted by: Jonathan Apa | 13 November 2024 at 02:01 PM
Many thanks, Philip, for that information.
I've written to SIL to see if they can help, either with information about the availability of copies, or with contacts for the Pfantz's.
The single copy on Amazon is an advert for a secondhand copy from Masalai Press. It is ridiculously priced - for a 74 page booklet - at US$49.99 + US$24.95 postage (= Australian $95 or PNG Kina 255)!
Most SIL dictionaries of PNG languages are freely available or accessible on the web- see https://pnglanguages.sil.org/resources/search/availability/1?sort_order=DESC&sort_by=field_reap_sortdate
Wagai.
Posted by: Robin Hide | 01 April 2021 at 09:49 AM
Robin - Andewer wakai, wei ( good night). Ene kor motne mo ugl pane (you still awake or are you asleep).
I assisted Daryl Pfantz of Summer Institute of Linguistics in translate the Bible into the Kuman language many years ago because of my knowledge of theology and being a Kuman speaker.
In that period we worked on the Kuman Dictionary independently of Fr John Nilles' Kuman Dictionary.
Myself and Komba Rufinus, another translator, were involved. We got some copies but I don't have mine now. However, the publisher is SIL. It was printed by Amazon in a 'preliminary edition in paperback of 74 pages dated 1 January 2002 (sold in paperback for $49.99).
ISBN-10 : 9980027215
ISBN-13 : 978-9980027214
I don't know if this will help you but you can search yourself and perhaps order them from Amazon. I am now into something else, and forgot about it.
Posted by: Philip Kai Morre | 29 March 2021 at 10:17 PM
Philip, Back in June last year (2020), you noted in your comment that:
"Lutherans and Catholics and recently the New Tribes mission did some work on the Kuman language. Darryl and Mary Pfantz of Summer Institute of Linguistics in consultation with Philip Kai Morre and Komba Rufinus wrote another English dictionary in 2004."
Do you have any more information about that dictionary, please? Was it a revision of Fr Nilles earlier Kuman dictionary? Was it published? Are copies available?
I've looked in the usual linguistic sources, SIL, GLOTTOLOG, and OLAC, but cannot find any mention of a Pfantz et al Kuman dictionary.
Grateful for any information about its availability.
Posted by: Robin Hide | 29 March 2021 at 07:41 AM
Peter Kranz, very interesting that you and former kiaps, teachers and workers in Simbu can write, speak and understand Kuman.
Most of the early Catholic and Lutheran missionaries could speak fluent Kuman and other dialects. Fr John Nilles wrote the Kuman-English dictionary many years ago.
Lutherans and Catholics and recently the New Tribes mission did some work on the Kuman language. Darryl and Mary Pfantz of Summer Institute of Linguistics in consultation with Philip Kai Morre and Komba Rufinus wrote another English dictionary in 2004.
We completed the new testament Kuman bible translation now in use. I did the final check as a Kuman speaker and with my knowledge of biblical theology. The Kuman-English dictionary was published by Amazon in America. You can access online but it's quite expensive.
Posted by: Philip Kai Morre | 04 June 2020 at 10:08 PM
When I was head teacher at Gon (Kundiawa) Primary (T) School in 1960/61, I was the scout master for our school's boy scout troop. My scout's name was 'baundo' which I was told meant 'red or orange bird of paradise in Kuman.
Can anybody help with this. Is this the word for the bird? How do you spell it in English?
It seems such a long time ago but I have very fond memories of the Simbu as I met my wife (Ruth) of 58 years there.
She was the teacher at Ega Lutheran Mission and we could see each other's school across the valley.
Posted by: David Craig | 04 June 2020 at 05:13 PM
Can someone help me with Kuman numbers?
So far I've got
1. suwara
2. suwo
3. suwato
Then on it just seems to be multiples of 1 or 2 - eg. suwara suwara, suwato suwo etc.
Sherlock Holmes is stuffed if we can't count to fifteen as there are 15 episodes in the sereis about to start..
Rose has just said 'trac guwag guwag' (which I think means bugger off in Kuman, the language of the great Simbu people).
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 02 December 2013 at 05:58 PM
end uno
you've come
na winga
I've come
kata pamo mo yogo une
have you come for nothing (just to visit)
na kaia mogona top eremera enalkwa
I've come to buy vegetables
ana pra
good
Posted by: Chris Horgan | 20 June 2012 at 09:07 PM
Peter - I lived in the Kangere Valley, the village of Dialke Atne for a couple of years in the late 70's.
Some of the most important memories of my life are of my time living amongst the Kuman people with my wife and 2 small kids.
I had Fr Nilles dictionary, and regret that I left it in PNG. I find myself consumed with nostalgia for those day when the world was fairly simple and my wife's avocado tree was producing softball sized fruit that only she would eat.
I remember the feeling of family and home we experienced amongst people many of whom saw a white person for the first time when they came to our place.
The Kuman is the centre of the PNG universe.
Posted by: Chris Horgan | 20 June 2012 at 09:02 PM
Ooh, learnt something new today. Kombe nigla = belly button! Probably not in most dictionaries.
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 30 October 2011 at 03:12 PM
Sil - Thanks! Sums it up pretty well.
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 03 October 2011 at 03:44 PM
Peter, 'digan' simple means wayward or disobedient.
In Pidgin we say 'no save harim toktok na behainim'.
Posted by: Kela Kapkora Sil Bolkin | 03 October 2011 at 03:30 PM
What does dingan mean?
My wife sometimes calls me dingan man - usually when she is angry.
I don't think it's nice.
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 02 October 2011 at 06:20 PM
May I be forgiven a brief moment of ribald PNG humour?
Sometimes when we are having fun, I tickle my wife under the ribs (yes I know - too much info). She cries out "Stap isi! Yu nokan ginny ginny mi!
My reply - "Why not? You are a meri from Papua New ginny-ginny!"
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 12 September 2011 at 01:16 PM
Congratulations! Well said. Just some minor corrections and additions:
sister = ambara
girl = ambai
boy = kumugl
man = yagl
woman = amb
young girl = ambai mor
young boy = kumugl barigl / mor
old woman = amb kindagl
old man = yagl kindagl
chicken = kondwage
greens = Mogna
See = kaninga
I see = na kaninga
love = No real definition in Kuman. You can use 'na wakai kaninga' which translates as 'I love it' or 'I like it'. Talk to Rose
I love you = ene wakai kaninga
naughty bits = can't think of a better one for this
my dick - tratna
pandanus = amugl
red pandanus = komba
pig = bugla
pumpkin = orowa
pumpkin head = orowa bre
water = nigl
cold water = nigl kor
wife = embina
my wife = na embina
Posted by: Peter Apa | 23 June 2011 at 12:47 PM
I feel sad that there are many beautiful languages in the world - especially in PNG - that are in danger of being lost as there are so few speakers left.
Luckily Kuman has a few hundred thousand speakers, but other PNG languages fare less well. In Madang Province in particular there are languages not known outside a few villages, and for which there are only a few dozen speakers.
A language does not only mean a direct description of things which can be translated - but also represents unique culture, tradition, spiritual knowledege, poetry and collective memory.
It is Art as well as Facts.
Maybe I'm a romantic, but the loss of a language is a loss to our experience of the world and a loss to humanity as a whole.
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 20 June 2011 at 02:45 PM
Good on you, Bernard. Good luck to you. I am also like you starting out late and doing the same with my dad's Rigo dialect.
While I can hear it well I still cannot speak it with any degree of fluency. Hopefully I will one day when I am a bit old and grey.
Posted by: Reginald Renagi | 20 June 2011 at 08:35 AM
Peter - For green leafy vegetables or greens = mogna. When talking about food they use the phrase 'kaya mogna'. Check with Rose to confirm.
Even though, I have lived in Simbu all my life my Kuman is very poor.
I guess living in Kundiawa town and growing up in a household that used Pidgin and English frequently are contributing factors that made me ignore learning the Kuman language.
Currently, I am learning mandarin Chinese. The funny thing is my Chinese is a bit better than my Kuman.
I kind of developed a passion for learning languages over the last two years.
In a couple of weeks I will be returning home to Kundiawa, am planing to learn both the Waghi and the Kuman languages.It's a bit late but I will try my best.
Posted by: Bernard Yegiora | 19 June 2011 at 01:22 PM
Peter - I have in my collection The Kuman -English Dictionary by the late Fr J Nilles SVD (Dip Anth).
This is some 300 hundred pages and Fr Nilles' preface reads: "This dictionary has been prepared and compiled for English scholars.
"My intention was not to give only the verbal translation of words, expressions, concepts and idioms, etc of the Kuman language into English, but also an explanation of words and concepts and their functional implications regarding the cultural structure of the Kuman people."
You may borrow it for copying.
Posted by: Terry Shelley | 19 June 2011 at 08:55 AM