You’re pretty clever. You toss out aloha, mahalo, and pau hana with ease. But just when you think you’re on it, someone asks: “Pehea oe?” And you have to respond, pehea what? Maybe it’s time you learned a little more Hawaiian than the average visitor. After all, it’s the state’s second official language, and uh…you live here.

Hawaiian language teacher Kaliko Beamer-Trapp, the adopted son of Auntie Nona Beamer, teamed up with the Instant Immersion language series to create an eight-disc Hawaiian audio course. It’s designed to teach you basic sentence patterns, help you apply the vocabulary you learn, build your own sentences for practicing in the real world, and be able to recognize words and phrases when you hear spoken Hawaiian. While you’re at it you’ll learn a little history, culture, place names and music, too.

Like other languages in this software line, Instant Hawaiian Immersion is devised to help you learn by listening, while driving or working around the house, no reading required—but Beamer-Trapp has posted some helpful text aids on his web site (see below) for visual learners. 

Soon you’ll know how to respond when someone asks How are you? (Pehea oe?).

And that’s maika‘i.

Available at Costco and Borders bookstores and online at www.panpolynesia.net