Keith's Blog (Hawaiian Language)

Today we had a lecture from Kawehi Lucas about the Hawaiian
Language. Kawehi Lucas was an awesome professor and made
learning the language fun with many fun activities. We
learned that there are only 2,000 thousand native speakers
alive today. This is unfortunate because this is a great
language that should be carried on. This was definitely the
best lecture thus far. The Hawaiian Alphabet is made up of 13
letters; 5 vowels, a, e, i, o, u, 7 consonants, h, m, n, l,
w, k, p, and the 'okina. The consonants are pronounced as
he, ke, la, mu, nu, pe, and we. The 'okina creates a break
between the two vowels. I found it interesting that
there are not any Hawaiian words that have two consonants next to each
other, and also that every Hawaiian word ends in a vowel. I feel
it would be easier for someone to learn Hawaiian rather than
English.
In the late 1970's teachers started to teach preschoolers
through fifth grade the Hawaiian language. Now in Hawaii
there are emerging schools where all classes are taught in
Hawaiian and students attend one English class. There are
hardly are any text books in Hawaiian because the language
is not as popular as other languages. Teachers translate
English books into the Hawaiian language by covering the
English words and pasting the Hawaiians words over it.
This whole trip has been an awesome experience and learning
the Hawaiian language is something I will always remember
from my visit to Hawaii.
Keith F