Ka Lei Ha'aheo: Beginning Hawaiian

By Alberta Pualani Hopkins

Ka Lei Haaheo: Beginning Hawaiian is a culturally oriented Hawaiian language textbook.Its grammar lessons include the relationship between the language and the Hawaiian world view. The book's dialogs are drawn from contemporary Hawaiian family life. Extensive classroom testing was used in developing Ka Lei Haaheo . Although it was designed for college use, it is also a handy resource for high schools and individuals, particularly because its companion volume, Ka Lei Haaheo: Teacher Guide and Answer Key provides English translations and answers to the exercises. The text's lively appeal is further enhanced with line drawings.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082481259X
• ISBN13: 9780824812591
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent start to Learn Hawaiian

This is an excellent book to learn Hawaiian from. I have seen other books published by the University of Hawaii and I think this is a step above for the beginner. I own Spoken Hawaiian and have seen Let's Speak Hawaiian E Kama'ilio Hawai'I Kakou and both are not suited for the beginner with no knowledge of Hawaiian. Beginning Hawaiian has one big advantage over the other two, it gives the vocabulary for each lesson in each lesson. In other words the text is set-up like you standard language textbook: dialogs/readings, grammar, and vocabulary in each lesson. The only shame is the high price of the audio that goes with the text. But there are alternatives, such as Learn Hawaiian at Home which is a excellent text (with audio!) to begin with and then use this text afterward.

The seminal textbook of modern Hawaiian

Hawaiian is not a language that someone who has no experience with can simply pick up: the nuances and pronunciations alone are enough to scare off the uninitiated and the differences between Hawaiian and Western (and Eastern for that matter) cultures create difficulties that are not easily overcome by obstinate minds. Mrs. Hopkins' book was intended primarily as a textbook to be used as the text for a Hawaiian class and in a classroom environment. Having grown up in Hawaii, the pronunciations were not difficult for me and the exercises were both useful and amusing. While the grammar section in the back is by no mean comprehensive, it should be remembered that this was not meant to be a dictionary. This is an excellent text for someone who has access to a native speaker with whom he or she can practice with and the standard by which Hawaiian textbooks should be measured. If you don't agree with me, you are welcome to challenge my opinion in a duel--smallswords or epees--and seek a gentleman's satisfaction.

Best foreign-language text I've ever used

If you thought lanugage-learning was boring, think again! Ka Lei Ha'aheo is a horse of a different color. No more memorization of useless phrases like "the pen of my aunt is on the table." No more obtuse grammar lessons. Full of concise explanations of grammar, carefully selected useful vocabulary, all cemented into place with interesting dialogs and stories, "Ka Lei Ha'aheo" makes language learning a breeze.Better still, "Ka Lei Ha'aheo" gives the student a taste of Hawaiian history and culture, and an insight into how the language might influence its speakers to view the world differently from English speakers.Having studied seven other languages using dozens of text books, Ka Lei Ha'aheo is by far the best language text-book I have ever used.Mahalo nui i ka mea ka:kau.Seth Watkins