For the few learners of kiristav

A few of my friends asked for some basic lessons in kiristav and they asked me to put it up on this forum. A few also asked me to write the dialects of Damani and Nawaits. Unfortunately I can't speak Damani as it's actually Portuguese creole. Kiristav and Nawaits on the other hand are quite related to portuguese but also different in several aspects. I do however also speak Nawaits, which is very similar to Kiristav and I shall write the differences in paranthesis next to the word) So here goes:

Basics:
Numbers:
0- anda (nawaits - enda)
1-umi (nawaits - eki/omi)
2-dosh (nawaits - doi)
3-tresh (trish)
4-cuatre (quitra)
5- cinque (cinqa)
6-seas (sesa)
7- sete (setu)
8-otte (oti)
9- nuvi (nuve)
10- des (dish)

Days of the week:
Sunday - Dimanchi/Rav var (Nawaits - Domanka)
Monday - Luni/ Lan var (Lunnu)
Tuesday - Marti/ Mes var (Mura)
Wednesday - Mercoli/ Shoukhar var (Saraghi)
Thursday - Vendri/ Shinni var (Venuvu)
Friday - Vierni/ Verni var (Vernuvu)
Saturday - Sobat/ Sedutu (Sabati)

Basic phrases:

Hello
Salem/Bom gi'/Namaste (In Nawaits, you can say either Salaam or Bom dio depending on the region)

How are you?
Thuzhui kasa hovesh? (informal) (Nawaits - tusha koisa sesh?)
Apzhui kasa hovemem? (formal) (Nawaits - apzhi koisa setem?)

Do you speak Kiristav? (Do you speak Nawaits?)
Falish kiristavi?/Kirishtavi boluishi ava?(Nawaits - Falash nawaitis?/Nawaiti bhalisi ava?)

I can understand Kiristavi but cannot speak it.
Pudum comprenare kirishtavim bet falishinete/boluishina (Nawaits - Karum comprener Nawaitisem peri falashineti/bhalisenati)

Bye
Adiu/Salem/Selek (Nawaits - adio/radinni)

So here are just the basics.

Pronunciation tips:
It's a perfectly phoenetical language, so it's spoken the way it's written.

Note: Most of the words in kiristav or nawaits have two different set of words (because of the different sets of speakers). In fact, in reality, almost 65% of the words have 3 different ways of saying the same work (because of the muslim/persian, hindi, and portuguese influences) but learning one or two of the words for every word is more than enough (as the speakers in Goa, Daman, and Diu are accustomed to these words).

Kiristhavi apreneshiste baat lekhistam!!! (Have fun learning Kiristav)
(Nawaitis padeshise baut lakshasam!)

Bom gi'u Shrey!!!

Wow esish bet cook hi zi thuizui ayudash lin personin ke quiesan aprener kiristavi e nawaitis. Asarmin yu soi du Diu e hablum "Kudali".....kerit iz bet pashanesh meti. Sorpen su ma pucheshilio si chachish semu ayuda!!!!

Adie

Selekeshi hafit Shrey,

zoichina qe esh moltuim personim qin quiesan aprener kiristavi....perqi muchina personi sabina sobrech ishti lengua e temin haynimi resurchisin qe ayuda aprender ishti lengua. Peri esh bono qi trish ishti lengua pur seb mundu.

If that language has words from Portuguese, why the days of the week are more like Spanish ?

The Portuguese days of the week are just numbered - so they're bound to be more like Spanish.

To Guest, it doesn't sound close to Spanish. I don't really speak Spanish but I can tell you for sure that Kiristav has a heavy Portuguese and French influence and they were invaded by both the groups of people.

I'd like to get more information about this language. Is it spoken anywhere? how does it sound?

Yes it is spoken mainly in parts of Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadar and Nagra Haveli and parts of Maharashtra. It still one of the languages spoken by the minority of the christians.

Regarding how it sounds, it's quite phonetic and it uses a variation of the devanagri and brahmi script (similar to the way Gujurati is written). But recently, attempts have been been to latinize the language and it's actually working. It sounds a bit like a mix of Turkish, Farsi and Pashto from what I've heard.

Some irregularities in pronunciation are:

sh - can be pronounced either "s" or "sh" or "sht" (with a forced guttural stop"

s - can be pronounced "sh" when in the middle of some words or "s" in the beginning, or middle, or the ending of a word.

ch - can be either pronounced as "kh" for some words and "ch" for others (Depends on the words and the place of "ch" in the word).

Most of the times, it's hard to understand the language as many words are clumped together...for eg. Dou'es eshtisish seu aben? (where are you) would be shortened to Douaben eshtisau? or could sound like "Doan eshtsau?" in the spoken language. Another example is "Amna ichi la jaivavu perqi tenu bet kemizem" would be compressed to "Amnichi la jaiu' perqu ten' be' kemize(m)"

Do you happen to know how to put up an audio file?? If so, I can read out a small paragraph from a kiristav book.

Yes it is spoken mainly in parts of Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadar and Nagra Haveli and parts of Maharashtra. It still one of the languages spoken by the minority of the christians.

Regarding how it sounds, it's quite phonetic and it uses a variation of the devanagri and brahmi script (similar to the way Gujurati is written). But recently, attempts have been been to latinize the language and it's actually working. It sounds a bit like a mix of Turkish, Farsi and Pashto from what I've heard.

Some irregularities in pronunciation are:

sh - can be pronounced either "s" or "sh" or "sht" (with a forced guttural stop"

s - can be pronounced "sh" when in the middle of some words or "s" in the beginning, or middle, or the ending of a word.

ch - can be either pronounced as "kh" for some words and "ch" for others (Depends on the words and the place of "ch" in the word).

Most of the times, it's hard to understand the language as many words are clumped together...for eg. Dou'es eshtisish seu aben? (where are you) would be shortened to Douaben eshtisau? or could sound like "Doan eshtsau?" in the spoken language. Another example is "Amna ichi la jaivavu perqi tenu bet kemizem" would be compressed to "Amnichi la jaiu' perqu ten' be' kemize(m)"

Do you happen to know how to put up an audio file?? If so, I can read out a small paragraph from a kiristav book.

Selekeshi haf' Keran,

do'uen eshtisau? tar seundish elli thuzui eshti biz kiristaviyin. Ca kesh sakh-hiben? Zoichina qe esh intereshenen qe memzhui podremen aprener menos'. Mazhui sempri pesoi qe nichi laagi du Nawaitis podrumi aprener kiristavi u kudali. Temi talot!!!!!!!!!

oh u mar email adreshen esh chinsek_rodriguez@yahoo.com...esh bet avara eshukhim tiz.

Bom tard' chinsek,

Zoi iz US bet meu paresu zin iz Goa (iz tu nerivem goam...parlin nawaitis u kudali bet teniz ticha kiristavi). Apreneolu nawaitis u tenizi kudali...temienoti email adresheni....teminoi email darezti.