03-15-2014, 04:07 AM
The local dialect is not even as clear, as it is also island and district influenced (many of our local friends can tell someone from Ka`u from Hilo, Puna from Hamakua...)That said, there is also a formal, and informal language.
And there are neighborhood influences, I am in a neighborhood where pidgin was not as much used as Filipino and Japanese ( and most of the people in my age group in our neighborhood did not speak pidgin at home or at school when they were growing up here and most went to University mainland then cam back. all of which has influenced our neighborhood)
That said, Japanese and at least 3 or four dialects of Filipino would be more helpful if I were to truly communicate with each of my neighbors with the language they use at home.... At UH-Hilo,where I am studying, there is a more modern pidgin than my husband hears at work (he works in Kona, and there are distinct differences between the they guys that are from Kona and those from the Hilo side). At the University, there is also a very international student body, with many dialects and languages. (I have missed the Hawaiian Language college being in the middle campus, with the flow of fluent Hawaiian around those classrooms)
Basically, I have fond that to be yourself, try to teach your tongue to smoothly roll out some things, like the street names (Kinoole, Kalanianaole, Kanoelehua so that they roll as comfortably as Kamehameha, Komohana & Kilaeua) thank everyone that corrects any language slips, and learn as much as you can about this amazing place, knowing there is so much more that you may never master, is probably the best way to fit in
And there are neighborhood influences, I am in a neighborhood where pidgin was not as much used as Filipino and Japanese ( and most of the people in my age group in our neighborhood did not speak pidgin at home or at school when they were growing up here and most went to University mainland then cam back. all of which has influenced our neighborhood)
That said, Japanese and at least 3 or four dialects of Filipino would be more helpful if I were to truly communicate with each of my neighbors with the language they use at home.... At UH-Hilo,where I am studying, there is a more modern pidgin than my husband hears at work (he works in Kona, and there are distinct differences between the they guys that are from Kona and those from the Hilo side). At the University, there is also a very international student body, with many dialects and languages. (I have missed the Hawaiian Language college being in the middle campus, with the flow of fluent Hawaiian around those classrooms)
Basically, I have fond that to be yourself, try to teach your tongue to smoothly roll out some things, like the street names (Kinoole, Kalanianaole, Kanoelehua so that they roll as comfortably as Kamehameha, Komohana & Kilaeua) thank everyone that corrects any language slips, and learn as much as you can about this amazing place, knowing there is so much more that you may never master, is probably the best way to fit in