03-17-2014, 10:11 AM
It will vary, person to person, IMO. You sound like the kind of person that assimilates well - but don't force it. You will naturally pick up the inflection of the local cadence on the BI once you've been here a few months.
I can't help but shift my cadence when speaking to someone with a local accent, it just happens....tacking on "yeah?" at the end of sentences, saying things like "how you?" or "howzit?". Not intentional, but my pidgin doesn't go beyond that. And I'd feel ridiculous if it did - it's not my heritage. Pidgin is not a sign of ignorance, rather, it is the language of home, community, & one that indicates "I'm from here."
(Everyone, however, tends to sprinkle Hawaiian words into their vocabulary..."this food is so ono", "head mauka to get to the market", "Make pono (make it right)", etc. You'll pick those common words up in a short amount of time.)
Understanding rather than speaking pidgin is probably more helpful, and is something that happens with a little time..it's an immersion thing. Unlike a heavy patois, I've noticed a lot of people tend to turn it on and off: a local friend of mine (we shared an office) would speak pidgin thick and heavy with her local friends, mostly when joking around, or if joking around with her super-local husband. However, she spoke with a very non-specific accent most of the time - she was also the secretary & outreach person for our organization. Pretty typical. I ran into more people that spoke pidgin all the time (including a couple haoles) in more rural parts of Ka'u...haoles having been born and raised in the area.
Personal experience, since you're asking:
I used to chatter with my best friend in pidgin for laughs in high school (I had never even been to the islands, she was Hilo born n' bred) - we listened to a lot of Bu La'ia, and had a fake cooking show called "Da Two Aunties" starring the two of us... and that was the impetus for picking up a lot of slang. I think I liked hamming it up with her family, all Big Island people, because they got a kick out of hearing someone attempt pidgin who had never even been to Hawaii. When I moved to the island after school, I understood a lot that was being said. I think I am another cultural assimilator, like you, and Kelena. I have a knack for language and accents, and also found myself adopting a lot of Southernisms when I lived in the South.
Hope this helps.
I can't help but shift my cadence when speaking to someone with a local accent, it just happens....tacking on "yeah?" at the end of sentences, saying things like "how you?" or "howzit?". Not intentional, but my pidgin doesn't go beyond that. And I'd feel ridiculous if it did - it's not my heritage. Pidgin is not a sign of ignorance, rather, it is the language of home, community, & one that indicates "I'm from here."
(Everyone, however, tends to sprinkle Hawaiian words into their vocabulary..."this food is so ono", "head mauka to get to the market", "Make pono (make it right)", etc. You'll pick those common words up in a short amount of time.)
Understanding rather than speaking pidgin is probably more helpful, and is something that happens with a little time..it's an immersion thing. Unlike a heavy patois, I've noticed a lot of people tend to turn it on and off: a local friend of mine (we shared an office) would speak pidgin thick and heavy with her local friends, mostly when joking around, or if joking around with her super-local husband. However, she spoke with a very non-specific accent most of the time - she was also the secretary & outreach person for our organization. Pretty typical. I ran into more people that spoke pidgin all the time (including a couple haoles) in more rural parts of Ka'u...haoles having been born and raised in the area.
Personal experience, since you're asking:
I used to chatter with my best friend in pidgin for laughs in high school (I had never even been to the islands, she was Hilo born n' bred) - we listened to a lot of Bu La'ia, and had a fake cooking show called "Da Two Aunties" starring the two of us... and that was the impetus for picking up a lot of slang. I think I liked hamming it up with her family, all Big Island people, because they got a kick out of hearing someone attempt pidgin who had never even been to Hawaii. When I moved to the island after school, I understood a lot that was being said. I think I am another cultural assimilator, like you, and Kelena. I have a knack for language and accents, and also found myself adopting a lot of Southernisms when I lived in the South.
Hope this helps.