The Student’s English-Tongan and Tongan-English Dictionary had its beginning in 1991 in The Kingdom of Tonga. It was written with the primary aim of helping the many students in Tonga who must learn their lessons using English, and has been the best selling dictionary in Tonga. It has been used extensivley throughout Tonga’s schools. With this “American Edition,” printed in the United States, The Student’s English-Tongan and Tongan-English Dictionary is now available to all those in the U.S. who have wanted a copy. This “American Edition” is essentially the same as the edition printed in Tonga, with two important additions. We have added a section containing useful phrases that we believe will be helpful to Tongans living and working in the U.S. and to English speakers who travel to Tonga. For English speakers we have also included a section on pronouncing Tongan words.
In the first section of the dictionary we have listed three thousand of the most commonly used English words and given their Tongan equivalents. These are the English words most likely to be encountered in reading or everyday speech. In all cases we have attempted to capture the meaning of a Tongan word as it is used today by native Tongan-speakers. Where it is felt to be helpful we have identified a word’s grammatical form.
The second section of this dictionary contains a list of five thousand commonly used Tongan words and their English meanings. We have chosen Tongan words that one normally encounters in everyday speech and conversation in Tonga today. We hope this dictionary will continue to be a help to all needing to understand both the Tongan and the English languages
