Is Olelo Hawaii Actually Doing Well?
Aloha,
This past week I presented at Kamehameha Schools for the annual He Alii Ka Aina Conference. I was asked to speak about the Hawaiian language specifically in the context of the Renaissance era.
I walked the attendees through the 1896 ban of Hawaiian language in schools all the way to the present day, with the bulk of my presentation focused on the Renaissance. I am not sure what people were expecting, but I gave them the business.
I opened by asking, "How is the Hawaiian language doing?" One person said it is growing. The overall consensus in the room was that things are going well. I then played a teaser of the documentary I have been working on for three years. When I asked Uncle Sonny, a native speaker, about language revitalization, he said, "My dialect no more. If we talk about it only me know. Ua hala kela mau la." (Those days are gone.)
Most people in that room felt the language movement was growing and doing well. But in Uncle Sonny's perspective, those days are gone, and he and his cousin are the last two speakers they know of. That should make you stop and ask, what is actually going on?
From the perspective of native speakers, their population has been in decline since the 1890s. They lived in a time when literally everyone in their family spoke Hawaiian, from kupuna to makua to keiki. The native speakers who remain today are the last in their communities.
From the perspective of 2nd language speakers, numbers have been growing since the 1970s, so they see a thriving community.
Here is the catch. Native speakers do not recognize 2nd language speakers as speaking their language. There is a language barrier. Here is a story that illustrates that.
The first time I met Uncle Sonny, I went to his house and started speaking Hawaiian to him. I did not get more than a full sentence out before he said, "Ahhh boy if you goin' speak Hawaiian to me I not goin understand. Jus come sit down." I had spoken Hawaiian to other native speakers without this reaction and was caught off guard.
We ended up talking for two and a half hours. Uncle would say a sentence or two in Hawaiian and I would respond. That happened a few times until we were both speaking only in Hawaiian. I later found out he was so used to people from the University coming to niele him that he could not understand the way they spoke, and vice versa. Several years have passed since then and I call or visit Uncle regularly to talk story.
Think about this for a second. If Uncle Sonny and other native speakers cannot understand 2nd language speakers, how was I, also a 2nd language speaker, able to walaau with him just fine?
Most 2nd language speakers are taught to focus and almost obsess over grammar. That leaves very little time for everything else that actually goes into learning a language, proper word choice, pronunciation, accent, intonation, speed, rhythm, idioms, colloquialisms, and the worldview of native Hawaiian speakers.
I will leave it there. Here is how I ended my presentation. We have to be critical of our language teaching and learning, but criticizing without offering solutions is a waste of time. So here is what you can do.
You cannot understand or speak a language you have never heard. That means you cannot become an accurate speaker without listening to native speakers. Open the links below on a weekly if not daily basis. It does not matter if this is your first week or your first year learning Hawaiian. The benefits of hearing spoken Hawaiian are irreplaceable. Listening informs how you speak and everything that 2nd language speakers are missing, can be learned by doing this.
Listening Resources
After reading this, if you have real questions about the revitalization of olelo Hawaii, native speakers, or how to become an accurate speaker, send me an email. I will write a whole newsletter on it if need be.
Me ke aloha,
Maluhia
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