Astronomer exchanges kanji greetings with Hawaiian Language students

[Keola Donaghy]

http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/news/press/view/591/

Astronomer exchanges kanji greetings with Hawaiian Language students

Dr. Keiichi Kodaira of the Subaru Telescope Project delivered a  
written greeting in Japanese kanji characters to students during an  
assembly today at the University of Hawaii at Hilo Hawaiian immersion  
laboratory school, Nawahiokalani’opu’u. But what he got in return  
proved that sometimes the teacher can learn a thing or two from the  
students.

The entire school turned out to greet Dr. Kodaira and read out loud a  
projection of their own message. To his surprise, the language  
spelled out in the greeting was not Japanese, but Hawaiian --  
something Kodaira had never seen.

The greeting was authored by Miki Kawachi, a Japanese national who  
studied Hawaiian at UH Hilo. Kawachi played a key role in developing  
the system of writing Hawaiian in kanji and taught it to many  
students at the school before returning to Japan two years ago.

Staff from the Hawaiian language organization, ‘Aha Punana Leo, who  
sailed aboard Hokule’a, joined Kodaira in a presentation of the  
canoe’s voyage to Japan. Kanji letters from Nawahiokalani’opu’u were  
among the gifts from Hokule’a’s crew to the Japanese school children.

The Punana Leo Hawaiian language revitalization movement is known to  
many school children in Japan since it is a featured element of the  
government’s approved school curriculum. Hawaiian language college  
faculty at UH Hilo have led the way in developing schools run  
entirely through Hawaiian from the Punana Leo preschool age up to the  
doctorate. The best practices are employed at Nawahiokalani’opu’u,  
which has produced a 100% high school graduation rate and  
approximately 80% college attendance.

“When we first began teaching through Hawaiian, some people said we  
should be teaching a more economically useful language such as  
Japanese or Chinese,” said Kauanoe Kamana, the director of the  
school. “Ironically, Nawahiokalani’opu’u today has one of the most  
developed elementary school Asian language programs in Hawai’i.”

All first through sixth graders at the school spend an hour each week  
studying kanji in Hawaiian and another hour studying Japanese. As  
early as third grade, they can read books written in Hawaiian using  
kanji, including one that recounts the travels of King Kalakaua to  
Japan. The focus of the kanji messages carried aboard Hokule’a was  
aloha to the ancestral land of those in the school who are part  
Japanese.

Nawahiokalani’opu’u teaches all subjects through Hawaiian language  
and values, such as honoring one’s ancestors. Students honor their  
Japanese, Chinese, Okinawan, and Korean ancestors by learning the  
Chinese characters, or kanji, in which those East Asian languages are  
traditionally written. European ancestors are honored by studying  
Latin in the upper grades.

The system of writing Hawaiian in kanji was developed as a project by  
Dr. Pila Wilson with support from Kawachi and Ms. Wen Chi. Unlike  
English, kanji can be written in Hawaiian due to certain structural  
features it shares with East Asian languages. Wilson says there are  
additional academic advantages to writing Hawaiian in kanji.

“Kanji reinforces reading by syllables and whole words, which helps  
you to read in any language,” Wilson said. “The stroke order and  
distinctive positioning of kanji on the page also strengthens  
artistic and mathematical skills.”

Kodaira said he was honored to deliver the Japanese school children’s  
response to the students. He noted that the word Subaru derived from  
an old Japanese word for unity and that writing Hawaiian in kanji  
reinforces the historical and ancestral ties that unify the people of  
Japan and Hawai’i. For more information on kanji and the Hawaiian  
language, visit www.ahapunanaleo.org.



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Keola Donaghy
Assistant Professor of Hawaiian Studies
Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikolani             keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu
University of Hawai'i at Hilo           http://www2.hawaii.edu/~donaghy/

"Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam."  (Irish Gaelic saying)
A country without its language is a country without its soul.
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