Should you get the opportunity to actually talk to President Barack Obama during his fleeting State visit to Ireland today (23 May, 2011), impress him with your fluency in his native language, Hawaiian, courtesy of AlohaHolidays.ie, Ireland’s only specialist tour operator to Hawaii.

With only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet (h, k, l, m, n, p and w plus the five vowels) there’s not much to play with.  That is why many words look ridiculously long and repetitive and sometimes very similar to each other.  According to Hawaiian-born Guy Tominaga of Dublin-based Aloha Holidays the trick is to take it slowly and pronounce every vowel as follows:

a - ah
e - ay
i - ee
o - oh
u - oo

“When you see an apostrophe in a word it implies a quick guttural stop. Some common words, such as the island names Kaua'i, Lana'i and Moloka'i, are often written without these apostrophes. You will also notice some Hawaiians pronounce the letter 'w' as 'v', as in "Havai´i" (ha-vi-ee-ee) but for visitors it is probably easier to stick with the 'w'”, suggests Guy.

He recommends breaking long words into single syllable chunks. Take the name of Hawaii's State fish, humuhumunukunukuapua'a, and pronounce it hoo-moo-hoo-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-ah-poo-ah-ah.

While it might not be so easy to work that mouthful into a sentence, have a go with one of these more common words.

Hawaiian (Pronounced) English

aloha (ah-loh-ah)  hello, goodbye, love

mahalo (mah-hah-lo) thank you

kane (kah-nay) man  

wahine (wah-ee-nay) woman

keiki (kay-kee) child

luau (loo-ow) feast

ono (o-no) good, delicious

pupu (poo-poo) snack, canapé

wikiwiki (wihky-wihky) fast, hurry

ali'i  (ah-lih-ee) royal, royalty, chief

hale (hah-lay) house

da kine (dah kyne) a whatchamacallit, a thingamajig

Native Hawaiians also speak their own version of pidgin English. Try slipping a few of the following into the conversation to really impress Obama!

Nice slippahs, brah! = I like your shoes, brother!

You come back bumbay? = Will you return someday/eventually?

Easy foa say, hahd foa do = Easy to say, hard to do

Like beef?  = You want to fight with me?

We no moa da kine =  We have no more of the things                                

I thought you pau (pow) already = I thought you were finished

Doan give me noah stink eye = Don't give me that dirty look

 

- ENDS -

 

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