My Takeaways from Listening to Kaulana Char

Last week I listened to this episode of Ka Leo Hawaii with Kaulana Char. Here were my main takeaways and wonders:

• I wonder if I’m related to Kaulana as my maiden name is Char and Kaulana was from Kohala and I think I might have relatives from there as well. If you’re Hawaiian you should at least look through Ka Leo Hawaii to find relatives. You might find one of your kupuna!
• She has such a pleasant voice and sounds Hawaiian because she is a native speaker. I was trying to copy her intonation and I found that it helped to speak softer. Maybe (for me at least) that’s part of getting closer to sounding like our kupuna.
• It’s okay to slow down your speech when you’re learning. The kupuna in these recordings do it for those they are speaking with.

This year will mark 10 years since I started learning to speak Hawaiian for my family. I have some big goals before the 10 year mark gets here, namely: I want to work on my sound, intonation, and flow. I want to sound more like a native speaker by the end of the year! If I can figure it out then I’ll be sure to share with you what helps.