Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
hapai: pregnant; used by all ethnic groups when a keiki is on the way
haupia: a coconut custard dessert often served at a lu'au
HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Many visitors are baffled by the Hawaiian language. Seemingly chaotic, endless
chains of vowels blend to create ridiculously long words. Confronted with the
task of pronouncing words like Honoapi'ilani (aka “Highway 30”) or Kealaikahiki,
many give up.
The Hawaiian language is actually straightforward once you understand it. The
first step is proper pronunciation. Follow these guidelines, and all those long
stretches of vowels will suddenly start to make sense.
Vowels are pronounced differently in Hawaiian than they are in English. Rather
than the standard “a, e, i, o, u” that all English-speakers find familiar, there are “aw,
eh, ee, oh, ooh,” much the same as in Spanish. Take the word la (which means
“sun”), and you will find that it's pronounced phonetically as “law,” as opposed to
“lah.” The word ala (which means “road” or “path”) is pronounced as “aw-law” as
opposed to “aah-laah,” as it would be in English. Got it?
The next step in pronouncing Hawaiian is the ability to say those really long
words. They look daunting, but it's easier to understand if you know that long
Hawaiian words-much like German words-are actually many smaller words
scrunched together. Take, for example, Haleakala, Maui's famous mountain, and
try to pronounce it right now. How did that go? Is it any easier when you break it
into smaller words such as Hale-a-ka-la. Say those four words right now, remem-
bering the vowel pronunciation (phonetically: Haw-lay-aw-kaw-LAW). Any bet-
ter? When broken into four smaller words, it's not only easier to pronounce, but
the name makes sense. Hale means “house,” a means “of,” ka means “the,” and la
means “sun,” so a full translation is “house of the sun.” Easy, right?
Let's try it again with the big, scary words from the beginning of this section,
Honoapi'ilani, and Kealaikahiki. The first word, Honoapi'ilani, can be broken
down as Hono-a-Pi'ilani, which translates as Hono (bay) a (of) Pi'ilani (an ancient
king of Maui), or completely, “the bays of Pi'ilani.” This is a fitting name for high-
way, seeing as Pi'ilani was the great king of Maui who once created a footpath
around much of the island as a way of connecting all the areas in his domain.
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