More Than Just Palm Trees

Where can you find an island paradise with a rich history of kings, queens, luaus, hula, and flower leis -- and even some political drama? The middle of the Pacific, of course. I chose to study the Hawaiian language and culture because the Islands have a vibrant history and present culture that is unknown to many modern people. In order to understand this culture, one must learn the language. Many Hawaiians today are embracing their heritage and formally studying the language to feel closer to their ancestors. It is important to recognize the significance of the Hawaiian language, even if it is used only on some small islands in the middle of the ocean. It connects Hawaiians and anyone else willing to learn with the history of the past and the progress of the present (“All About Hawaii Culture”). Though I personally have no connection to ancient Hawaii, I was fascinated by the culture and language during my visits and decided to learn more. As in learning any language or culture, this will show me a broader view of the world and expand my horizons, so to speak.

In ancient Hawaii, the art of hula was taught in specific school. When the Islands were colonized and the missionaries wanted natives to learn English, these new schools were modeled after the hula method of instruction (Wyles, 2012). A modern-day Hawaiian immersion school uses these techniques. The program ‘Aha Punana Leo is now all over the Islands, helping the young children to learn the language as they are becoming more comfortable with English. This is a direct result of the Hawaiian Renaissance in the 1970’s, when many native people decided to overturn the ban on their language being taught in schools from 1896 and embrace their ancient culture and tongue (Kimura et al., 2003).

Not very many resources to learn Hawaiian are available, nor do many sources exist to learn about Hawaii’s history, especially not on a high school student’s budget. However, I am slowly but surely finding new and better sources to use in this Extended Learning Internship, such as a teacher’s YouTube channel and an online forum to discuss the grammar of the language, both of which have helped me immensely so far.

I have found that while the spelling of words can be complex and many words are very long, the grammar is relatively simple. Verbs are rarely used in simple sentences. This makes my process much faster, because the grammar is consistent and easier to learn. I hope to learn more words and be able to create more complicated sentences in Hawaiian, as well as explore more about the ancient culture. I have found a book that will likely help me with the study of Hawaii’s history, called Dismembering Lahui. I am excited to read this book and learn more about Hawaii before modern times (Osorio, 2002).

Though my struggling to find helpful sources has been a bit more drawn-out than I would have liked, I feel that I am now off to a stable start. This project will allow me to learn more about the world I live in. I plan to revisit the Islands someday, and will surely have a much richer store of knowledge to draw from when I do.

~Meghan

Works Cited

“All About Hawaii Culture.” All about Hawaii Culture. Waimea.com, 2009. Web. 23 Sept.

2014.

Kimura, Larry et. al. “Hawaiian: Back from Brink of Extinction.” The Honolulu Advertiser.

24 April 2003. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.

Osorio, Jon Kamakawiwo’ole. Dismembering Lahui. 2002. University of Hawaii Press. Print.

Wyels, Joyce Gregory. "Preserving The Language Of Aloha." Americas 64.3 (2012): 32-38.

Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.