Pronunciation Practice Text With Audio
This free reading practice is available to both members and non-members of ʻŌlelo Online.
Introduction
“Pōʻino i ka Lio” (Hurt by a Horse) comes from the old Hawaiian Nūpepa Kūʻokoʻa newspaper, dated 18 November 1865
This is the first article of a set here on ʻŌlelo Online from the old Hawaiian language newspapers.
The story is about a young man who was working for the sugar cane company in 1865. He was riding home one day from work on his new horse when all of a sudden he ended up entangled in the stirrups and ropes and found himself hanging beneath the horse’s belly with the horse bucking around above him! His friends managed, in the end, to free him, but not before he was hurt quite badly. The moral of the story is given at the end by the letter-writer: be especially careful when you are riding a new horse, and never wrap the ropes around your thighs.
How To Use This Lesson
This resource is primarily targeted at the beginner level student who wants to practice pronunciation. There are several great ways to use the lesson:
- listen to the entire audio a few times and then try to replicate what you heard on your own
- see if you can read along at the same time and with the same pacing as the reader
- listen to the audio while trying to “shadow” the reader by simultaneously repeating what he says immediately after you hear it without stopping
- find a friend who is also learning Hawaiian to work with and use the PDF printout to read to your partner (who does not have the paper) and have your partner shadow you
- record yourself reading the passage and listen back to it
In all cases above, you should listen to your own voice and continually analyze the quality of both your phrasing and your pronunciation. You must become good at doing this all the time when learning a new language, and even when you think you are completely fluent! Now is a good time to start building that skill. When you listen to your own recording, put aside what you think is your “funny sounding voice” (because that’s how we all hear you anyway!) and focus on the quality of your spoken language.
Lesson Resources
The resources for this lesson include marked-up PDFs and audio readings for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels.
Reading Practice PDFs
Read-Along Audio Files
You may need to right-click and select Save in order to download these files. If not, they might play in your web-browser.
Source Text Files (PDFs)
- Original Retyped Version (no ʻokina or kahakō)
- Modernized Retyped Version (with ʻokina and kahakō)
E Loko ē, aloha nui kāua. Mahalo au i kou mau manaʻo maikaʻi loa. He nani pū hoʻi kāu ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi! – nui koʻu hauʻoli i ka ʻike ʻana i kou mākaukau. I kēia mua aku, e haku paha au i kekahi mau haʻawina ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi wale nō, no ka pono o nā haumāna e like me ʻoe i mākaukau mua ma kekahi ʻano.
Aloha nui!
na Kaliko
E Kumu Kaliko ē, aloha nō kāua,
Mahalo i kāu ‘ōlelo ʻoluʻolu ma ka pane wikiwiki. ‘O kekahi mau haʻawina i ka ‘ōleo Hawaiʻi wale nō, he waiwai aʻu e kūliʻa nei. E hoʻāʻo au e kali mai me ke ahonui pū paha.
Aloha a nui,
Loko
Mahalo nui iā ʻoe e Loko. Inā ua lawa ka manawa, e hana au i haʻawina i kēlā me kēia lā! Nui koʻu hauʻoli i ka hana ʻana ma ʻŌlelo Online, a nui pū koʻu mahalo i ka poʻe nāna e kōkua mai nei, e like me ʻoe.
aloha hoʻi
na Kaliko
Aloha nō e kumu Kaliko,
ʻAkahi nō au a ‘ike pehea lā e hoʻoikaika puana i kaʻu hoʻopaʻa haʻawina iho ma ʻŌlelo|Online. Aia ana ma ʻaneʻi ma kēia ʻano hana mai. E pane ʻia mai ana auaneʻi ka hapa nui o kaʻu mau nīnau e pili ana i ka puana ‘ōlelo hawaiʻi. Pono wale e hoʻolohe pono pinepine i kou heluhelu ʻana, ʻoki i kaʻu heluhelu ʻana ma kaʻu Ipad, a laila, hoʻohalike. Ke kani like, hulō, hiki ke holo i mua. Maikaʻi nō nā wikiō e hoʻākāka puana ana, akā, ʻoi aku
kēia ʻano no ka hoʻopaʻa ʻana a paʻa. Ma ka hana ka ‘ike, ‘eā? A hoihoi nō hoʻi kēia moʻolelo nūpepa. He haumāna hauʻoli wau!
Naʻu me ka mahalo nui,
Nā Loko
(Quick translation: Iʻve been worried about developing bad pronunciation habits because I donʻt often have a chance to converse with fluent speakers. At last I see how to strengthen my pronunciation while studying alone with ʻOlelo|Online. It is here in this kind of practice. Most of my questions about pronunciation will probably be answered. I must listen carefully and frequently to Kumu Kaliko”s readings, record my reading and compare. When they sound alike, cheers, I can move on. Explanatory videos are great but, but this process is better for practice. Knowledge is in the doing, right? Also, this is a very interesting newspaper article. Iʻm a happy student. Thank you, Kumu Kaliko)