Fijian is an ancient Austronesian language that is related to its more modern "cousins" such as Tongan and Samoan. Historical linguists often trace a language's roots against such cousins by noting which sounds and features have been kept or dropped, determining that newer languages and dialects tend to have fewer sounds and features. In this simplistic explanation, therefore, linguists have shown that Fijian is much more ancient than Tongan or Samoan, which are likewise even older than Tahitian and Hawaiian.
Today, Fijian (in various dialects) and English are widely spoken, along with various Indian and other Pacific island languages.
The sounds represented by several written Fijian letters are different than their English counterparts. More specifically, the consonant 'b' is pronounced as an 'mb' sound, even at the beginning of a word; and the consonant 'd' is pronounced as an 'nd' sound, also even if it comes at the beginning of a word. Hence, the written word Nadi (where the international airport is located) is pronounced as if it were written 'Nandi' (non-dee).
There are three other differences: 1) The sound represented by the Fijian letter 'g' is an unreleased g-sound, as in the English word "singer," even if it comes at the beginning of a word; 2) the letter 'q' is pronounced in Fijian with a released-g sound, as in the English word "finger," again even if it comes at the first of a word; 3) and the letter 'c' is actually pronounced as an English 'th' as in the word 'that.' Consequently the name Cakobau, one of Fiji's great traditional chiefs, is sometimes written and is more correctly pronounced "Thakombau."
