Program Introduction

“Aloha kākou. Aloha between us all! Welcome to the Hawaiian ‘Instant Immersion’ language program from Topics Entertainment. We are going to take a tour through the Hawaiian islands and learn not only the Hawaiian language, but also a little about the history of the islands, cultural stories, place names, music, and more!

“There are two of us who will act as your guides: Kiele and myself; my name is Kaliko. We hope you enjoy your lessons as you travel through the Hawaiian islands!

“The goal of the program is threefold: first: to teach you some basic Hawaiian sentence patterns; second, to allow you to apply the vocabulary you learn, to build your own sentences for practicing outside of this program; and third, to give you the ability to recognise words and simple phrases when you hear Hawaiian being spoken.

“You should not expect to go through the entire program in one sitting and master everything. Rather, if you can stretch it out and focus on mastering individual segments one at a time, you will not feel frustrated as the lessons gradually get harder and harder.

“At the start of each section, you will hear some music that will introduce the island, followed by a Hawaiian story about each island. There is no English translation for the story, so you should just listen to the sounds until you can start to hear separate words. You might also want to preview the vocabulary list which follows each story in order to learn some of the words ahead of time. The idea behind having you listen to the stories is for you to start to recognize key words, and to memorize phrases that you can use when trying to converse with a friend.

“At times, the program may seem a little too difficult, perhaps, but don’t worry: try to write down what you are hearing if possible, as this will help you to visualise the lessons.”

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