Hawaiian language help?

[csgray]

This year I am teaching Hawaiian History for the first time and I am sure I am mangling many important names and places. I do not have the time, or flexible schedule, to allow me to take Hawaiian language classes, but would love to find someone who would be willing to tutor me on pronunciation of key people and place names. Languages have always been a real struggle for me, I don't have a good "ear" for subtle sound differences, and don't hear myself well at all, so I would need a patient teacher. I can't afford to pay, but once it cools down and I get baking again, I could possibly trade fresh baked bread.

Carol

[Chuysmom]

Carol, I wonder if Kamehameha Schools would have a heads up on cheap/free tutors in HL??? Worth a shot, right?

Carrie

http://www.sapphiresoap.etsy.com

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR

[missydog1]

The good news is that you don't need to learn the Hawaiian language to learn pronunciation. Good in that you don't need to learn grammar or translate. I learn a lot by watching the local news, listening to the anchors say the place names.

One thing that is different with Hawaiian than English is that Hawaiian doesn't end syllables with consonant sounds, only vowels (as far as I know). To pronounce Hawaiian, you break it up into syllables, as with Japanese, syllables ending with vowels.

Example: a common error with a really common place name: Honolulu. Mainlanders will often say Hahn-a-loo-loo, but a local will say Ho-no-lu-lu. The "o" is said using the back of the throat, too, not like our word hoe, but that you pick up by listening. Or Hana. English - Han-a but Hawaiian - Ha-na. Kalapana, not Kal-a-pan-a but Ka-la-pa-na

I assume you already know to make a glottal stop when there's an okina.
Another important thing to learn is the few vowel combinations that are pronounce close to being dipthongs, and which are said individually.

Together, unless there's an okina:
ae - Waianae
ai - Kai
ao - Makawao
au - Kea'au
ei (Hanalei)
ie - Ka'ie'ie
iu - Kainaliu
oe - Hulopoe
oi - poi
ou - Keauhou

Pronounce consecutively - ea, eo, ia, io, oa, ua, ui, uo

I figured you must already have a sense of how the vowels sound, or not?

W is pronounced more like what we hear as V when it's internal or at the beginning of a word beginning with Wi, but pronounce it W if beginning a word starting with Wai. I forget the other begins with W rules, and honestly I have heard different things. Some people are purists with the W and a lot of locals who aren't Hawaiian don't even say it as V.

all I have time for ...

[Carey]

Carol, I took a quickie Hawaiian Intro class this summer for the grant work. We used the "Na Kau `Ewalu - Beginning Hawaiian Lessons" by Kauanoe Kamana & William Wilson. We also received a CD copy of "Ka Papa `Olelo Hawaii" with the Mokuna 1 & 2

See if John can get you in touch with Loke... She is a fantastic resource.
edited because I used the macron & can#699;t!

[islandboo]

KGMB's Sunrise program has a daily Hawaiian news segment done in the Hawaiian language (with English subtitles). It is very useful for learning pronunciation. Recent shows can be viewed at http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/global/Cate...p?C=176979 and I believe it is archived back much further at www.hawaiianlanguage.tv

You can usually get a feel for the topic from the show title, and can look for the shows dealing with the people and places you are interested in.

[csgray]

Thanks Kathy, but looking at the words and letters on the page doesn't help me at all. I have a great deal of trouble connecting the stuff on the page with the sounds I am supposed to be making. That is why I need a REALLY patient native speaker who can help me HEAR the sounds I am supposed to be making. Speaking and hearing languages has always been a huge struggle for me, I think it is related to my tone deafness and inability to carry a tune in a bucket. I can learn to read and write them fairly easily, but the spoken thing is a whole other deal.

Islandboo, we don't have a TV but I will check the archives. I learned a lot of place names watching Guy do the weather when we lived in a place with TV.

Carrie, I think I know Loke from when I did the Mokupapapa Center's educators round table, I will see if I can dig out her email, she might have a student who wants to help.

Mahalo, everybody.

Carol

[Carey]

Carol, I have Loke's email & you can borrow my book & CD, if that will help
Email or call me.
ETA: I had just found her email was in the book...

[Carolann R]

Great idea, Carol! The students are awesome.[]

Carrie

http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com
http://www.vintageandvelvet.blogspot.com

"Freedom has a scent like the top of a newborn baby's head..." U2

[missydog1]

Carol, I understand, and my list wasn't intended as a stand alone guide on how to learn the sounds. Those you will learn by tutoring. Still, there are times when we are called on to read a place or person nameand an expert or tutor is not at hand. With the Hawaiian language, people wlll tell you to pronouce every vowel, and it's true that none are silent. When you see a word in print, the first challenge is to know what to do with the vowels, as the consonants are simple. Make each vowel sound separately or run them together as a dipthong, as we do in English, is the question. Some of each. I wrote the list of dipthong type combos out of my head, but I think it is right.

So if you are ever looking at a place and trying to work out what to do with the vowels, you have that. Along with that you have to learn what sound an E or an A etc. makes, and for that you do need a spoken model.

I wrote the part about not ending a syllable on a consonant sound because it is/was my worst habit, and having that little epiphany has helped me curb some of my blatant haole pronunciation.

I too am a quick study when it comes to reading a foreign language, at least with the three I have studied, but I'm not good at learning to speak another language, and haven't really tried since high school, so I do empathize. For me it's not the sounds that thwart me but rather conjugating on the fly, but the result is the same. I'm very comfortable with Hawaiian place names though; it's just a matter of practice and sorting out the vowels and syllables, then working on the inflection and intonation -- where I will always have some failures, but at least I have communicated.

[TomK]

Languages have always defeated me. My mother is Austrian and speaks fluent German yet I failed German at school. I could write sentences but speaking the language was beyond me. It was the same with French. Writing was fine, speaking the language was impossible.

In Hawaii, I find the opposite. Although I can't speak Hawaiian (yet), I can pronounce everything just fine, but seeing all those vowels munged together has me completely lost when I have to write an address or read road signs.

Just to let you guys know that you're not alone!

And don't get me started on UK English and American English. I've long lost the ability to know if I'm spelling or pronouncing things the English or American way - or the Hawaiian way. For that reason I've kept my English accent!

Tom