Okina & Kahako Should Be a Choice, Not a Requirment

I got into a discussion with someone very important to me about the use of okina and kahako last week. It started because this person I was on the phone with was saying they were going to text me a few Hawaiian words, but they didn’t know where the okina and kahako needed to go. I responded in an encouraging way that not using them was just fine with me because I don’t prefer to use them which branched into a whole conversation about whether or not people should use them at all in modern written Hawaiian. It became a bit of a debate leaving me with that all too familiar feeling of sadness around Hawaiians being divided, not united and also Hawaiians having their ancestral knowledge taken away from them.

If the Hawaiian Language wasn’t banned in schools back in 1896, there wouldn’t have been so much shame in speaking it then and embarrassment in not knowing it now. How I hope and plan for a day where learning the language is easily accessible to every Hawaiian family on the planet!

If you want to learn more about why we don’t use okina and kahako you can watch this video here. And if you want to know part of my stance on using them - I’m not offended if you use them, just don’t require anyone else to use them. Win-win.