The Best Way to Learn Hawaiian in 2026

The best way to learn Hawaiian depends on why you are learning it. A parent following a child's Hawaiian school and a student taking a university class need different things. For both, most of your time goes to reading and listening to Hawaiian you can follow, which is called comprehensible input. The rest goes to review and some real conversation.

Bubblegum covers the reading and listening part. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Hawaiian lessons at your level about things you like, with audio, a dictionary, and grammar topics on the same page. Regenerative Review™ brings the words you save back in new lessons. Add live classes or a tutor for speaking and feedback.

A 2016 review of 49 studies in Reading in a Foreign Language, a University of Hawaiʻi journal, found that people learning English read better after reading a lot of easy material.

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.

For every goal, most of your time goes to reading and listening. Spend the rest on the skill your goal needs most.

• 💬Talk With Family or FriendsRead and listen to everyday Hawaiian, then say a few lines out loud each time. Add live classes when you want someone to answer you.
• 🏫Follow a Child's Hawaiian SchoolRead your child's school books with them, with the ʻokina and kahakō in place, and look up the words you don't know. Podcasts spoken in Hawaiian, such as Mai Ka Pūnana Mai, let you hear how families talk.
• 🎓Take a University ClassAt the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, HAW 101 meets five hours a week with lab work every day. Before the first class, learn the 13 letters and play the audio for each word you read.
• 👨‍👩‍👧Reconnect With Family HeritageStart with the words your family already uses, and learn each one with its marks. Then read short Hawaiian lessons at your level, and ask Poppy about any line.
• 📚Read Hawaiian WritingStart with Bubblegum lessons, then read the Hawaiian-language columns in Ka Wai Ola. Once you can follow those, try the Hawaiian-language newspapers on Nūpepa, which use older spelling.
• 📍Live in HawaiʻiLearn the names of the places around you with their ʻokina and kahakō, because <W lang="haw">Lānaʻi</W> is the island and <W lang="haw">lānai</W> is a deck.

To see how much class time a university course takes, read how long it takes to learn Hawaiian.

Most parts have a free option, such as Mango's course or the Kulāiwi videos, and an app or service for when you want more.

• ✂️Dropping the MarksThe ʻokina and the kahakō are part of the word: <W lang="haw">papa</W> and <W lang="haw">pāpā</W> are different words. Type them, and learn each word with them.
• 🗂️Lists With No SentencesLearn each word inside a sentence you read and hear, and reread the sentence when the word comes back.
• 🔇Reading Without the AudioPlay the audio each time you read a word, so you learn how it sounds along with how it is spelled.