In Hiaki, just like in English and Spanish, there are remarks you can use to celebrate a holiday or congratulate someone, though they’re a bit different than those used in English or Spanish. Most of these expressions require that the speaker produce a full Hiaki sentence instead of just a few words. In addition, some of these expressions aren’t as specific as the ones in English or Spanish and the same ones can be used for a variety of different occasions. For example, the sentence Alleaka te au yuumak translates literally as “Happily we have arrived to it” and can be used on Christmas, New Year’s Day, a wedding, a graduation, and even a birthday. Nonetheless, there are ways to specify the occasion. If the New Year is right around the corner and you want to say something in celebration, you could say Alleaka te au yuma’ane wasuktia vemelawi, which roughly means “Happily we will arrive at the new year”. If you wish to congratulate a group of people for graduating and receiving their doctoral degrees you can use the sentence Alleaka te enchim vichak ian uka doktoratota enchi mavetaka’apo amani which means something like “We are happy to see you receive this doctorate today”. For birthdays, if you don’t want to just say Alleaka te au yuumak, you could use Fakundo ian taewaim yo’ore to mean “It’s Fakundo’s birthday”, though it literally translates to “Fakundo respects this day”.
