Dr Nikhat Shameem.

Language is an essential tool for communication, expression, and understanding among people.

University of the South Pacific’s Academic Dr Nikhat Shameem states that Fiji Hindi was born as a result of dialect mixing and language mixing.

She says this enabled Indians who had come under the indentured labour system to be able to speak and understand each other as they couldn’t understand English or iTaukei language.

“So what happened on the plantations was that they learned to understand each other, but they also learned to mix their languages so that they could speak to each other. And that’s exactly how Fiji Hindi was born. Fiji Hindi was born as a result of dialect mixing and language mixing, basically for the need for all the Indians who had come under Indenture, under Girmit, to be able to speak to each other and to understand each other.”

Shameem states Fiji Hindi is a language that has grown in Fiji and is a significant component of Fiji’s culture and identity.