Learn Hawaiian at Home

Rating:
Summary: For non-Hawaiian-born beginners, this is it!
Review: I found 4 great tools for learning Hawaiian, at Amazon. Your success in learning will depend on using them in the right order. They're all great.

Beginner level
1. "Learn Hawaiian at Home", by Kahikahealani Wight
If you're new to the language, this book will walk you patiently through all the basics. Slow? Yes, but it was just what I needed. There are two cassette tapes included, with all the vocabulary, dialogs, reading material and even songs! I found the package reasonably priced.

Beginner to intermediate
2. "Ka Lei Ha'aheao--Beginning Hawaiian", by Alberta Pualani Hopkins
For continuing what you learned in "Learn Hawaiian at Home", this is an excellent book. It will take you all the way through all the Hawaiian grammar, and there are lots and lots of dialogs, giving variations on what you learn.
The downside? Cassette tapes are available, and I know my progress would be much faster if I had the big bucks to buy them. I don't.

Intermediate to advanced
3. Instant Immersion CD
Good points: Very natural-sounding Hawaiian, and lots of it
Downside: If you're a beginner, this will knock the wind out of your sails. The lessons have reading passages, some with very difficult grammar.
No printed matter comes with the CDs. You have to download it from the internet.
Some vocabulary from the lessons are NOT explained. You'll need a big Pukui-Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary to find out the meanings. Not exactly user-friendly!
Still, if you love hearing the lilt of Hawaiian spoken as much as I do, you may opt to get this.

Intermediate to advanced
4. "Let's Speak Hawaiian" by Dorothy M. Kahananui & Alberta P. Anthony
Too difficult for beginners, as it was for me! Explanations are minimal. An exorbitantly-priced tape set is available, but I couldn't afford it.
I was always frustrated with myself for not being able to understand this book. However, after doing a fair amount of learning through the first two books given above, I found that "Let's Speak Hawaiian" is a wonderful extension to what I know. Get this one last!

Rating:
Summary: A Children's Book
Review: This book insulted my intelligence. It is so elementary that only a five year old would think it is advanced. It spends pages focusing on miniscule and practically useless attributes (such as announcers), rather than the important and meaningful ones (such as dual pronouns, and the o-class and a-class possession). Although it does touch on most elements of the language, it is very vague on every subject.

The worst part of all is that it over-complicates grammar. For instance, Wight spends chapters explaining how to structure phrases, all of which I could completely summarize in a single sentence. Then it provides merely one vague sentence to explain a concept that should take several pages to relate. Except for the vocabulary, this book is just like taking a memo-note and stretching it into an entire novel.

Using this book as a foundation only got me more confused. If you buy this package, do it only for the cassete tapes, and burn the book!

Rating:
Summary: great language learning set!
Review: this is just the best book ever to learn about how to speak hawai'ian! if you just follow the tape and ignore the grammar part you will do well. the songs, and the pictures are wonderful. it's worth it!