A new online Samoan dictionary is being compiled in New Zealand using real life language taken from the internet.
About nine million words will be culled into a database of the most commonly used words and their meanings.
University of Victoria senior lecturer Galumalemana Alfred Hunkin says the work will take several years and update the last dictionary written in 1966.
He says the dictionary will be the first to use Samoan language from real life, and they are already finding new words and new uses for existing words.
Mr Hunkin says Samoan is under threat from English and a modern, online dictionary will help to retain the language in Samoa and elsewhere.
