2 easy ways to grow your Hawaiian vocabulary

Aloha mai kakou i keia makahiki hou!

What do you think about setting goals? 

Whether you set big goals or just keep going with the flow, I hope you find these emails helpful in your desire to become conversational in Hawaiian. 

This month’s emails will focus on improving your language skills by listening to Native speakers. 

If you want to sound like a Native, I highly encourage you to listen to Native speakers every day. You can listen to Native speakers through the Clinton Kanahele Collection, Ka Leo Hawaii, and Na Hulu Kupuna. There’s even a youtube video with Kawika Kaalakea talking about the famous Hawaiian song, “Ka Makani Kaili Aloha”, one of my personal favorites.

To help you catch on even faster with listening, I’ll walk you through what I did…

• As you listen, pick out words you know. What I mean is, when you hear a word you already know, can you identify it and understand it in that moment? Maybe you’ll have to pause, think about the meaning, and once you figure it out - keep going.
  

• Identify words you DON’T know. It's helpful when you hear the same word over and over, but when you hear it once (and clearly), look it up and add it to your vocabulary. 

Doing this simple listening exercise regularly will develop your vocabulary. You’ll also learn how to correctly pronounce the word - and not just guess at how it should sound!

Not too hard, yeah? One thing I learned for myself is that doing a little bit each day actually makes all the difference. 

Maybe for 2023, you’ll want to at least set a goal to listen to some Native Hawaiian every day. 

Up to you!

Na’u no,

Malu 

ka-alala.mykajabi.com