Many Hawaiian podcasts and newspaper columns are made for people who already speak it. Here are places to read and hear Hawaiian as a learner. Reading and listening to things you mostly understand is called comprehensible input.
Hawaiian is written with the ʻokina and the kahakō, and both change what a word means. To compare courses and live classes, see our Hawaiian app comparison.
To check the level, read a few sentences. If most have about one new word, keep reading. If you can't tell what's happening, pick something easier.
Read each new word in a sentence, and play its audio.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Hawaiian. You learn from Hawaiian you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Hawaiian lessons. To read a newspaper or hear a podcast, go to Free Hawaiian to Read and Hear.
- Every lesson is written at your level, about things you like.
- Each lesson plays AI audio while you read.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki as flashcards.
- Ask Poppy about any sentence while you read.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- You can't turn a Hawaiian article you found into a lesson. However, you can paste a paragraph into the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Hawaiian is new in Bubblegum, and its dictionary is still small. When a word has no entry, ask Poppy.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Mango Languages
Mango plays each Hawaiian word with audio from a native speaker. It suits beginners who want to hear Hawaiian before they read much of it.
- Native-speaker audio for every word.
- Conversation lessons, so you hear whole exchanges.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
uTalk
uTalk's Hawaiian recordings come from a female native speaker and a male speaker who was adopted into a Hawaiian family.
- More than 2,500 words and phrases, with recordings of Hawaiian speakers.
- About 60 topics, from Family to Restaurant.
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (7)
- KulāiwiA Kamehameha Schools video course with 24 lessons, hosted by ʻEkela Kanīʻaupiʻo Crozier. Each lesson has a transcript, and lessons 1 to 12 have a workbook.
- Ka Leo ʻŌiwi13 video lessons from ʻŌiwi TV where you hear, act and speak at your own pace.
- Mai Ka Pūnana MaiA podcast from ʻAha Pūnana Leo, entirely in Hawaiian, with conversations from Hawaiian-speaking homes.
- Ka ʻAlalāA podcast completely in Hawaiian, made for learners and fluent speakers.
- Ka Wai OlaThe monthly newspaper of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Its section E ola mau ka ʻolelo Hawaiʻi has Hawaiian-language columns.
- Hawaiian WikipediaAn encyclopedia in Hawaiian with about 2,900 articles. Start with a topic you already know.
- NūpepaHawaiian-language newspapers published from 1834 to 1948. The spelling differs from today's, so expect words that look unfamiliar.
Kulāiwi gives you a video and a transcript for each lesson, so you can watch and read along. For the newspaper, open the section E ola mau ka ʻolelo Hawaiʻi on Ka Wai Ola, and start with a title you can partly guess, like ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi ʻoe? (Do you speak Hawaiian?).
Mai Ka Pūnana Mai and Ka ʻAlalā are spoken entirely in Hawaiian. Play an episode, then replay one minute of it and listen for the words you know.
Each number is how many languages you can use the app in, including script variants. Word meanings, lesson explanations, and other platforms may differ. A dash means the app's own pages don't say.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| Mango | — | — |
| uTalk | 140+ | Full list |
| Kulāiwi | — | — |
| Ka Leo ʻŌiwi | — | — |
| Mai Ka Pūnana Mai | — | — |
| Ka ʻAlalā | — | — |
| Ka Wai Ola | — | — |
| Hawaiian Wikipedia | — | — |
| Nūpepa | — | — |
Which Hawaiian app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Hawaiian, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Mango if you want to hear every word from a Hawaiian speaker, or with the Kulāiwi videos if you like to watch and read a transcript.
How do I choose Hawaiian at the right level?
Read a few sentences. If most have about one new word and you can still tell what's happening, it's a good level. If you can't, pick something easier.
Is there Hawaiian to listen to without English?
Yes. Mai Ka Pūnana Mai and Ka ʻAlalā are both spoken entirely in Hawaiian, and Ka ʻAlalā is made for learners as well as fluent speakers. Start with one episode of Ka ʻAlalā.
Why do old Hawaiian newspapers look different?
Nūpepa holds newspapers from 1834 to 1948, and their spelling differs from the spelling taught today. Today's spelling includes the ʻokina and the kahakō, which change meaning, as in papa and pāpā.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Kamehameha Schools: Kulāiwi video lessons (24 lessons, a transcript for each, workbook for lessons 1 to 12)
- ʻŌiwi TV: Ka Leo ʻŌiwi (13 episodes)
- ʻŌiwi TV: home page (a Hawaiian Language category)
- Maui Now: Mai Ka Pūnana Mai, a podcast entirely in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi from ʻAha Pūnana Leo
- Ka ʻAlalā: a podcast completely in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, for learners and fluent speakers
- Ka Wai Ola: the monthly newspaper of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs
- Ka Wai Ola: E ola mau ka ʻolelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian-language columns)
- Hawaiian Wikipedia
- Nūpepa: historic Hawaiian-language newspapers, 1834 to 1948
- Mango Languages: Hawaiian (native-speaker audio for every word)
- uTalk: Learn Hawaiian (recordings of Hawaiian speakers)
- uTalk: the languages you can learn from
- ʻŌlelo Online: Pronunciation of the Hawaiian Alphabet (the ʻokina and kahakō change meaning)
- Bubblegum: Hawaiian
