is it helpful to learn hawaiian before actually vacationing there?
December 7th, 2009 | 
Author: i’ve already started but since were only going a little longer than a week is it even necessary?
No one will ever speak Hawaii to you, I’ve lived here my whole life, that’s silly to even think that.
Posted in hawaiian vacations
You don’t really need to know it. The only words I’ve heard widely used are "aloha" and "mahalo". If you want to impress people, you can learn how to say "humuhumunukunukuapaua’a", but even the natives speak English much more fluently than they speak Hawaiian.
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You’re kidding, right? Hawaii is the 50th state in the USA. English is spoken here. Yes, Hawaiian is a true language but it is not widely used anymore. You do not need to know Hawaiian to visit here.
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You don’t need to know Hawaiian. We speak fluent English. We all do know the basic Hawaiian words, which we don’t say because we don’t need to.
Yeah our street signs are in Hawaiian, but that’s a given.
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Oahu resident
speak the dakine pidgin, then you akamai
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No, they speak English there too.
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somelady is dreaming. yes alot of people here still olelo hawaii.(speak hawaiian) it is wide spread, just not in the haole community. if you can speak it, there is some one to talk to at every resort, and in alot of other places. most tourist only know the token haole words so those who speak hawaiian don’t bother. If you want to know if someone speaks hawaiian, just ask, that person, Olelo Hawaii? It would be respectful to learn something dfferent than the normal haole.. here’s a couple of easy ones………
Pahea "oe=how are you. Maika’i or hiki nou= good or o.k. Maika’i nou-very good. O’oe= and you? olu olu or E olu olu= please. Hele mai= come this way or come here. E komo mai= welcome. rubbish =Opala.
A hui hou=good bye. Malama pono= take care of yourself. ono=righteous or whats right. Mana’o= thoughts. Kuleana=responsibility. Hano hano=work. Holo holo= to go to or travel to. Lua= bathroom. gecko =mo’o. and on and on andn. aloha and a hui hou
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local haole, a tour director and cultural consultant for maui county
NOT AT ALL. Everyone speaks English here
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You will learn mahalo on the plane ride out there and hear it everywhere you go. It means thank you.
However, the most important word in Hawaiian that you can learn is PAKALOLO.
It won’t matter if you don’t learn any other words.
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No one will ever speak Hawaii to you, I’ve lived here my whole life, that’s silly to even think that.
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No need to learn Hawaiian since we speak English here. Thses are a few words that are useful and pronunciations as close as I can get them:
Mahalo (mah-hah-low) – thank you
Aloha (ah-low-ha)- hello, good bye
Tutu (too-too) – grandparent, though usually in reference to grandmother
Wahine (wah-he-neigh) – woman, female
Kane (kah-neigh) – man, male
Keiki (kay-key) – child
These are usually used in giving directions:
Mauka (mau-kah) – towards the mountains
Makai (mah-kai) – towards the ocean
Ewa (evuh) – sort of westward (it’s a city on the westernish side of Oahu)
Diamond head – sort of eastward (the famous landmark on the south east shore of Oahu)
Have fun when you visit!
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I’ve lived in Hawaii all my life
you dont need to learn the language itself, but its good to how to read it. most of the streets, highways, and places in general are hawaiian names.
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live in Hawaii
no, its not necessary. your not going to a foreign place. hawaii is part of the united states. there will be english-speaking people. lol. don’t worry. a few phrases you will probably be hearing are "aloha" and "mahalo".
wish you the best. have fun =)
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learning the language is not necessary. you’ll probably pronounce most of the words wrong anyway, like most tourists do. extremely annoying.. so dont bother.
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You probably won’t use many words besides aloha (hello, goodbye, and love), mahalo (thank you), wahine and kane (woman and man, especially for public restrooms). But, you should practice pronouncing the Hawaiian words, because almost all of the street signs and city/town names are in Hawaiian, and you want to be able to get around and ask directions.
This site has a great tutorial on pronouncing Hawaiian words: http://www.geocities.com/~olelo/workshop.htm
One thing you can do to prepare is to call up a map of where you’ll be staying in Hawaii, and learn to pronounce the city/town and street names out loud. Then, when you get there, this will help you to be able to get around easier (the words won’t look so foreign).
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NOT AT ALL EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH YOUR JUST WASTING YOUR TIME LEARNING IT
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