Newcomers to Hawaii are often completely perplexed by the Hawaiian language and how to pronounce Hawaiian names. They are simply just stumped to the point that they can’t even possibly make a guess about the correct way to pronounce Hawaiian names. What they don’t know is that pronouncing Hawaiian words is fairly simple as soon as you know the rules, of which there are few.
Here are the very basics you need to know. There are more rules than these and certainly more explanations for pronounced Hawaiian names, but the following few lines will get you to pronounce Hawaiian names that are widespread.
How To Pronounce Hawaiian Names
There are seven consonants in the Hawaiian language, and they are all pronounced the same way you would in English. The consonants are H, K, L, M, N, P, and W. These are all pronounced in the same manner as you are used to, with the sometimes exception of W, which in some cases is pronounced like a V.
There are five vowels, all pronounced the same as in English except for the ‘i’, which is pronounced like a long ‘e,’ as in me. A (ah), E (eh), I ( long E), O (oh), U (u).
In Hawaiian, every letter is pronounced separately. The only exception to this rule is the use of okina (`) and kahakou (line over the vowel). Okina causes a glottal stop between vowels, while kahakou causes a vowel to have an elongated sound. Any time you see two identical vowels next to each other, you can assume an okina is missing.
For instance, the a’s are all pronounced separately in the place name of a city in Kauai called Kapaa. Each of the three a’s is pronounced separately.
Well, that’s it. This was your ‘very basic’ first lesson to help you to pronounce Hawaiian names. There is certainly still more to learn but if you start trying to sound out the various words you come across using the above rules it will become easier to pronounce Hawaiian names.
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