Samoan Translation Services

Leases, court documents, affidavits and agreements translated into and from Samoan. The Hawaii State Judiciary publishes a Samoan page explaining the right to a free interpreter (Hawaii State Judiciary).

See how Tomedes translates legal documents

Patient instructions, consent forms and health education translated into Samoan. Intermountain Health in Utah staffs interpreters in eight languages, including Samoan (Intermountain Health), and medical documents are among the common subjects of Samoan assignments at Tomedes.

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Resettlement guides, housing documents, newsletters and religious materials translated into Samoan. Honolulu County has the largest Samoan population in the nation, and California has the largest share of Samoan residents, counted by ethnicity, not by language spoken (Census Bureau, above). Religion is one of the subjects of Tomedes Samoan assignments.

Transcripts, diplomas, theses and school records translated into and from Samoan.

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A second Samoan speaker reviews text written or translated by someone else, checking spelling, the macron and glottal stop, and the choice between formal and everyday Samoan. Since January 2024, Samoan proofreading assignments at Tomedes have come close to the number of translation assignments.

Samoan uses a 17-letter alphabet, with the glottal stop written as an inverted comma and the macron marking long vowels. Both change meaning: toto means blood and totō means to plant, and tala means story and talā means dollar. Macron use is still debated, so tell Tomedes which convention your readers expect (NZ Ministry for Pacific Peoples).

Samoan has a formal style used in writing, church and speeches, and an everyday style that is not written. It also has a respect vocabulary, gagana faʻaaloalo, used with chiefs, officials and clergy, in which the word for house changes depending on who is addressed (Ministry for Pacific Peoples, above). The audience decides the register.

Samoan can be written with or without the macron and the glottal stop mark, and sources differ, so the forms below should be checked with a native speaker before print use. Here are the most commonly translated Samoan words and phrases (see the New Zealand Ministry for Pacific Peoples language card).

• Hello (formal): Tālofa lava
• Hi (informal): Mālō
• Goodbye: Tōfā
• Thank you: Faʻafetai (very much: Faʻafetai tele lava)
• Please: Faʻamolemole
• Yes: ʻIoe
• No: Leai
• Excuse me: Tulou
• How are you? ʻO ā mai oe?