Kiele Akana-Gooch has helped produce an introductory Hawaiian-language course on audio CD, as well as in an interactive version for computer.
Native speech
An audio CD package aims to give
the Hawaiian language the place it
deserves in everyday life
Beyond "aloha" and "mahalo," the common tourist knows about as many Hawaiian words as do most residents of this state, unless they are the names of local food or streets.
But with the growing sovereignty movement and continuing controversy over Native Hawaiian rights, cultural awareness has prompted some kamaaina and malihini to learn the language for their own enrichment.
To others, the pursuit of the language goes even further. Kaliko Beamer-Trapp, a Hawaiian language teacher, is among those who think Hawaiian should be on par with English -- spoken all the time at work and play, and used more commonly in legal documents.
"Instant Hawaiian Immersion"
(Topics Entertainment, $29.95;
available at Costco and Borders stores)
He has developed an audio CD series to keep the language "surviving in today's world."
"We represent a lot of young people trying to get the language spoken to each other all the time. If you don't believe in it this way, why do this at all?" he asks.
"We" includes Kiele Akana-Gooch, who translates historic Hawaiian documents into English for Alu Like (an education-oriented Hawaiian nonprofit agency), as does Beamer-Trapp.
He and Akana-Gooch provide the two voices on an eight-disc audio "Instant Hawaiian Immersion" course produced by the Seattle-based Topics Entertainment. The smiling face of the pretty, young woman who is "one-eighth Hawaiian and nine different things" graces the box.
"I see my face all over the place," she says, covering her face with her hands in modesty. Bookstores and other outlets carry the Instant Immersion product line that offers courses in Spanish, Japanese, French and English.
Akana-Gooch said many people don't know that Hawaiian is an official language of the state, along with English; and that Hawaii is the only state with two official languages. So much has changed since a time when speaking Hawaiian "used to be forbidden" -- when Hawaii was subjugated to rule of the United States in 1898, she said.
"People can write checks in Hawaiian, testify before the Legislature in Hawaiian (with an interpreter), and write land deeds -- all the major functions ... I'm really proud that the Hawaiian language is being embraced. It's about time," she said.
"I'd like to see Hawaii become more of a bilingual state, like in Canada (where, on all store merchandise) one side is written in French and the other side in English," she said.
Tricia Vander Leest, the Topics project coordinator who approached Beamer-Trapp to work on the project, said the CDseries, as well as a three-disc audio-visual interactive software package, are "doing really well," totaling 25,000 in sales a month.
Most of the sales have originated in Hawaii, followed by Washington state, California and Las Vegas, since the $29.95 CD set went on the market in January. The mainland states are the ones where many former Hawaii have relocated, and they're interested in going "back to their roots," she said.
HOW Beamer-Trapp came to make a Hawaiian language teaching tape is a good example of how Hawaii creates and is created by melting boundaries between people of diverse cultures.
His name sounds as though it belongs to a local boy, rather than someone born as Simon Trapp in England.
His first name, "Kaliko," which means "the young leaf of the 'ohia lehua tree," was given to him by kumu hula Patrick Makuakane in the early '90s when he was dancing in a San Francisco Polynesian revue. The Beamer surname was bestowed on him after the legendary entertainer Aunty Nona Beamer adopted him several years ago.
"I was very honored. ... I was very, very fortunate" to be adopted by someone who has become an icon of the aloha spirit, he said, adding the only other student she has adopted is Maile Beamer-Loo of Oahu, who has preserved hula in the Beamer style of teaching.
When he arrived in Hawaii from California in 1994 with Beamer's help, "I was interested in reinventing myself" and focusing on the Hawaiian language and culture. He taught Hawaiian for six years in a Hawaiian Language Immersion School in Keaau on the Big Island, under the auspices of the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
In 2002 he started Kili'apu Services, which has three branches: DrMacNut, a repair service for Apple Macintosh computers; 11th Avenue Filmworks, which makes educational videos and does freelance production work; and translating and editing services in Hawaiian, Marquesan and French languages.
Topics Entertainment wanted him to make the CDs without written text, as is the style of their other CDs. Topics' idea is that people can learn a language by listening to it as they are driving or doing housework.
"I know how difficult that is," he said, recalling how he couldn't pronounce Hawaiian words without seeing the way they were spelled.
One day he had a "breakthrough" idea to divide a word into "component parts," each with its own definition, he said. For instance, the word "Kaimuki," he broke into Ka (meaning "the"), imu (underground oven), and ki (ti leaf).
He told Topics he would publish some text on his own Web site for free, because "I can't imagine people trying to learn with out it. The name of the site is panpolynesia.net, which is mentioned on the first CD of the series in the introduction, but not on the box.
"It must've helped a lot of people," he said. After ignoring the site after setting it up at Christmas, he returned to discover 1,777 hits.
Akana-Gooch said the CDs are organized so that she and Beamer-Trapp act as guides, taking the student on a tour of the Hawaiian islands so they learn not only the language, but a little about the history, cultural stories, place names, music and more.
The program's goal is to teach basic sentence patterns, words and phrases, and help students apply the vocabulary and build sentences for practical conversation practice.
At the start of each section, music introduces each island, followed by a story about each island and a list of vocabulary words to be used in the CD. There is no English translation, so student start to recognize key words and memorize phrases right away.
Beamer-Trapp said the language is still relevant in the modern world, even though there are words for objects unknown in ancient Hawaii, such as "computer" and "chemistry."
Since 1996, he has been a member of the Hawaiian Lexicon Committee, "Ke Komike Hua 'Olelo," that translates modern words into Hawaiian. The lexicon has been published every two years since 1987, and projects like the Instant Hawaiian Immersion course guarantee the language will continue to grow and maintain relevance in the 21st century.
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