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    The Hawaiian Language Nearly Died. A Radio Show Sparked Its Revival

    In Hawaii today, nearly everyone knows how to speak a few words and phrases of Hawaiian. But the practice of primarily speaking the Hawaiian language from birth nearly died two generations ago.
    by Sara Kehaulani Goo Jun 22, 2019 5 minutes
    Hawaiian language activist Larry Kimura led the charge in the 1970s in getting Hawaii's Department of Education to sanction Hawaiian-language immersion schools. The state, however, did not offer any support or curriculum, Kimura said. So they did it on their own — starting with preschool — where kids could absorb the language from the start.

    The voice was soft and scratchy, as if a bit timid in front of the microphone.

    "Ae," she said, meaning "yes" in Hawaiian, when asked a question by a male voice. "Ae hanau ia wau i Honoma'ele." ("Yes, I was born in Honoma'ele," she says.)

    That voice of an elderly Hawaiian woman was that of my great-grandmother, Martha Kekauililani Kahanu Iwanaga, speaking her native language on a Honolulu radio program more than 40 years ago. The first time I heard the CD recording, it sent chills down my spine.

    I never met my great-grandmother, but hearing her speak in the rounded sounds and lyrical vowels that make up the Hawaiian language was like magic. It was a way to meet her, and, for the first time, I heard people speaking the Hawaiian language to each other.

    It was beautiful — musical, even, just like the strums of the

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