You Don’t Have to Learn a New Language When You Come to Hawaii

We’ve actually received calls asking if it would be a good idea to learn the Hawaiian language before coming to Hawaii.  The answer to that is no.

English is the dominant language here, although there is such a variety of nationalities that a lot of people who live here have trouble with English.

The Hawaiian language is spoken only by about 9.000 residents.  You’ll notice that most of the street and place names in the islands are Hawaiian, and you might find them unpronounceable.  (One of the main roads is Kalanianaole Highway, for example, and there’s a place called Kaaawa on Oahu’s North Shore.)  Hawaii’s early immigrants communicated with each other using pidgin, which still is pervasive.  You’ll hear pidgin a lot while you’re here and you’ll get used to it.

Captain James Cook and his crew recorded the Hawaiian language for the first time on Kauai in 1778.  They immediately noticed the great similarity to Tahitian and Maori.  In order to communicate with the Hawaiians they used Tahitian words and gestures.  They described the Hawaiian language as "primitive, childlike, lilting, effeminate, and simple."  Reduplication (’ele’ele, wikiwiki) and all the vowels sounded to the explorers like baby talk.

Hawaiian had been an oral language only.  The 19th century missionaries, however, were supposed to teach their converts to read the Bible, so they created a writing system with an alphabet that contained only twelve letters for words of Hawaiian origin.  The Hawaiian language became the language of the government, remained the most commonly used language in daily life, and was used among the numerous different ethnic groups who had all arrived here to work the plantations.  The alphabet was later expanded to allow for two unique characteristics in the Hawaiian word that the missionaries had missed.

First, there was the unnoticed consonant, a glottal stop.  Try the sound in the American exclamation "oh-oh." The ‘okina symbol (’) now indicates this stop.  Secondly, the five vowels could all function as longer sounds, now symbolized with a short line above the vowel.  (You’ll see those on signs everywhere.)

The increasing influence of the United States pushed English forward as the language of choice.  Then, with the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 and its annexation in 1898, the Hawaiian language was banned entirely from schools and government.

Imagine this: 500,000 Hawaiians spoke the language when Captain Cook arrived.  Today, there are only 1,000 native speakers left, most of whom live on isolated Ni’ihau.  Another 8,000 people can speak and understand Hawaiian, and use it among themselves.

So, even if you were to learn the Hawaiian language, you’d have trouble finding somebody to speak it with.

Posted by Jim Winpenny

Related blog posts
Pidgin words you’ll hear in Hawaii
Hawaiian Language in Petroglyphics

More links:
Follow us on twitter
See our latest videos
Book your Hawaii vacations here

 

1 comment April 30th, 2009

In Hawaii, Try A Different Kind of Surfing

It looks a little strange at first.  You see a guy standing on a surfboard holding a canoe paddle and cruising along as if he were on a raft on a lake or calm river.

He’s SUPing.  While Stand Up Paddle boarding is considered an “emerging” sport worldwide, it’s origin is strictly Hawaiian and it can be traced back to the days when surfing instructors used the technique to manage large groups of learner surfers. Standing on the board gave them a higher point of view that made it easier for them to see what was going on around them — such as an incoming swell.

Recently, it has become an alternative way to ride surf and as a means of staying in shape, and it’s gaining popularity as the demands for global-conscious green sports increase.

Pure surfers have converted because of the versatility of the new sport.  Stand up paddle boarding offers a better view of incoming sets and gives surfers the ability to catch more waves in a set.

A custom SUP board costs from $900 to $1500 new.  The boards are usually between nine and 12 feet in length.  Some come with special features such as padded decks, concave hulls, and surfboard-style fins in the stern for stability.

Beach-service concessions on Waikiki Beach and in the busy beach areas on some neighbor islands now offer stand up paddle lessons and rent the equipment.  If you’re a beginning surfer, by all means take lessons.  You’ll begin with a land lesson where your instructor goes over safety tips, balance, positioning, turning, and the equipment and how to properly use it.  After the land lesson, you’ll be escorted into the water and your instructor will help you with paddling techniques in the water.

It’s really a lot of fun, and it’ll give you something neat to talk about when you return home from your Hawaii vacation.

Posted by Jim Winpenny

2 comments November 4th, 2008