Hawaii is the most unique state of the United States. It’s an archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, touted as the ideal beach getaway vacation for Americans and others around the world alike. The Hawaiian islands have a distinctly Polynesian flavor to them, given that the indigenous inhabitants are a Polynesian people who speak their own Polynesian language, Hawaiian. Today, most Hawaiian residents speak English—but the Hawaiian language is an important artifact of Hawaiian culture and history, and it’s still spoken to this day.
Unfortunately, since English has taken over all the Hawaiian islands except for Ni’ihau, a privately owned island with an entirely native Hawaiian-speaking population of 170, the language is considered “critically endangered” by UNESCO. Hawaiian-language immersion schools have increased the number of Hawaiian-speaking children and the language is gradually gaining a more steady footing, but still, there are only around 24,000 speakers of Hawaiian. No wonder it’s so difficult to find a good Hawaiian translation service. At TranslationServices.com, we’re dedicated to high-quality Hawaiian translation services because we believe in the value of this unique and beautiful language.
To learn how much our Hawaiian translation services cost, reach out today and ask about a free quote.
Hawaiian: an entirely different world from English
Hawaiian is a Polynesian language, the biggest subbranch of the Austronesian language family and the only one found outside of the Austronesian linguistic homeland of Taiwan. It is an isolating language with almost no inflection, and while that may make Hawaiian sound easy, it just means that Hawaiian uses very strict word order and a ton of grammatical particles to express grammatical information. The language is also characterized by a small consonant phonemic inventory, with only eight distinct consonant phonemes.
Hawaiian uses a verb-subject-object word order—something that is only found in 9% of languages globally—and employs a number of particles to denote the tense, aspect, and mood of verbs. Hawaiian pronouns come in three numbers—singular, dual, and plural—and the dual and plural first-person pronouns make a clusivity distinction (i.e., whether the listener is included). Hawaiian also distinguishes between alienable and inalienable possession by using a different possessive particle. Nominal plurality is usually marked through the definite article, not nominal inflection. Finally, Hawaiian lacks verbs for “to be” and “to have”—equative sentences are constructed by positioning two nouns together (with grammatical particles), and possession is denoted through a preposition meaning “for.”
Providing the ideal Hawaiian translation services for you
It doesn’t matter what kind of Hawaiian translation services you’re looking for because we’re equipped to accommodate all sorts of needs. Our Hawaiian translators, who are native speakers passionate about future-proofing their culturally rich language, are prepared to offer translation services both into Hawaiian and out of it. This is a perfect way to have old documents in Hawaiian translated into English or to share traditional Hawaiian folklore with those outside of the island chain. Our translators are also on standby to translate educational materials into Hawaiian, boosting the state’s Hawaiian immersion efforts, as well as books, games, websites, apps, and other content into Hawaiian. This helps learners—children and adults alike—gain a grasp of the language and allows speakers to enjoy their language in more domains.
So, what are you waiting for? Contact us today to discuss what you’d like for your Hawaiian translation endeavor.