Although English is an official language in both Samoa and American Samoa and is widely spoken, Samoan shares equal billing and is used by most people for everyday conversation. It is a Polynesian language that's somewhat similar to Tahitian, Tongan, and Cook Islands Maori, but with some important differences.
The vowels are pronounced not as in English (ay, ee, eye, oh, and you) but in the Roman fashion: ah, ay, ee, oh, and oo (as in kangaroo). All vowels are sounded, even if several of them appear next to each other. The village of Nu'uuli in American Samoa, for example, is pronounced "New-u-u-lee." The apostrophe that appears between the vowels indicates a glottal stop -- a slight pause similar to the tiny break between "Oh-oh!" in English. The consonants f, g, l, m, n, p, s, t, and v are pronounced as in English, with one major exception: The letter g is pronounced like "ng." Therefore, aiga is pronounced "ah-eeng-ah." Pago Pago is pronounced "Pango Pango" as in "pong."
Many words in Samoan -- as in most modern Polynesian languages -- have English roots. Take the word for corned beef, pisupo (pee-soo-poh). The first Western canned food to reach Samoa was pea soup. Pisupo, the Samoan version of pea soup, was adopted as the word for corned beef, which also came in cans. Corned beef was and still is much more popular than pea soup.
