Spoken Tokpisin is second nature to most Papua New Guineans. We use it without worrying about how it forms, sounds, or about its variants. We also use it with zest and pride without needing to be grammatically correct. Tokpisin has come to be our main language of communication. Yet when it comes to written Tokpisin we encounter difficulties and fumble our way through. We make so many mistakes and remain unconcerned about the development of written Tokpisin. Written Tokpisin is harder for even those who were born speaking Tokpisin. The elements of written Tokpisin are difficult to master. Translating English to Tokpisin in written expression is even harder or vice versa. Many may believe it is easy to translate an expression in English to Tokpisin. The contrary is true. The difficulty arises out of the grammatical principles that govern the operation of each language. English observes the grammatical rule that the subject comes befo
Chronicles the stories of education, books, writing, and reading in the life of Steven Edmund Winduo, PNG writer extraordinaire, literacy advocate, social literary activist, literary scholar, & teacher. Fern Ridge is a translation of Safla Rama, where home is for SEW.