English to Tongan: farewells, courtesy and the people included
Goodbye depends on who leaves
English goodbye does not distinguish the person leaving from the person remaining. Informal Tongan farewells can make that distinction: ‘Alu ā is addressed to someone going away, while Nofo ā is addressed to someone staying behind. Before translating the end of a visit, identify which person is doing the travelling.
For a host writing to a departing visitor, that relationship differs from a visitor saying farewell to the host. A translation containing the idea of staying is not necessarily an instruction cancelling the trip. It may be the appropriate farewell to the person who remains. In a written exchange where nobody is physically leaving, consider the actual conversational setting instead of forcing a visit-ending expression onto every English email sign-off.
A polite interruption and an apology do different jobs
English excuse me can introduce a question, interrupt someone or acknowledge passing in front of a person. Tongan has expressions suited to particular situations; tulou is used when passing in front of someone. It should not be treated as a universal replacement for any English sentence containing excuse.
Kātaki can introduce a polite request. In Kātaki, tokoni mai, the speaker asks for help. A sentence explaining an actual mistake needs its explanation preserved as well as its courtesy expression. Do not translate a detailed apology by keeping only the short polite opening: the reader still needs to know what happened, whose action is involved and what response is requested.
‘We two’ can include or exclude the reader
Tongan distinguishes an inclusive pair, kitaua, from an exclusive pair, kimaua. Both can correspond to English we or us, but the first includes the person addressed and the second does not. English input that simply says ‘we will come’ can leave this important relationship unstated.
If two visitors are telling their host about an arrival, the host is outside that travelling pair. If a speaker and listener are arranging to travel together, both belong to it. Explain that relationship in the English source when it is otherwise unclear. Do not choose an inclusive form merely because an invitation sounds friendly, or an exclusive form merely because a message is formal: membership of the group is the issue.
Keep the Tongan letters when copying the result
The fakau‘a represents a glottal stop, and the toloi marks vowel length. In Tongan writing these signs carry language information. Treating the raised mark as stray English punctuation, or removing a macron to make a word look simpler, can damage the spelling of the translated expression.
Check the original characters after copying text into an email editor that changes quotation marks automatically. A raised mark inside a Tongan word does not open a quotation that needs closing later. When a personal name is supplied, preserve its established spelling rather than inserting guessed long vowels. A useful review checks the actual farewell, the intended request and the participant relationship before making cosmetic changes to the output.
Language references
English is listed by the provider as English (language code en). Source text reads left to right. Preserve original spelling, punctuation, and names when entering text.
The selected target is Tongan (Lea Fakatonga; code to). The result is displayed left to right. If another script or regional variant is needed, select its separate entry in the language directory.