Hawaiian: Is it still spoken?

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Is the Hawaiian language still a viable language? Is it still spoken by anyone as a primary language..or has it died for the most part?

-- Randy Shaffer (rshaffer@efortress.com), January 16, 1999

Answers

It is a dead language like Latin. But there is a major attempt to revive it. There are Hawaiian language classes for all ages and even a few elementary Hawaiian language emersion schools where only Hawaiian is spoken. It also counts as the language requirement for University of Hawaii.

-- Billy Bosnoda (bosnoda@lava.net), January 17, 1999.

The Hawaiian language is still spoken in several--usually rural--areas of the Hawaiian Islands, on the island of Ni`ihau, for example, and in other Native Hawaiian communities on Kaua`i, Maui, Moloka`i, and the Big Island. I recall camping in Hana, on the island of Maui, and coming across a big group of children playing in one of the many streams in the area. Everyone was speaking in their native Hawaiian language, shouting and laughing while splashing around in the water. It was a wonderful scene that I will remember for a lon

-- Miles Yukimura (Cynick7685@aol.com), June 27, 1999.

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