Proper way to type the 'okina?

[akrauth]

Aloha nui, pehea 'oe? Maika'i no au, mahalo. I just wanted to know what the correct way to type the 'okina is. I usually use the apostrophe ('), and I have seen a couple other people use the grauve (`), the key to the left of the 1 on the keyboard. Is one correct and not the other, or is it a matter of personal preference? Oh, and if you care to say, which one do you commonly use when you type?

'Alika

[Pua'i Mana'o]

if we are talking typing on the internet, I don't. If I am in Word, Excel, or email, I stick to using Hawaiian fonts.

[Leo Lakio]

Most often, I use the grauve.

[Composite 2992]

You can create an ‘okina on the Mac by holding down the option key and hitting the right bracket.

Here's a guide that might be of some help if you're on a Mac. It also has options if you're on a PC.

www.guavagraphicshawaii.com/PDFs/HWPT_UG.PDF

[Glen Miyashiro]

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okina

and

http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/enehana/unicode.php

[Glen Miyashiro]

I usually use the apostrophe ('), and I have seen a couple other people use the grauve (`), the key to the left of the 1 on the keyboard. Is one correct and not the other, or is it a matter of personal preference?

Neither the apostrophe or the grave accent is correct, though both are commonly used. The actual official ʻokina is the [ ʻ ] symbol, which is the Unicode 'Modifier Letter Turned Comma' (U+02BB) character.

However, when it comes time to print your documents on paper, not all commonly used Windows fonts (<cough>Times New Roman</cough>) support this character. I'd suggest using a font that does support it, like Arial Unicode MS.

Or, if you're on OS X, you have built-in Hawaiian language support. Click on the little flag in the toolbar to change your keyboard language settings from (I'm guessing) USA English to Hawaiian, and you'll be able to use the apostrophe key as an ʻokina. You'll also be able to type vowels with kahakō by using the vowel key with the alt key; e.g. typing alt-o will give you ō.

[infinitypro]

if we are talking typing on the internet, I don't. If I am in Word, Excel, or email, I stick to using Hawaiian fonts.

Is there a link to download Hawaiian fonts? For me, I use the incorrect apostrophe, however I'm more concerned with the kahako, and being able to use it especially in Word. Recently, we were completing the questions for our 6th grader's application to Kamehameha, and I was desperately trying to find a kahako! I settled on creating it separately, and then inserting an image...it came out great, took some time, but it was worth it.

[Leo Lakio]

Is there a link to download Hawaiian fonts? For me, I use the incorrect apostrophe, however I'm more concerned with the kahako, and being able to use it especially in Word. Recently, we were completing the questions for our 6th grader's application to Kamehameha, and I was desperately trying to find a kahako! I settled on creating it separately, and then inserting an image...it came out great, took some time, but it was worth it.

A lot of standard Word fonts will allow you to insert a "symbol" for the letter with kahako; that's what I do when submitting newspaper stories (and our editor prefers the grave, as it works best for the typesetting that she uses.)
http://www.northwesthawaiitimes.com/ortho.htm

[infinitypro]

A lot of standard Word fonts will allow you to insert a "symbol" for the letter with kahako; that's what I do when submitting newspaper stories (and our editor prefers the grave, as it works best for the typesetting that she uses.)
http://www.northwesthawaiitimes.com/ortho.htm

Thank you.

[Peshkwe]

Here are some resources:

http://www.keolamamo.org/

Go all the way to the bottom in the small statement there's a link for a zip file of some Hawaiin fonts.


http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/enehana/win_hifontkbd.php

There's some fonts and a virtual keyboard.



This PDF might be helpful too

http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/enehana/win_xp.php

[infinitypro]

Here are some resources:

http://www.keolamamo.org/

Go all the way to the bottom in the small statement there's a link for a zip file of some Hawaiin fonts.


http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/enehana/win_hifontkbd.php

There's some fonts and a virtual keyboard.

Thank you too.

[Peshkwe]

I'd be interested in any Hawaiian language specific fonts that can be used commercially, free or for a price.

Sometimes the alt variations just don't look right, I end up taking the copy into one of my proggies and flip commas, dissect other letters for use or manually adjusting the kerning.

[akrauth]

Mahalo ia 'oukou for all your responses. I think I will look into getting those fonts shortly.

['i'iwipolena]

http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/enehana/

Like quite a few people have already mentioned, the above is a good resource for Hawaiian fonts. Now, I've upgraded to Windows Vista, though, so I'm not sure if they're compatible with my system.

[akrauth]

Mahalo, e 'I'iwi. That was fun practicing with you online earlier today. Hope we can do it again soon.


A hui hou,
'Alika

[Glen Miyashiro]

I heard that with Windows Vista, Microsoft has increased the number of Unicode characters in its core fonts (Times New Roman, Arial, and Courier New). Can someone using Vista confirm this? Is it now finally possible to write ʻokina and kahakō using standard Microsoft fonts?

[zztype]

As a typographer and typesetter since the middle-1970s, I was always taught that ‘okina was a single open quote... looks like a number "6". Option-right bracket on a Mac. (PC, I don't know. You can try alt-right bracket.)

I was also taught that the accent grave key (above the tab key) ` was acceptable.

But the accent grave doesn't look as nice as the single open quote, as its letter spacing is really whacked. It causes an ‘okina to look like it is preceded by a spacebar. It makes the single word look like two words, as in this example: Ko`olau. Whereas if you use the single open quote, it looks like one word with a glottal stop: Ko‘olau.

You can also use a foot mark, as here: Ko'olau.

On Macintosh computers, ever since Mac OS X 10.3, if you go into the International control panel and look down the list of languages, lo and behold, there is a "Hawaiian" choice, along with a Hawaiian flag! Checking this box will allow you to switch to the Hawaiian keyboard, which uses the single open quote for ‘okina. You get the letter simply by typing the foot mark, to the left of the return key.

It also gives you the kahakō over vowels simply by typing the option-vowel key combination. ĀāĒēĪīŌōŪū ʻ

Keola Donaghy of UH Hilo Hawaiian Studies Department was instrumental in getting this keyboard added to the Macintosh system.

Blaine

[akrauth]

Keola is an amazing person! I hate to ask you this, but I just want to make sure I know what you're talking about. When you say the single open quote or the foot mark, does that mean the apostrophe?

[zztype]

Keola is an amazing person! I hate to ask you this, but I just want to make sure I know what you're talking about. When you say the single open quote or the foot mark, does that mean the apostrophe?

Absolutely not! An apostrophe looks like a "9" or a single close quote. ‘Okina looks like a "6" -- the single open quote.

Blaine

[Honoruru]

As a typographer and typesetter since the middle-1970s, I was always taught that ‘okina was a single open quote... looks like a number "6". Option-right bracket on a Mac. (PC, I don't know. You can try alt-right bracket.)

On a PC, for an ‘okina, you can type "alt + 0145" (hold down the "alt" key while typing the number). This works for Windows XP (and I think even 98, not sure about Vista) and works for nearly all fonts and all software programs. The kahakō is another matter.

And thanks ZZ for info on Mac OS X. I have 9.1 and know the kahakō is not supported there. I'm thinking of upgrading when Leopard comes out.

As for Hawaiian fonts, I'm not a big fan of that. It's OK if you're only using it on only on your computer and a printout from your printer is all you need, but if you're sharing documents (or using it for web use), it causes problems. But more than that, I don't feel that you have to buy a specialized font in order to use Hawaiian special characters. It should be built-in with what you already have. I know that's was not the case before, but I believe Microsoft and Apple (and Adobe) were supposed to be working on that. It looks like Apple succeeded; I'm not sure about Vista.

[GeckoGeek]

When you say the single open quote or the foot mark, does that mean the apostrophe?

Just to add to the fun, some programs, (like MS Word) will change what you type into something else. For example, it will change a simple double-quote into the fancier open/close double quotes.

I don't know if it will change the apostrophe to a single quote.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Just to add to the fun, some programs, (like MS Word) will change what you type into something else. For example, it will change a simple double-quote into the fancier open/close double quotes.

I don't know if it will change the apostrophe to a single quote.

That's Word's autocorrect function. I often type without looking at the screen, so it took me a while to realize that Word was doing that, and even longer to learn what to do about it.

Most of the time, the autocorrect function is doing the thing the user intended, or at least that's what Microsoft hopes. When it's not what you intended, what you have to do is, as soon as Word autocorrects what you just typed, hit ctrl-Z ("undo"). This tells Word to lay off that particular "correction" that it just attempted. Then you can continue typing.

I usually find myself doing this fix when the autocorrect function substitutes in "1^st" (those were supposed to be superscripts) when I really wanted "1st", and the copyright symbol "©" when I really wanted "(c)".

[zztype]

One more bit of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi fun with Mac OS X:

If you have turned on the Hawaiian keyboard, go into your Date/Time control panel settings. There, you can choose a date/time format for your machine. Look in the list available (might have to hit International/Custom) and you’ll find...ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi! No kidding!

If you select this, the first thing you will notice is that your menu bar clock now says P3 10:05 AM, which is Hawaiian notation for (P3=day 3=) Pōʻakolu 10:05 AM.

If you open your calendar, iCal, you’ll see that the days and months are now in Hawaiian and the times are expressed in Hawaiian.

Pretty cool.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

I wanted to upload a pict of what zz is describing but it is waaaaaaay too little. oh well.

[Eric]

I was at Circuit City today and, remembering this thread, went and checked a Vista PC to see if I could get the ʻokina and kahakō to display properly in Times New Roman like Glen was asking about. Sure enough, now you can do it. Here's a picture: