Language Information

Tahitian is the indigenous language of Tahiti, one of the Society Islands located in the South Pacific Ocean. It is a Polynesian language with about 50,000 speakers. The alphabet contains only thirteen letters—the five vowels plus the consonants f, h, m, n, p, r, t, and v. The English word tattoo is of Tahitian origin.

Pitcairn Islands, Tahiti (French).

Family: Malayo-Polynesian(Austronesian)
Subgroup: Polynesian

Writing Sample

Translation

This is how the ancient Tahitians counted the "days" from one daybreak to the next. They counted the nights instead, which were easy to distinguish from each other, the moon never being the same shape or in the same place two nights in a row. The days were all alike, with the sun always the same shape and in the same place (approximately). That is why the natives arranged their life by the nights to which they had given names. The month had 28 "nights," the period being called a "moon."