Hawaiian
The Hawaiian language is not difficult to learn. There are only 8 consonants:
H K L M N P W and ‘ (‘okina)
(The ‘ is a glottal stop like between Uh and Oh in "Uh Oh".)
Each vowel, A E I O U is pronounced much like the Spanish vowels
A ah like in "saw" but don't pronounce the "w" part.
E eh like in "bet"
I short i like in "it"
O long o like in "note"
U like in "oops" but cut the vowel off short.
Pronounce each letter in a word and, if in doubt, put the accent on the second to last syllable. Note to fluent Hawaiian speakers: Don't scold us - we're trying to approximate pronunciation for the malahini (visitors).
Aloha - (a lo hah) The most meaningful of words in Hawai‘i. It is a greeting which expresses love, living the culture. We talk of the "Lei of Aloha" because aloha expressess giving. The lei tells of a circle of giving. That is, if each person is giving freely, it creates a circle which then gives back to the one who started it. This whole page and ten more could be filled with all the meanings of aloha.
A hui hou - (ah hooie hoh) Usual way of casually saying good bye. "See ya". It actually means, "until we meet anew."
Tita - (Tee tah) an affectionate term for "sister" which also can mean a "tough girl/woman". Can be applied to friend who is not actually a blood sister. (The Hawaiians admired athletic women.)
Wahine - (Wah hee neh) "Woman". In English there are various shades of meaning between woman, lady, wife, etc. In Hawaiian wahine does for all.
Kane - (Kah neh) "Man".
Keiki - (kay kee) "Child" (usually younger than 13 or so)
‘opio - (oh pee oh) "youth" (like a teenager).
Kaukau - (cow cow) a slang (Pidgin) term meaning eat or food. Another pidgin term for food is "grinds". Correct Hawaiian is...
Mea ‘ai - (may ah eye) "food". Literally "thing [to} eat."
‘ai - (eye) "eat".
ono - (oh noh) delicious
maika‘i - (my keye ee) good
makana - (mah kah nah) gift
Commonly Mispronounced words
Molokini - (Moh loh key nee) People tend to mispronounce the first "O". It is pronounced like a long o as in "bone", not short like in "mob". The small islet that many snorkers visit.
Moloka‘i - (Moh loh kah ee) Again - make sure that first "o" is long. Our neighbor island.
more to come...
