Here are some of the basics of the Hawaiian language that might make reading and speaking Hawaiian a little easier. We are certain our natural born Hawaiian speaking friends are rolling on the ground in laughter, because on the islands, it's sort of entertaining to hear people from the mainland trying speak the Hawaiian language for the first time.

But with enough practice you should be able to read and speak in the native language of the Hawaiian islands.

FYI You will also hear Pidgin spoken in Hawaii, Pidgin is the slang spoken by Hawaiian locals. Don't try to speak Pidgin to locals, any attempt to do so will probably be met with strange looks!
The 5 vowels a,e,i,o and u as well as the 7 consonants h,k,l,m,n,p, and w make up the entire Hawaiian alphabet. In the Hawaiian language a consonant is always followed by a vowel which also means all Hawaiian words end in a vowel.

Names and words are more easily pronounced when they are broken down into single syllable chunks. Take the name of Hawaii’s state fish, humuhumunukunukuapua’a, and pronounce it hu-mu-hu-mu-nu-ku-nu-ku-a-pu-a-a. Phonetically pronounced who-moo-who-moo-new-coo-new-coo-ah-poo-ah-ah. Sometimes the letter W is pronounced the same as V as in the traditional pronunciation of Hawai'i which is phonetically pronounced huh-vi-ee rather than huh-why-ee.

Stressed vowels KEEP
a - ah, as in car: aloha
e - a, as in may: nene
i - ee, as in bee: honi
o - oh, as in so: mahalo
u - oo, as in spoon: kapu

Unstressed vowels
a - a, as in about: ali`i
e - eh, as in met: kane

In the Hawaiian language a symbol directly over a vowel called a kahakô indicates that the vowel sound is to be elongated. A apostrophe like symbol called an `okina indicates a quick pause in the word, as in "ah-ah" for the word a`a. Note: These Hawaiian vocabulary words have not been written with the use of the correct kahakô markings due to the absence of a Hawaiian Font.