In today’s Rising Voices Language Blog, we speak with Dax Kane, a freshman from Stanford Online High School. Born and raised in Texas, Dax describes himself as “hapa”—part Hawaiian, part European, part Chinese. Through learning ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, he found a way to reconnect with his cultural heritage from thousands of miles away. In this conversation, he shares his story, his perspective on identity, and how technology can help keep Hawaiian alive — including his digital dictionary project, Wehewehe Hōkū.
1. Could you tell us a bit about your background and what brought you to learn Hawaiian?
So I actually live in Texas – I am what some people call "hapa," part Hawaiian and part something else (in my case, European and Chinese), and my father moved from Hawaii to Texas like many other Hawaiians because of economic and social issues. Unfortunately, more than half of us are on the mainland because we have been forced out by competition from outsiders in housing and employment.
Anyways, I didn't know much Hawaiian other than basic words and some "Pidgin" (a Hawaii-originating English-based creole), so when COVID started, I decided to spend some time learning. After visiting the islands, I really connected with the culture and language and have continued studying since then. At this point, I'm conversational but not fully fluent, especially with all the different varieties of Hawaiian.
2. What projects have you created or participated in to support the Hawaiian language?
Some projects I’ve done with Hawaiian language include several website/coding projects — one that I particularly like is Wehewehe Hōkū, an online dictionary tool for Hawaiian. I also play ʻukulele, especially traditional Hawaiian music, so I have to work on my pronunciation a lot. Honestly, Hawaiian has become part of my everyday life, and I use it pretty frequently.
3. Can you share some interesting facts about the Hawaiian language?
With each other, we mainly call our language ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, which literally means "speak Hawaiʻi". It's a little funny because originally "Hawaiʻi" was only the name for the largest island in our island chain, the Big Island – there wasn't really a widespread word for the Hawaiian Islands although I have heard "nā moku ʻehā" (the four islands, referencing the four big islands that were independent kingdoms for a lot of history) or maybe "ka ʻaina", the land.
We also don't call each other Hawaiians a lot of the time, but "kanaka māoli" which kinda translates to "the true/original people." Although Hawaiian is the word we use in English – its just not a native word!
The form of Hawaiian taught in schools is most similar to the Hawaiʻi Island dialect. Since there were at one point only 50 speakers of our language naturally, some of the dialect differences were lost, but you can still tell where somebody is from based on where they speak. It's pretty much a spectrum from the western islands to the eastern islands. And I could yap about this for literally years, but basically for yadda yadda historical reasons Hawaiʻi Island dialect became the "standard" dialect and now we are trying to also teach other dialects because there isn't just one right way to talk! Btw, my dialect would probably be an Oʻahu dialect but ya know - it's all ʻōlelo!
