Learning Hawaiian

It looks difficult... and it can be! A is pronounced JAE. E is pronounced as a long A like JAY. I is pronounced as a long E like GEE. O is the same... as in JOE. U is pronounced Ew like JEW.

We're always told to pronounce all the vowells, but that is not always the case. For example, Waikoloa is not Wa-i-ko-lo-a as my bookkeeper pronounces it. Sometimes 2 vowells togehter have their own sound. Wai is one Y sound as in Waikiki.

Anyway, I found a site that has Hawaiian to English translations. Sometimes long words must be broken down to be found. For example the state fish, the humuhumunukunukuapua'a can not be found. But humuhumu, nukunuku and pua'a can be found separately.

Though it does have the translations sometimes the histories of words are not told. For example, the word haole (pronounced HOWLY) means white person, but a friend who took a course on Hawaiian history told me the word originates from when Captain Cook landed, the natives saw these white people for the first time. Their assumption was that they were shallow breathers and therefore, had white skin and would fall over and faint at any moment! So I am told the word haole translates roughly to "those without breath". Don't quote me on it though!

Mick