Here’s what I used the most when I started studying Hawaiian…

Aloha e ka poe imi ike,

If you have the desire to learn the language of your Hawaiian ancestors, I’m making it as easy as possible, eliminating your excuses, and giving you pearls here! 

The Hawaiian language became corrupted as the number of foreigners increased and English took over. Our Native speaker population began to dwindle and many people just didn’t have a chance to hear how Hawaiian words are properly pronounced. We did the best we could with the limited resources we had, and it’s no surprise that we are in the boat we’re in as learners of the language. 

With today’s technology and free access to books, past recordings, and newspapers, we can really immerse ourselves in the language and how it’s supposed to sound like never before. The trick is knowing it’s out there and how to find it. That’s where I’m here to help! 

Do you remember what I wanted you to take away from last week’s email…? WHAT are King? Vowels! Vowels are king! Correctly pronouncing your vowels will make all the difference in speaking the language like a Native speaker.

The quote in this picture is a good rule of thumb when pronouncing vowels in Hawaiian words, except for “u” (oo sound in English). It sounds more like “loop” than “book”, but be cautious you’re not saying “lewp,” emphasizing the “w” sound like many English speakers do.

I’ve shared some free resources to learn on your own like I did, and here’s another one!

The Hawaiian Language and Complete Grammar was printed in 1939 (a time when many people still spoke Hawaiian) and is the first Hawaiian book I had. I used it more than any other resource when I initially started studying Hawaiian. This book shaped how I learned and how I teach the language. 

This book is unique because it uses original Hawaiian orthography (meaning the written form of Hawaiian). This means no okina or kahako.

The chapters are categorized uniquely, focusing on sentence structure, type of word, questions, etc… and not just how to introduce yourself, vocabulary, tell time, etc…like many other language textbooks. 

You’ll also find that there are no translations for the short stories. This causes you stretch yourself!

The one drawback is that you can’t hear the language being spoken when you read a book! 

This is why listening to Native speakers is so important, and another obstacle we run into as second language learners - we’re already “programmed” to speak our first language and that’s why we all have “accents.” 

Here’s a reminder of the resources we talked about last month:

Papakilo Database

Ka Leo Hawaii

Na Hulu Kupuna

Continue using these resources and intentionally work on your vowel pronunciation. Step by daily step, you’ll start to understand more, speak more fluently, build confidence, and connect with other Native speakers. 

Aloha,

Malu

Ka-alala.mykajabi.com