Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

this is all about context now.

A kumu kiʻekiʻe can be a number of things:
-head teacher (although the better term is poʻokumu, which is also ʻprincipalʻ)
-a tall tree (kumu is also tree; "source/teaching" comes from this natural example, as do most terms in Hawaiian)
-complex idea (idea being the kumu to be grappled, kiʻekiʻe being the intensity, intricacy, higher order)

so it depends.

but to be a kumu oneself, it is an earned station/title/occupation. Nobody just digs teaching and becomes one. Well, you gotta dig it but realllly suffer along the way, ya dig?

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

Sorry. Maybe this isn't the place for a lesson, but I'm super interested.

I can't think of a better place; after all, we are able to gain knowledge as the thread title suggests.

Thank you, Pua`i Mana`o - beyond the linguistic aspects, I truly appreciate the cultural perspective you generously share with those of us who are niele.

[scrivener]

Re: Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

Well, you gotta dig it but realllly suffer along the way, ya dig?

Okay, now suddenly you're speaking my language!

The rest of that stuff I'm going to think about.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

what teacher hasnʻt suffered more than his/her fair share of fiery baptisms?

[Mokihana]

Re: Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

A great question. Let's take a look at the realm of the beginner level:

Early stages of fluency (aka the beginner level 2nd language learner) encompasses a wide ground, from vocab acquisition and retention, rules of grammar, specifically learning the cultural nuances and mores through grammar for thought composition (and all the gaffes along the way) and pronunciation. Most importantly, there is a time element involved. No such thing as "speed fluency".

Let's take your signature:
Me ke aloha pumehana mai ku'u pu'uwai ia 'oukou. (With warm love from my heart to you all.)

This is an English thought employing simple Hawaiian grammar and vocabulary. If it was composed through a Hawaiian thought pattern, it wouldn't start with 'with' (me) and it wouldn't be "from" (mai) and it wouldn't involve the heart organ (puʻuwai), nor would it extend to others (iā ʻoukou) from said organ. With 2nd language learners, a kumu would teach the Hawaiian thought of encompassing love, the importance of naʻau in love and the sentence composition would build upon the Hawaiian thought.

There are a myriad of ways to do this in Hawaiian when working with the beginner level:
Piha kuʻu naʻau i ke aloha iā kākou (full are my guts of loving all of us)

Looking further, this is a signature, so how do the kupuna "sign off?" What is culturally correct?
ʻO au iho nō...(truly me)

Recognizing that there is a respected, established and understood form, we now start to compose, using Hawaiian thoughts with Hawaiian form.

ʻO au iho nō me ka naʻau piha i ke aloha (Truly I declare with my guts full of aloha. )

Notice that this very Hawaiian thought murders the English ears to hear it. Likewise, your signature is a teeth-clencher to the Hawaiian ear. Until you are proficient (∑=examples via time via gaffes via corrections therefore learning) at understanding/negotiating/contemplating and composing through this, you do not move past the beginner level.

Don't give up. You are willing to study with others and I applaud that. But do not consider yourself ready to teach, because you aren't.

Mahalo nui, Pua'i Mana'o, for your excellent thoughts. You have firmly but kindly gotten to the very heart of the matter of learning and teaching. It seems to me that in order to be qualified to teach one must understand not only the mechanics, if you will, of a language, but also the very heart of that language. And this is something that takes years and years of immersion in the language, and in the culture.

After I moved to the mainland I took years of classes in both Spanish and American Sign Language. I became conversant in both. I understood the mechanics of both. I could maintain a conversation with any hearing impaired person I met and it was wonderful for both of us. Same thing with Spanish.

However, I did not consider myself to be fluent in either one. I could move within both communities and have conversations with the people in both, but as I had not been immersed in both cultures, it was obvious that I still had a long way to go. I was certainly not a teacher. I was a student. And the best way to improve my knowledge was to be willing to do a lot of listening and not take on more than what I was capable of doing.

Today it breaks my heart that when I was growing up, the Hawaiian language was not part of my education. To this day, it causes me great distress, and, because I'm on the mainland, I can't be physically present in a local immersion program. But what I can do is to pay attention to the things that you say, study the best I can, ask for kokua when I need it, be grateful that there are resources that can give me some basic information, and not assume that I know more than I do.

[akrauth]

Re: Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

Mahalo nui, Pua'i Mana'o, for your excellent thoughts. You have firmly but kindly gotten to the very heart of the matter of learning and teaching. It seems to me that in order to be qualified to teach one must understand not only the mechanics, if you will, of a language, but also the very heart of that language. And this is something that takes years and years of immersion in the language, and in the culture.

After I moved to the mainland I took years of classes in both Spanish and American Sign Language. I became conversant in both. I understood the mechanics of both. I could maintain a conversation with any hearing impaired person I met and it was wonderful for both of us. Same thing with Spanish.

However, I did not consider myself to be fluent in either one. I could move within both communities and have conversations with the people in both, but as I had not been immersed in both cultures, it was obvious that I still had a long way to go. I was certainly not a teacher. I was a student. And the best way to improve my knowledge was to be willing to do a lot of listening and not take on more than what I was capable of doing.

Today it breaks my heart that when I was growing up, the Hawaiian language was not part of my education. To this day, it causes me great distress, and, because I'm on the mainland, I can't be physically present in a local immersion program. But what I can do is to pay attention to the things that you say, study the best I can, ask for kokua when I need it, be grateful that there are resources that can give me some basic information, and not assume that I know more than I do.

!Vamos a practicar espanol!

Alejandra

[Mokihana]

Re: Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

!Vamos a practicar espanol!

Alejandra

Lo siento mucho [I'm very sorry], Alex. This thread isn't about speaking Spanish, for one thing. It's great that you know Spanish, but this probably isn't the place to do it.

My schedule is so busy that I don't have time to put into it, anyway... and right now my focus is on Hawaiian. Maybe there are others who would like to participate.

[akrauth]

Re: Learn Hawaiian... FREEEEE!

Aloha e Mokihana, I didn't mean in this thread. I meant online and such. I wrote that in response to what you wrote earlier. So what do you think? ?Quieres practicar conmigo por correo electronico o IM?

'Alika