(c) Copyright May 2012
Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.
All rights reserved
Hawaiian sovereignty activists are so zealous about using Hawaiian language as a political weapon that they sometimes disrespect the name of a person or place by treating it as though it is a concept to be translated into Hawaiian language vocabulary. The example that started the controversy got printed in the Hawaiian language column of Saturday April 28, 2012 in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The name of a famous basketball player, now known as "Metta World Peace", was conceptually translated to Hawaiian as "Maluhia Honua Meka" not as an exercise in translation but as though that string of three Hawaiian words is actually the player's name.
But it's highly improper to do that sort of thing with the names of people and places. It might be called linguistic imperialism or ethnic cleansing -- one language grabbing peoples' names from other languages and cultures in order to purify or assimilate them rather than respecting them in their original unaltered form. The fact that Hawaiian activists choose to twist a proper noun by translating its concept into Hawaiian vocabulary and using Hawaiian grammatical rules shows a level of zealotry unmatched by writers of articles in English or other European languages who leave unmolested the names they mention that originated from different languages.
When translating an article written in German, French, Spanish, etc. into English, Italian, German, etc. the names of people and places are usually kept with the same spelling and grammar as in the original language. If the original name happens to have a conceptual meaning in its original (sending) language then that meaning is not translated into new words using the vocabulary and grammar of the new (receiving) language. For example, a German person whose name in German is Herr "Lichtblau" will never see his name in an English-language article written in its conceptual translation as Mr. "Blue Light". His name will always be Mister Lichtblau, or Monsieur Lichtblau, or Señor Lichtblau.
Some languages have different alphabets and different grammatical rules for putting consonants and syllables together. If a person's actual name is in a language which has a different alphabet or system of writing, the name will be transliterated into the receiving language using the receiving language's alphabet but preserving the spelling and sound as much as possible. For example, consider translating into English a Russian name in Cyrillic alphabet, or a Chinese or Japanese name written in Mandarin Characters or kanji. The name in English will be spelled in such a way that someone who speaks it will utter approximately the same sounds. A Russian whose name in Russian is spelled with the Russian alphabet letters Михаил Сергеевич Горбачёв will see it transliterated into English as Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov. It has no conceptual meaning, so there's no reason to even think about doing a conceptual translation. A Russian whose name in Russian is spelled with the Russian alphabet letters "COKAHOBbI" will see his name printed in an English-language article spelled with English letters which transliterate the sound of the name -- SOKANOVY -- and it would never be printed conceptually as "New Juice."
The missionary who was most famous in the founding of Kawaiaha'o Church was Hiram Bingham, whose name was transliterated to "Binamu"
[pronounced bee-NAH-moo] because Hawaiian language does not allow diphthongs; and every consonant must be followed by a vowel; and every word must end with a vowel. Likewise, after Captain Cook was no longer regarded as a deity, and stories started to be told about him referring to his real name, it was transliterated to "Kapena [Captain] Kuke[Cook]" [pronounced kah-PEN-ah KOO-kay]. Interestingly, no Hawaiian ever referred to Captain Cook by giving him the conceptually translated name "Kalua" [bake] although that is exactly what the natives did with his body after they killed him.
I (Ken Conklin) do not know whether conceptual translation of names is done when mentioning foreign names in articles written in Asian or tribal languages. It would be interesting to find out, if any readers familiar with such languages would please send me examples in their context. What was the person's name in his own native language, what was his name as translated conceptually into an Asian or tribal language, what was the entire sentence or paragraph where the conceptual translation was used, and please provide both the original sample and an English translation of everything.
Here's an example of a scholarly article I wrote, which was published in English and later translated into Mandarin by professors in Taiwan who wanted their students to read it. My name, in English, is retained in English alphabet even in the middle of sentences printed in Mandarin. Likewise the names of books, journals, and various philosophers, and a few phrases which are perhaps untranslatable, are retained in English. They are not even transliterated, and most certainly not given conceptual translations. Asian cultural practice apparently is to accord great respect to names and to leave them in their original form, neither transliterated nor translated.
Kenneth R. Conklin, "The Aesthetic Dimension of Education in the Abstract Disciplines," JOURNAL OF AESTHETIC EDUCATION, IV, 3 (July, 1970), pp. 21-36. Reprinted in Ralph Smith, ed., Aesthetics and Problems of Education (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971), pp. 537-554.
pdf version
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/conklinpubsbeforehaw/AesthEdAbstDiscJAesEd1970.pdf
English language simple text version
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/conklinpubsbeforehaw/AesthEdAbstDiscJAesEd1970.html
Chinese language simple text version for use at the National Changhua University of Education, Graduate Institute of Education, Taiwan.
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/conklinpubsbeforehaw/AestheticDimensEducAbstrDiscChinese.html
In the Hawaiian language newspaper article of April 28, 2012 author Kekeha Solis chose to spend the entirety of his column describing and editorializing about the widely publicized recent controversy where a basketball player had used his elbow deliberately and maliciously to bash an opposing player in the face, causing injury. There's certainly nothing wrong about a newspaper columnist writing such an article.
The specific name which got a conceptual translation by Kekeha Solis is the name which professional basketball player Ron Artest gave to himself when he legally changed his name to "Metta World Peace" in September 2011. Certainly Ron Artest has a right to change his own name to anything the law will allow, even if it is weird or fantastical. And he made the name change official by following the correct legal procedures.
What makes Mr. Solis' article highly controversial is the name he used when referring to the basketball player. Instead of referring to him as "Metta World Peace" which would be the correct name for him in an article written in any language, Solis gave him a new Hawaiian name.
Solis actually translated the CONCEPT of the name by calling him "Maluhia Honua Meka" [pronounced mah-loo-HEE-ah ho-NOO-ah MEH-kah]. This new name uses Hawaiian language words, in the correct word-order for nouns and adjectival modifiers according to Hawaiian grammatical rules, to render the English-language meaning into a Hawaiian language phrase whose words individually mean Peace [Maluhia] World [Honua] Metta [Meka] in that order. Throughout the article, in Hawaiian language (copied below), Solis always referred to the basketball player with the conceptually translated name Maluhia Honua Meka.
Hawaiian language uses letters familiar to readers of English, and most people who speak Hawaiian grew up already speaking English. So an English-language name could certainly be written with no changes at all in a Hawaiian-language article, and everyone would know both its conceptual meaning (if any) and also how to pronounce it. Or else, in the spirit of transliteration used for Bingham and Cook, the name "Metta World Peace" could perhaps be transliterated as "Meka Wolalaka Pika" or perhaps "Meka Wolaka Pika." But why not just leave it as written in its original English? Even in a scholarly article published for local students in Taiwan in Mandarin language, which uses totally different characters and grammar, names are printed in their original English.
Ken Conklin wrote an online Hawaiian-language response (copied below), which appeared immediately under Solis' article on the newspaper website, poking fun at Solis for using the conceptually translated name. Conklin's response, if translated into English, says: Who is the person with the name "Maluhia Honua Meka"? Shucks! Many laughs about that name! His correct name is "Metta World Peace." It's not right to translate a name of a person or place. Here are some examples. In Honolulu there's Kamehameha School. It's not right to call it by the name "The Lonely One" school." In Honolulu there's a street with name "Makuakane." It's not right to call its name "Father" street. I live in Kane'ohe on Kahuhipa street. It's not right to say "I live in Bamboo Man (town) on Shepherd Street." *ALN (= 'aka'aka leo nui [laugh loud voice] = *LOL)
If I were to follow Mr. Solis' lead, perhaps I should do a conceptual translation of his name for use in this English language essay. "Keha" means "lofty" or "majestic." "Ke" means "the." "Solis" would seem to have something to do with the Sun. So perhaps I should rename him "Sun The Majestic One."
Two weeks later, on Saturday May 12, 2012 Mr. Solis published an essay-length rebuttal to my short online comment from April 28, written (of course) in Hawaiian language. Since he did not translate it, I shall not do so either. Mr. Solis provided many examples showing that during the past two centuries it has not been unusual for speakers of Hawaiian to translate names of people and places into Hawaiian and to use those translated names in ordinary discourse when referring to those people or places. Solis did provide some examples of conceptual translations of Euro-American names into Hawaiian: Limaikaika (Armstrong), Papai (H. Crabb), Wilisona lāua 'o Halekeokeo (Wilson and Whitehouse). And he asked the interesting question whether the street running in front of the Palace was first called by the English word "King" or by its Hawaiian equivalent "Mo'i", thus giving rise to the further question which was the original and which was the conceptual translation.
Certainly Hawaiian language is filled with many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of "loan words", i.e., words from other languages for concepts which primitive Hawaiians were unfamiliar with, and which Hawaiians incorporated into Hawaiian language as they became more knowledgeable about the things brought to them from the outside world. Most of those "loan words" come from English because English was the language used by the British "discoverers" of Hawaii and by the American businessmen who were predominant in the economy and culture of the Hawaiian kingdom. The great majority of the loan words are transliterations, although some are conceptual translations. For example, one word used today for "computer" is the uninspiring and meaningless transliteration "kamapiula" (pronounced KAH-ma-pee-OOH-lah]. But a different (and in my view better) word is the conceptual translation "lolouila" (pronounced low-low-WHEEL-ah) [lolo=brain; uila=lightning hence electronic; so the composite word is in fact the original English name for computers when they were newly invented: "electronic brain"].
I offer a hypothesis that indigenous languages spoken by primitive people who have very little contact with the outside world find it necessary to infuse a huge number of loan words from the language spoken by the outside civilization which brings most of the new technology and culture to the natives. I further hypothesize that most of the infused loan words are transliterations of the foreign words intended to make them sound as close as possible to the foreign words while nevertheless obeying the grammar and sound-system (alphabet) of the native language. Occasionally a foreign word is given a conceptual translation into the native language. I hypothesize that conceptual translations are used most often for technological processes or objects which natives learn how to use in daily life. I further hypothesize that names of foreign people and places are treated in the same way as names of foreign technologies and objects, except that conceptual translations of the names of foreign people and foreign places are quite rare simply because people and places are not technological processes or objects which natives learn about and use. People and places are not things to be manipulated for use in daily life like computers, cars, or telescopes. Also, newcomers are sometimes given local-language names which describe some notable feature of what they look like or how they behave. I further hypothesize that in the early stages of foreign contact, primitive natives are more likely to do conceptual translations of peoples' names (or descriptions of their appearance or behavior) than in later stages when foreign technologies and foreigners themselves have become incorporated into native life. Thus, during the late 1700s and early 1800s, when foreign technologies and people were still quite new to Hawaiian natives, there were more conceptual translations of people's names than in the late 1800s and into the Territorial period.
Sometimes newcomers are given native names as a sort of favor, or token of welcoming or esteem; and sometimes the newcomer embraces the native name because he thinks it's cute or he feels honored to have it as a mark of acceptance or assimilation. There's certainly nothing wrong with the bestowal of mutually agreed-upon native names, although occasionally there's criticism that the newcomer is a "wannabe" -- someone inappropriately claiming the status of a native and trying to fit in where he doesn't really belong. Occasionally the possibility of acquiring a native name is used as a bribe to encourage the newcomer to comply with cultural norms or to induce the newcomer to support native political demands; in which case the carefully thought-out bestowal or withholding of a native name is a political weapon.
The Hawaiianized names of British sailor John Young and his son are interesting examples. Young had been captured by Kamehameha The Great and held, not for ransom, but to be used more or less as a slave to teach Kamehameha and his army how to use guns, cannons, oceangoing ships and the military strategies and troop deployments appropriate to the new technologies. Young later acquiesced to his captivity and then enthusiastically spent the rest of his life in Hawaii serving the King. Young was given rank as a high chief, married one of Kamehameha's daughters, served as battlefield general and later as a top adviser in the Kingdom government. Kamehameha appointed Young as Governor of Hawaii Island (Kamehameha's own home island). He was so important that Kamehameha awarded him land and a house immediately next to the great heiau Pu'ukohola that Kamehameha had built to fulfill a prophecy enabling him to become a great conqueror. Young's burial tomb is in Mauna Ala (the Royal Mausoleum on Nu'uanu Avenue) where his tomb is the only one built in the shape of a miniature heiau guarded by a pair of pulo'ulo'u (sacred taboo sticks). Young's bones are the oldest in Mauna Ala -- older than Liholiho Kamehameha 2 or any of the natives who are buried there. Here's a photo of his tomb (Caretaker house in background)courtesy of "Pacific Worlds"
http://www.pacificworlds.com/nuuanu/memories/young.cfm
The inscription on a flat stone on the top of the lava rocks on the heiau platform says:
Beneath this stone are deposited
the remains of John Young
(of Lancashire, England)
The friend and companion-in-war of
Kamehameha.
who departed this life
17 December 1835,
in the 93rd year of his age
and the 46th of his residence
on the "Sandwich Islands"
John Young's son became Kuhina Nui to Kauikeaouli Kamehameha 3 -- the highest position in the power structure except for the King himself. He had, in effect, veto power over the King because every law had to be signed by both the King and the Kuhina Nui before it could take effect. John Young's granddaughter grew up to become Queen Emma, wife of Alexander Liholiho Kamehameha 4 and a candidate for monarch in her own right in the election of 1874 when she lost to Kalakaua in a hotly contested election.
So what Hawaiian names were given to these extraordinarily important high chiefs John Young and his son? John Young senior was given the name Olohana. Nobody made a declaration that Olohana was to be his name. It happened spontaneously, the first time any native heard him speak, and long before there was any written form of Hawaiian language. It was a transliteration, not a conceptual translation. One of Young's jobs on his British naval ship was to announce the coming aboard of visiting dignitaries. He would stand on the ship's command station ("bridge") and yell at the top of his lungs the command "All hands on deck!!" whereupon every sailor had to come topside and stand at attention. The natives saw that he was a very important man who commanded dozens of other men with that magical phrase "All hands on deck!" Now consider the sound of "All hands." In Hawaiian, every consonant must be followed by a vowel, there are no diphthongs, and every word must end in a vowel. So to the Hawaiian ear, "all hands" sounded like "OLO HANA" and that's what they called him forevermore. It was a transliteration of the beginning of the most important command he gave, which defined who he was so far as the natives were concerned. It was not a conceptual translation, but a transliteration. John Young junior was given the Hawaiian name Keoni Ana. That's because "John" is transliterated into "Keoni" and "junior" is conceptually translated to "ana." The second Constitution of the Hawaiian kingdom, proclaimed in 1852, has only two signatures: the King and his Kuhina Nui -- "Kamehameha" [the 3rd] and "Keoni Ana".
The names of people or places are in a very different category from the names of animals, plants, or inanimate objects. A person's name is intensely personal. It is precious to him -- it is his identity -- the handle his mother used years ago when calling him home for dinner; the word whispered in his ear last night in a moment of passion. Grabbing hold of someone's name and changing it to something he might not recognize does violence to his sense of personal identity and pride. Someone renamed without his consent might regard it as an insult or humiliation, evoking anger and perhaps a desire for retaliation. There are many stories about European immigrants to the U.S. in the 1800s passing through the quarantine station on Ellis Island (NY). The immigrants from Russia, Poland, etc. had names which were very foreign to the ears of the immigration officers. So the lower-class ethnic Irish immigration officer who speaks and hears only English might give Vladislav Chojnowski [VLAD-ih-slav Hoy-NOFF-skee] the new official name Laddy Hofsky -- a name still carried by his resentful descendants.
People who hate me sometimes write online comments calling me "Kenny Kronkin" as a childish insult; or KennyKKonklin or KKKonklin perhaps implying the well-known racist group "Ku Klux Klan." Senator Inouye has been called "In No Way." Governor Abercrombie has been called "Evercrummy." But those are all intentionally sarcastic transliterations, not conceptual translations.
In the Bible, when God gave Adam dominion over all the creatures of the Earth, God told Adam that he could exercise and display his dominion by giving those creatures names. The act of changing the name of a person or place by translating the concept of the name into Hawaiian is a political action -- an assertion of dominion, or sovereignty. "This is our place and we shall control the names given to people and places here, but you must not change the names of our people and places in the same way." Treating foreign names this way might be normal, natural, and spontaneous for a primitive people capable of understanding things only within their own centuries-long framework in which they are totally immersed and have had little or no contact with outsiders; but I don't think Hawaiians (especially those working at the university) have that as an excuse for such behavior anymore.
Hawaiianizing non-native names was acceptable for a primitive people in the early stages of foreign contact. It's acceptable if done as a sign of respect or inclusiveness whenever someone with a non-native name chooses to go along with it or might even feel honored to have a Hawaiian name. But it is disrespectful when done to people without their permission and as a technique of linguistic/cultural colonial assimilation. Kekeha Solis goes out of his way to defend his raping of the name "Metta World Peace" to change it to "Maluhia Honua Meka". He defends it by showing examples where conceptual translation of names was sometimes done in Hawaiian language publications. But those examples either took place long ago or else they simply illustrate that Hawaiian language continues to engage in renaming people to now assert cultural and political hegemony at a time when Hawaiians are clearly aware that conceptual translation of names is contrary to modern standards of civilized behavior in the international community.
Today's sovereignty activists seem to feel a need to engage in ethnic cleansing of non-native names just as ruthlessly as they rip out weeds from taro patches. Ethnic Hawaiian Lilly Dorton [birth name appearing on Ph.D. dissertation] gave herself a new name and registered it officially in the Lieutenant Governor's office and by publication in the legal notices in the newspaper: Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa. There is no line of Kame'eleihiwas, but presumably she chose the name Kame'eleihiwa because it has a fantastical meaning: perhaps "hero of [perhaps recognized by a cultural award of?] the sacred black lei. And she has the nerve to complain when people mispronounce it! The attorney born as Hayden Burgess renamed himself informally Poka Laenui and uses the new name all the time, even though he chose not to register it [because, as he might say, the illegal U.S. puppet regime fake State of Hawaii has no jurisdiction to register names]. Attorney Trisha Kehaulani Watson, a racial demagogue, now drops the "Trisha" and calls herself Kehaulani Watson.
For an interesting dialog about pulling out weeds, see "Pure Hawaiians, Impure Hawaiians, and Weeds -- Dialog between J. Arthur Rath III and Kenneth R. Conklin regarding the approaching extinction of Hawaiians with 100% native blood."
https://www.angelfire.com/big09a/RathVConklinImpureHawns.html
See also how today's activists remove Caucasians from the pantheon of heroes of the Hawaiian Kingdom when celebrating revived Kingdom holidays.
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/holidaysethniccleansing.html
There's even an ethnobotanical project recently started to bring in outside insects to exterminate invasive plant species such as the strawberry guava which, although beautiful or widely enjoyed for food, sometimes crowds out native plants in the mountains. Native is good. Non-native is bad, and needs to be destroyed, expelled, or crossbred (transliterated or conceptually translated) to make it at least partly native. Sydney Ross Singer has published several articles about Hawaii government projects to eradicate strawberry guava, and mangroves, in order to help native species thrive. For example see two of his articles, and a sarcastic cartoon produced by his enemies, at
http://www.bigislandchronicle.com/tag/sydney-ross-singer/
THE REMAINDER OF THIS WEBPAGE CONSISTS OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE OF APRIL 28, 2012 IN WHICH THE NAME "METTA WORLD PEACE" WAS HAWAIIANIZED TO "MALUHIA HONUA MEKA", AND THE COMMENTS TO THAT ARTICLE POSTED ONLINE; FOLLOWED BY MORE ARTICLES ON LATER DATES DEVOTED TO THE ISSUE OF HAWAIIANIZING NAMES, AND THE COMMENTS POSTED TO THEM ONLINE.
===========
http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/kauakukalahale/20120428_He_keu_a_ka_hana_keaka_maikai.html?id=149342055
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Saturday, April 28, 2012
He keu a ka hana keaka maika'i
By Na Kekeha Solis
Synopsis: Metta World Peace probably has a future in Hollywood. His punishment should have been far worse.
———
Aloha mai e nā makamaka heluhelu. Ua nānā aku nei paha 'oukou i ka ho'okūkū pōpō hīna'i o ka Lāpule nei, kahi i kū'ē aku ai nā Leika o ke Kūlanakauhale o nā ‘Ānela i ka Hekili o ke Kūlanakauhale 'o 'Okalahoma.
Ua hahana nō ka pā'ani 'ana o nā 'ao'ao a 'elua mai ka ulele 'ana a i loko o ka hapahā 'elua. I loko o ia hapahā, holo akula 'o Maluhia Honua Meka o nā Leika a pakā akula i ke kinipōpō a komohia ma luna o Serge Ibaka lāua 'o Kevin Durant o ka Hekili. Ma hope mai o ia pakā 'ana aku o kahi Maluhia Honua ka mea i pū'iwa ai ka no'ono'o o kānaka. E ku'iku'i ana ua Maluhia Honua lā i kona umauma me kona pu'upu'u lima 'ākau. A 'o kahi lima hema o ia ala ka pilikia. Ua ho'oku'eku'e ikaika akula 'o Maluhia Honua i ke po'o o James Harden o ka Hekili, a waiho wale ana 'o Harden ma ka papahele o ke kahua. Ua kipaku 'ia aku 'o Maluhia Honua Meka ma muli o kāna hana pēlā. A he kūpono nō ia kipaku 'ia 'ana ona.
'O ka mea 'āpiki, kohu mea lā, 'a'ole i maopopo iki iā Maluhia kāna hana pono 'ole i hana ai. Wahi āna, he piha hau'oli wale nō kona na'au a no laila, e hō'ike wale aku ana 'o ia i ia hau'oli. 'Eā, ke kuhi nei ko 'oukou mea kākau, ke pau ka wā pā'ani pōpō hīna'i o kahi Maluhia Honua, e hiki ana iā ia ke lilo i mea hana keaka kaulana. I ka nānā 'ana aku i kāna hana ma luna o ke kīwī, ua 'ike 'ia aku nō ka holo 'ana o kona lima i ka 'ākau, i mea paha e ho'onui ai i ka holo 'ana, a ku'e ikaika akula kona ku'eku'e lima i ke po'o o Harden. E nā makamaka heluhelu, na 'oukou nō 'oukou e nānā aku i kāna hana ma ka pūnaewele, a e koho 'oukou, he ulia wale nō paha ia, a i 'ole ia, ua hana 'ia me ka mana'o 'ino o loko o ua kanaka lā, e kapa 'ia aku ai paha 'o ia, 'o 'Ino Honua Meka. 'O kekahi mea minamina, 'a'ole i kuhi iki 'o Harden, he hākōkō ka hana i ia pō. Inā i maopopo iā ia, inā paha ua mākaukau 'o ia a hala ana paha kahi ku'eku'e lima o 'Ino Honua Meka.
Akā, e a'o paha 'o 'Ino Honua i ka ha'awina, 'oiai, ua loa'a akula 'o ia i ka ho'opa'i, 'o ia ho'i, e ho'omalu 'ia 'o ia no nā ho'okūkū he 'ehiku, 'a'ole 'o ia e pā'ani. 'Ehiku wale nō ho'okūkū? E ke Komikina David Stern, e kanono ka ho'opa'i! 'Ehiku wale nō ho'okūkū. 'A'ole ia he ho'opa'i e no'ono'o pono ai ke kanaka ma kēia hope aku, 'a'ole e hana hou i ka hana lapuwale.
'O ke kumu paha o ia ho'opa'i 'ano 'ole, inā e lanakila nā Leika a me ka Hekili ma ka puni mua o nā ho'okūkū wae moho, e kū'ē hou ana ia mau hui a 'elua kekahi i kekahi ma ke kahua pā'ani. A ma ia wā e hui pū ai ia mau hui, 'o ia nō ho'i ka wā e pau ai ka ho'omalu 'ia 'ana o Maluhia Honua Meka. He makemake paha ko ke Komikina David Stern e nānā hou i ka hopena ke hālāwai hou ia mau hui 'elua ma ke kahua.
Ua mihi nō 'o Maluhia Honua Meka, akā, 'o ke kanono o ka ho'opa'i ka mea e pono ai, i 'ole 'o ia e hana hou i ia 'ano hana kūpono 'ole.
———
E ho'ouna 'ia mai na ā leka iā māua, 'o ia ho'i 'o Laiana Wong a me Kekeha Solis ma ka pahu leka uila ma lalo nei:
>> kwong@hawaii.edu
>> rsolis@hawaii.edu
a i ‘ole ia, ma ke kelepona:
>> 956-2627 (Laiana)
>> 956-2627 (Kekeha)
This column is coordinated by Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
------------
** Online comments to the April 28 article:
on April 28,2012 | 07:06AM Ken_Conklin wrote:
O wai ke kanaka me ka inoa o "Maluhia Honua Meka"? Tsa! Nui na 'aka'aka o kela inoa! O "Metta World Peace" kona inoa pono. 'A'ole pono e unuhi he inoa o he kanaka a i 'ole he wahi. Eia he mau mea ho'ohalikelike. Aia ma Honolulu ke Kula o "Kamehameha." 'A'ole pono e ha'i kona inoa "The Lonely One" school. Aia ma Honolulu ke alanui me ka inoa o "Makuakane." 'A'ole pono e ha'i kona inoa "Father" Street. Ke noho nei au ma Kane'ohe ma ke alanui o "Kahuhipa." 'A'ole pono e ha'i "I live in Bamboo Man (town) on "Shepherd Street." *ALN (= 'aka'aka leo nui = *LOL)
on April 28,2012 | 09:20AM false wrote:
Tsa! Cha! O `oe pu.
on April 29,2012 | 06:38AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Were you saying something, KennyKKonklin?? haaaahahahahahah Speaking of changing names, under your other nickname, DiverDave, you keep changing the name of the indigenous population of the islands from Hawaiian to Hawaiian-Polynesian, and you have no problem with that. Ergo, you really have no right to point fingers. YOU are not the one who decides such things. Your post above is just another example of the white man admonishing and ordering the natives to SUBMIT to your will. Such arrogance. It does not merit a response in Hawaiian, even though your comment in and of itself is indicative of your hypocritical comment that it is a "secret code." So does this mean you have joined the ranks of your so-called "secret code" talkers who try to hide their words behind a language you claim so few understand (even though it is the 2nd most popular second language in the UH system) ??? Finally, in your feigned pariah banter on another article, you pointed out that I seem to respond to YOU. Awwwwwww!!!! First, you call people including me insults FIRST and now you do not expect some feedback on that? WHY? You're too high and mighty? No. Second you still rape the comments sections of the Star-Advertisers online articles with references to YOU and YOUR own website, regardless of their relevance to the articles themselves. You wanted attention for yourself and your website. Now, you got it. Stop making crybaby because the attention you got was not the kind of attention you were expecting. You're dismissed.
on April 29,2012 | 03:20PM Ken_Conklin wrote:
This angry, bitter, irrational and irrelevant comment by fake-name elijahhawaii (EJH) is typical of what he/she does. I make many online comments to articles in this newspaper. Some of my comments are to articles on topics related to Hawaiian culture or sovereignty (many are on other topics). That's when along comes EJH to write a comment like this one. EJH follows me around like a dog looking for a fire hydrant. My comment was specifically focused on the topic of the newspaper article. EJH's comment had nothing whatsoever to say about the article, and also did not respond to anything I had written in my comment. I guess EJH has no knowledge about the topic. EJH's comment was solely directed at me to attack me as a person, not to respond to what I had said. I don't care; doesn't trouble me; but it shows that EJH is (ab)using this newspaper's comment areas merely for personal attacks and not for serious discussion of issues. EJH complains that I often include webpage URLs, because I have done a lot of research and written at length about a topic; so instead of copy/pasting lengthy essays, I merely cite a URL in case somebody wants more information. My webpage citations are always directly on the topic of an article. Apparently EJH has not done any substantial research or writing, or else does not have a website. EJH apparently has website-envy. EJH might want to get some psychiatric help and some treatment for anger management.
on April 30,2012 | 08:29AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Yet you say in one place you won't respond to me, but here you do. Let us know when you decide if and when you are coming or going. Again, your comment was a half-hearted and bitter attack against the author for something he does, not a comment of the topic of the article itself. So one... more... time... if you cannot stand the heat, then don't start the fire. Yet again, you stand corrected, Mr. hypocrite.
on April 29,2012 | 03:21PM Ken_Conklin wrote:
The comment I wrote was sarcasm directed toward one specific element of the article by Kekeha Solis. For the benefit of those who do not speak Hawaiian, I'll explain what I was talking about. There's a famous basketball player whose birthname was Ron Artest. Artest recently changed his name legally to "Metta World Peace." Last week MWP knowingly and with malice threw an elbow at an opposing player, causing injury; and MWP was therefore suspended for several games. Writer Kekeha Solis wrote his Hawaiian language article this week about what happened. But in writing the article, Solis translated "Metta World Peace" to "Maluhia Honua Meka." That's an accurate translation. But it's grossly inappropriate to translate the name of a person or place when referring to that person or place in a different language. And so in my comment I poked fun at the Solis article for doing that. I pointed out that when we speak English we do not translate the name "Kamehameha School" to its English meaning "The Lonely One" School. We do not translate the name of the street "Makuakane Street" to "Father Street." And when I tell people I live in Kane'ohe on Kahuhipa Street, I do not instead say that I live in Bamboo Man (Town) on Shepherd Street. That's what I wrote in my comment.
on April 29,2012 | 03:23PM Ken_Conklin wrote:
EJH said nothing whatsoever about that topic. At this point I'll further infuriate EJH by citing a major webpage I wrote that might explain why Kekeha Solis feels impelled to use "Maluhia Honua Meka" as the name of Mr. Metta World Peace (previously known as Ron Artest). Hawaiian sovereignty activists use Hawaiian language as a political weapon. They want to rip out non-ethnic-Hawaiian place names and replace them with Hawaiian ones. Sort of like they want to physically rip out so-called "invasive plants" and replace them with native plants. So perhaps the use of MWP's translated Hawaiian name is related to that impulse to replace non-Hawaiian names with Hawaiian ones. Now here comes the webpage citation: For further discussion of this topic, go to Google and put in all 4 of these keywords: Hawaiian language political weapon
on April 30,2012 | 08:47AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
See?! You admitted you were attacking the author with accusations of politics and not commenting on the article itself. Thanks for proving my point about you, Mr. hypocrite. haaaaahaahahahaha (<--- Your philosophy degree causes you to misconstrue laughter like that for something else. hmmm. Which website issued your diploma?)
on May 1,2012 | 07:22AM DiverDave wrote:
Elijahhawaii3, I find it quite flattering that you think I am Ken Conklin, as he his a learned Hawaii historian, as well as an excellant Polynesian-Hawaiian language speaker. I live on the Big Island. I have never met Ken in person, but would like to someday. You not so much. Mahalo, Dave Taylor
on May 1,2012 | 11:08AM DiverDave wrote:
P.S. Polynesians are no more indigenous to the Hawaii Islands than Europeans are to North America.
on May 2,2012 | 07:47AM holokanaka wrote:
Who is indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands?
on May 2,2012 | 11:35AM DiverDave wrote:
No one.
on May 2,2012 | 02:08PM holokanaka wrote:
You have a problem
on May 2,2012 | 01:33PM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Asking him about Hawai‘i is like asking Jessica Simpson for her "expert" opinion on canned tuna. hahahahahahahahaha
on May 4,2012 | 09:11AM DiverDave wrote:
(Google: East Polynesia colonized faster and more recently than previously thought.) New research by an international team of scholars shows early human colonization of Eastern Polynesia took place much faster and more recently than previously thought. Them team from many different Universities around the Pacific rim was headed up by University of Hawai'i at Manoa's, Head of Anthropology, Terry Hunt. Through the use of the latest radiocarbon dating systems, he and the teams data has possitively determined that Polynesians arived in Hawaii around AD 1250. This study was accepted and published in "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences". So, this means at the time of contact with Capt.Cook that Polynesians were only in Hawaii for 500 years. Europeans have been in North America now the same amount of time. Does that make them indigenous too?
on May 2,2012 | 11:56AM 8082062424 wrote:
there you go you sad jealous lil person. one thing for sure your some one who dose not fit in
on May 2,2012 | 11:16PM DiverDave wrote:
Attack my facts, not me.
on May 4,2012 | 04:13AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
In order for them to be facts, they actually have to be true. So when you present facts that have a grain of truth in them, just let us know
on May 4,2012 | 08:42AM DiverDave wrote:
Elijahhawaii3: If my facts are not true, why aren't they? Show me that you know some Hawaii history? Please no personal attacks. Stay on discussion.
on May 5,2012 | 04:33AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
You change the standard, accepted definition of a whole slew of terms to fit your needs as if YOUR name is on the dictionary. YOU do not decide what is and what is one thing or another. All you have done is a little reading and a LOT of grandstanding. I have a diploma. It is obvious you do not. I have answered your questions in specific details before and YOU have ignored them. Thus you are a waste of time to pretend to take seriously since your opinions that you purport to be facts are so easily discounted by mere common sense.
===========
http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/kauakukalahale/20120512_Ka_unuhi_inoa.html?id=151227315
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Saturday May 12, 2012
Ka unuhi inoa
By Na Kekeha Solis
Synopsis: There are many examples of English names that were translated into Hawaiian by first-language speakers of Hawaiian, whether they were people’s names or place names.
———
Welina e nā makamaka heluhelu o Kauakūkalahale. Ua uluhua wale paha kekahi mau kānaka i kekahi mau pule aku nei i hala i ka mo'olelo “He keu a ka hana keaka maika'i.” ‘O ka namunamu e wawā ana, 'o ia ho'i, no ke aha lā i unuhi 'ia ai ka inoa o Maluhia Honua Meka mai loko mai o ka inoa haole (Metta World Peace, a 'o Rona Alatesa ia ma mua). Hō'ike mai ana kekahi, 'a'ole kūpono ka unuhi 'ana i ka ha'iinoa pili kahi a i ka ha'iinoa pili wahi paha mai loko mai o kekahi 'ōlelo a i kekahi.
E nā makamaka heluhelu, e kupu a'e ana kekahi nīnau no ka ha'iinoa pili wahi e like paha me nā moku'āina (Mikikana, Nepalaka, a pēlā aku), nā kūlanakauhale (Kapalakiko, Kakalameko, a pēlā aku) a me nā inoa alanui paha (Alanui Vinia, Alanui Betela, a pēlā aku). A i ka 'ike 'ana aku i ia mau inoa i unuhi 'ia (ma luna a'e nei, e hō'ole mai paha kekahi, “Kā! 'A'ole ia he mau unuhi! Ua ho'ohawai'i 'ia a'e ia mau inoa.” A inā pēlā, eia mai kekahi mau inoa i unuhi 'ia, 'o ia ho'i, ke Alanui Mālawaina (Vineyard), ke Alanui Kālepa (Merchant), ke Alanui Pāpū (Fort), ke Alanui Mō'ī (King), ke Alanui Mō'ī wahine (Queen) a pēlā aku.
'O ka mea 'āpiki, 'a'ole i mōakāka i ko 'oukou mea kākau, 'o ka inoa hea lā ka inoa mua? 'O ka inoa Hawai'i, a 'o ka inoa haole paha. 'O ke alanui Mō'ī, a 'o ke alanui King. 'O wai ka mua? 'O Mō'ī ka mua, a 'o King kona hope? A 'o King paha ka mua? A 'o Mō'ī kona hope? Ua pa'i 'ia aku ke “alanui Moi” ma ka nūpepa Ka Hae Hawaii i ka makahiki 1856, a ma mua aku paha kekahi. 'Eā, he mea 'ole paha ka 'ike 'ana, 'o Mea ka mua, a 'o Mea kona hope. 'O ka mea nui, ke 'ike a'e nei kākou, he unuhi ka hana, 'o ia ho'i, ua unuhi 'ia kekahi inoa, he inoa haole (King), a he inoa Hawai'i paha (Mō'ī).
E 'ōlelo mai paha kekahi, “Kā! Pēlā wale nō nā ha'iinoa pili wahi. Akā, 'a'ole pēlā nā ha'iinoa pili kahi, e like me Limaikaika (Armstrong), Papai (H. Crabb), Wilisona lāua 'o Halekeokeo (Wilson and Whitehouse), a pēlā aku. 'Eā, ma ua mau kumu alaka'i nei ma luna a'e nei, e 'ike 'ia a'e nei, he unuhi 'i'o nō ka hana, 'a'ole i ho'ohawai'i 'ia aku ia mau inoa (koe 'o Wilisona). A 'o kekahi mea paha i mōakāka, 'o ia mau inoa haole ka mua a 'o ka inoa Hawai'i i unuhi 'ia mai loko mai o ka inoa haole kona hope.
Ke lana nei ka mana'o o ko 'oukou mea kākau, ua ahuwale ka hana a ko kākou mau kūpuna ma ka 'ōlelo makuahine a lākou. Ua unuhi nō kekahi o lākou i ka inoa Hawai'i mai loko mai o ka inoa haole, inā he ha'iinoa pili kahi, a he ha'iinoa pili wahi paha. A kohu mea lā, 'a'ohe hewa o ia. A 'o ka hana wale nō a ko 'oukou mea kākau, 'o ia ka hahai 'ana i ka hana a kona mau kūpuna. Inā 'a'ole i pilikia ke kūlana o ka 'ōlelo Hawai'i i ka 'ōlelo haole, inā ua mau ia 'ano hana a hiki i kēia lā.
('A'ole i pau.)
[** Ken Conklin's remark: The phrase "'a'ole i pau" means "Not finished" and suggests that Kekeha Solis might have more to say on this topic in a future column but could not complete his thoughts here because of space limitations. To put it crudely: It ain't over yet! If he actually does publish further remarks, they will be added (along with online comments) at the bottom of this webpage.]
———
E ho'ouna 'ia mai na ā leka iā māua, 'o ia ho'i 'o Laiana Wong a me Kekeha Solis ma ka pahu leka uila ma lalo nei:
>> kwong@hawaii.edu
>> rsolis@hawaii.edu
a i ‘ole ia, ma ke kelepona:
>> 956-2627 (Laiana)
>> 956-2627 (Kekeha)
This column is coordinated by Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
--------------
** Online comments to the May 12 article, reorganized to correct difficulties arising from the newspaper's robot which refuses to print any entire comment which has a word or phrase which the robot deems to be offensive or politically incorrect. Conklin wrote a lengthy comment which he tried to post in several short pieces one paragraph at a time, but the robot messed things up badly. So the originally intended comment has been reassembled here; followed by comments from other people responding to various pieces of Conklin's comment. The entire mess of comments remains visible immediately below Kekeha Solis' article online at
http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/kauakukalahale/20120512_Ka_unuhi_inoa.html?id=151227315
Conklin was the first commenter, and wrote:
I appreciate this lengthy and scholarly response to my previous comment two weeks ago regarding the translation of non-Hawaiian names and places into Hawaiian. Mr. Solis has indeed provided many examples showing that during the past two centuries it has not been unusual for speakers of Hawaiian to translate names of people and places into Hawaiian and to use those translated names in ordinary discourse when referring to those people or places. My response is lengthy. To facilitate ease of reading, and ease of making replies to specific points, I'm going to post my response in short segments. I hope replies will be civil and on the topic.
It's normal practice in all languages to translate foreign names from languages which use different alphabets or sounds into one's own language by using corresponding alphabetical letters and sounds and following the grammatical rules of one's own language. That's called "transliteration" and I have no complaint about it. Thus, for example, "Kenneth" becomes "Keneke"; or "Captain Cook" becomes "Kapena Kuke."
However, citing a foreign-language name by translating its conceptual meaning into one's own language, is not the normal way of citing names in any other language with which I am familiar (German, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian in that order of familiarity). In German, for example, the English-language sentence "Iolani Palace is on King Street" might be translated as "Iolani Palace sitzt auf King Strasse" or perhaps "Schloss Iolani sitzt auf King Strasse" but it would never be translated as "Schloss Himmelfalke sizt auf Koenigstrasse." ["Himmelfalke" would be a translation into German of the Hawaiian concept "Hawk of heaven" and, of course, "Koenig" is the word for "King"; sorry I'm unable to make umlauts so therefore use the "e" as in the old days before the umlaut was invented]
The only languages with which I am familiar other than English and Hawaiian are the European ones I mentioned. So perhaps translation of the concept of a name is normal practice in Asian languages such as Japanese or Chinese? It would be interesting to know. It would also be interesting to know whether such conceptual translation of names is normal practice in so-called "primitive" or indigenous languages, such as the tribal languages of Africa, Mexico, or Brazil. I do hope that someone knowledgeable about one of those languages might reply, with examples.
Would it not seem peculiar, and perhaps sarcastic/disrespectful, if I said "Drive up Mother street to get to The Lonely One school."? [Makuahine St., Kamehameha school] So why then should it not seem peculiar or sarcastic/disrespectful to refer to the basketball player "Metta World Peace" as "Maluhia Honua Meka"? It seems there is some sort of double standard here, that it's OK for Hawaiians to abuse and distort foreign names by translating the concepts of those names into Hawaiian, when it is not OK to do the same with Hawaiian names when translating them into other languages.
And so I reiterate my assertion from two weeks ago in followup comments, that conceptual translation of names of people and places is one small aspect of a larger strategy of using Hawaiian language as a political weapon, treating other cultures and non-Hawaiians present in Hawaii for many generations as invasive weeds to be uprooted and destroyed. For further discussion of this topic, go to Google and put in all 4 of these keywords: Hawaiian language political weapon In addition to the larger issues, there's a very large subpage devoted to several huge political controversies in both the state legislature and Honolulu city council over demands to change street names.
In the Bible, when God gave Adam dominion over all the creatures of the Earth, God told Adam that he could exercise and display his dominion by giving those creatures names. The act of changing the name of a person or place by translating the concept of the name into Hawaiian is a political action -- an assertion of dominion, or sovereignty. "This is our place and we shall control the names given to people and places here, but you must not change the names of our people and places in the same way." Treating foreign names this way might be normal, natural, and spontaneous for a primitive people capable of understanding things only within their own centuries-long framework in which they are totally immersed and have had little or no contact with outsiders; but I don't think Hawaiians have that as an excuse for such behavior anymore.
on May 12,2012 | 11:44AM hinkaboutit wrote:
Mr. Conklin, who gave you permission to dictate others' culture? Did you forget in a democracy majority rules? Your minor opinion does not trump PROFESSOR Solis's, especially when he makes a valid point.
on May 12,2012 | 12:57PM DiverDave wrote:
This is the "Editorial Page" Thinkaboutit. It is meant to discuss. You speak of democracy, majority does NOT always rule. The U.S. Constitution protects all. Unlike during the days of Kings.
on May 12,2012 | 01:25PM Thinkaboutit wrote:
Did you mean disgust? I wasn't addressing you, and I would venture to say you know nothing about what we discussing, SO MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Unless it's true you are indeed the same person as many others suspect.
on May 12,2012 | 03:44PM DiverDave wrote:
Free speech is everyone's business, so sit down and "think about it". You obviously do little "thinking" do you?
on May 13,2012 | 02:18PM Thinkaboutit wrote:
Now who is attacking whom? I laugh at you. Your words have no power over me, that is why your speech is FREE and worth nothing.
on May 12,2012 | 07:28PM Ken_Conklin wrote:
Think: "who gave you permission to dictate others' culture?" Conklin: I'm not dictating, merely using logic and making observations. It's Hawaiian sovereignty activists who have tried to dictate that all street names must be in Hawaiian, for example. Think: "Did you forget in a democracy majority rules?" Conklin: Actually, you're the one who'd better worry about that. Hawaiians are outnumbered 4-to-1. Think: "Your minor opinion does not trump PROFESSOR Solis's, especially when he makes a valid point." Conklin: I have cited facts and used logic. And when it comes to opinions, mine are as valid as anyone's. Is Solis a professor? Not that it matters, but I have a Ph.D. and was for many years a professor. It's not good to appeal to authority in an intellectual discussion. That ended after the midaeval period.
on May 13,2012 | 09:23AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
1 - Do not come in here stating that you hope replies will be civil when you were the very one who was name calling in the past, referring to me and others as ïdïöts among other names. That is just every hypocritical of you. 2- Also, by your own admission you have only dabbled in foreign languages, including that language that is very foreign to you - Hawaiian. Unlike the column moderators and me as well as others here, you are not graduated with a diploma in linguistics, translation or language. Yet, you feel the narcissistic right to rise yourself up to the level of those who do have a diploma and are fully and formally educated in these subjects and tell everyone just how right you are in these subjects and just how wrong everyone who has a diploma is. How arrogant of you. 2 - Your lengthy diatribe below can be summed up in two parts - You refuse to admit that the author Solis has you dead to rights in this week's article. You have been proven wrong, but you just cannot admit it. You bring up irrelevancies such as other languages. What other peoples do is their business. They did not all get together 10,000 years ago and make rules that all languages have to live by. 3- Finally just to show how little you have dabbled in the world of European languages, London in French is Londres, Venezia in English is Venice, and the real kicker - the Italian Riviera town of Ventimiglia (twenty thousand) in French is Vingt-mille, which just so happens to mean twenty thousand as well. Would you like other examples like that??? I'll be more than happy to oblige. SO sorry, but I suggest you get all your facts first BEFORE you open your mouth.
on May 12,2012 | 11:47AM Thinkaboutit wrote: [responding to Conklin's paragraph which began with "And so I reiterate ..."]
You realize you broadcast your own fears to others when you rant like this.
on May 12,2012 | 01:02PM DiverDave wrote:
You realize that you have brought nothing to the discussion but a personal attack on Mr. Conklin, with no substance, and no meaning. You realize that your the one that appears scared....of the truth!
on May 12,2012 | 01:31PM Thinkaboutit wrote:
And once again, YOU NEED TO MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. I made no attack, I asked him a question. Who gave him permission? And I did add to the conversation BY AGREEING with the Hawaiian language editor.
on May 12,2012 | 03:50PM DiverDave wrote:
Free speech and factual history is my business, and it should be everyones. You will not intimidate me!There wouldn't even be a written Hawaiian language if not for the missionaries inventing one. Polynesian-Hawaiians always want it their way with no respect to others cultures. Herein lies the issue. Answer to that.
on May 12,2012 | 07:34PM Ken_Conklin wrote:
Think to Diver: "And once again, YOU NEED TO MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. I made no attack, I asked him a question. Who gave him permission? And I did add to the conversation BY AGREEING with the Hawaiian language editor." Conklin: What's true is everybody's business. Who gave me permission? I answered that above. I don't need permission, especially not yours. You say you added to the conversation merely by agreeing with Solis? Did you ever listen to Rush Limbaugh? People call in and say "Dittoes" or even "Megadittoes." But that does not add anything to the discussion. They're supposed to teach you in high school not merely to say you agree or disagree, but to explain why. You have not done that.
on May 13,2012 | 02:47PM Thinkaboutit wrote:
You have no authority, and it's only a matter of time when you're so-called version of theTRUTH gets buried with you in the grave where it belongs. Enough of your ego, Mr. high and mighty don't need permission. You and old diver should take a cruise and stop taking it so seriously.
on May 12,2012 | 07:18PM Ken_Conklin wrote:
I apologize for the multiple repostings of bits and pieces. Here's what happened. I broke my essay into paragraphs and tried to post each paragraph one at a time. For some of those paragraphs, the robot posted it as I had submitted it. But for a couple of paragraphs, the robot said it had been sent for approval (which has always meant that it would never be posted) So then I tried to figure out what word or phrase was causing the robot to reject it, and I revised the paragraph and tried again, and sometimes the robot still rejected it so I tried again. Then, at some point after I went away, some of the pieces that appeared to have been rejected ended up getting posted after all. So now it's quite a mess. Sorry about that. Hire a better robot. Nothing I said should be objectionable.
on May 12,2012 | 08:16PM DiverDave wrote:
Right Ken, Ever since the paper switched to this "system" I have experienced the same. Folks can't even regester their like or dislike. I think that not allowing people to vote on a perspective does not allow people that don't wont to write something, but still want a voice in the matter a chance to. In effect it disenfranchises them from free speech.
on May 13,2012 | 12:47PM Ken_Conklin wrote: [responding to elijahhawaii3 May 13,2012 | 09:23AM]
1 - irrelevant personal attack. 2 - irrelevant personal attack and appeal to authority rather than substantive discussion of the issues. Second 2 (should have been 3 but EJH can't count) - My point here was to assert that Hawaiian conceptual translation of names of places and people is something that is not done in the European languages with which I am familiar, and you have not shown evidence to the contrary, despite your silly talk about everyone getting together 10,000 years ago. 3 (should have been 4) - The examples of London and Venice clearly belong in the category of transliteration -- taking a name and putting that name into the alphabet and sound system of a different language -- the examples of London and Venice are irrelevant to my main point regarding conceptual translation of a place name or person's name by rendering it into the vocabulary that expresses that concept in a different language. Your final example of Ventimiglia --> Vingt-mille is closer to a relevant example of conceptual translation, but still doesn't quite do the job because the town's name in both languages sounds very similar and is actually a transliteration like London --> Londres. So I hope you will try to produce a better example of actual conceptual translation of the name of a place or person where the translated name has no similarity of pronunciation to the original name. The example in Solis' article two weeks ago that I poked fun at was Metta World Peace --> Maluhia Honua Meka, where the Hawaiianized name does not sound anything like the English name and also has a change in word-order corresponding to the differences between the two languages -- it's a full-blown genuine conceptual translation, which I have asserted does not happen in any of the European languages with which I am familiar. So find me an example like the basketball player's name. If your example involves translation from any language (European or non-European) into a European language, you get extra credit, since I asserted that I have not seen any such conceptual translations being used in the real world. But I'll even accept an example showing actual usage of conceptual translation from any language into an Asian or tribal language, even though I made no assertion about those. It would be interesting to see any such examples, if you're capable of getting past making personal attacks.
on May 13,2012 | 02:29PM Thinkaboutit wrote:
I have a better idea, Mr. Conklin. Why not write your own Hawaiian language article and have it published for all to scrutinize. Unless that is the editorial board will not print your articles so you resort to leaving lengthy comments no one cares to read. Rather than flooding the Internet with your nonsense, you and Diver Dave should open a university only for white people who want to pay you to learn your slanted view of history. I promise I will not sue you for discrimination.
on May 13,2012 | 09:56PM DiverDave wrote:
News Flash to Thinkaboutit: WE ARE ALL NATIVES OF THE PLANET EARTH. You apparently did read Mr. Conklin's comments, and you can't take the truth. Your last comment about "white people" only exposes that you are a racist. By the way I am not White. I am a Chickasaw Indian. I pity you and your ilk.
on May 14,2012 | 08:02AM 8082062424 wrote:
You crack me up. From some of your other post you stated more then once your 1/4 Chickasaw Indian. it is nice to see you embrace your culture. but what the other 3/4. sad lil jealous person
on May 14,2012 | 09:48AM DiverDave wrote:
So you are in the racist club too. With you people, it's all about race!
on May 14,2012 | 10:54AM 8082062424 wrote:
You are the racist not me. i just stated a fact
on May 14,2012 | 12:22PM DiverDave wrote:
Why is my racial make up even important to this discussion? Do I ask what your racial make up is? You folks believe that only "purity" is important to dialogue. That would be the same as not allowing students in an English class to ask questions, or make statements regarding English unless they could prove British racial purity. You, Thinkaboutit, and Elijahhawaii3, all just attack offer nothing redeeming to the discussion but racism. Wow!
on May 15,2012 | 04:44AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
WHy is your racist oh err I mean racial make-up important to ANY discussion???? This is about Hawaiian stuff. YOU were the one who mentioned your alleged part-Chickasaw heritage, as well as your hàole side. WE would not have known that if YOU had not brought it up. So again you tell US why your racial heritage is so important that you keep bringing it up your own dàmned self, hypocrite.
on May 15,2012 | 11:50AM DiverDave wrote:
Now will any of the racist club answer to why someone other than a Polynesian-Hawaiian should not be able to even comment on this page. Or will you all just continue with the same nonsense?
on May 15,2012 | 03:00PM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
I am pure haöle from South Carolina. (<--- Look! an umlaut!!) I post here all the time, and I even wrote an article for this column. I have no idea what you are talking about, DiverDave.
on May 15,2012 | 02:56PM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Kekeha has offered on several occasions to have others submit articles for this column. I for one have taken him up on his offer. KennyKKonklin could certainly submit an article himself, if he were really that adept in the language as he feigns to be. Therein lies the problem. The same week Diverdave claims that his alterego KennyKKonklin speaks excellent Hawaiian, KKKonklin has a Hawaiian language comment posted that has 6 (six) first-year Hawaiian errors in it. I'm curious how DiverDave came to be such a tremendous judge of Hawaiian language abilities considering he really doesn't speak the language himself. It's another case of "I'm an expert in a field of study that I have not actually studied!"
on May 16,2012 | 12:43PM DiverDave wrote:
I thought that the reason for this column above all others was to increase the knowledge of the language. Apparently, it is a "exclusive" club, not inclusive, but exclusive.... Like all things Polynesian-Hawaiian.
on May 16,2012 | 02:47PM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Your two sentences are disjointed. Is there some sort of connection? As for a "club," they included me and thousands of students of all backgrounds take Hawaiian every year. It is the 2nd most popular language in the UH system. So I really have no idea what you are talking about.
on May 16,2012 | 09:57PM DiverDave wrote:
Somehow, I knew you wouldn't.
on May 17,2012 | 01:33AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Yes, when YOU state more than once that learning Hawaiian is a waste of time but then here you make crybaby about being "excluded" even though the column is to foster greater knowledge of that language, you contradict yourself. Consequently, by your own words you betray your true intentions to come here just to be argumentative. You argue one side, then make crybaby on the other side. You need to pick one story and stick with it, because you cannot have both. In reality it is you who excluded yorself from the Hawaiian language community when you stated that it is a waste of time to learn it. So since you obviously have not learned the language the only person who excluded you from anything is yourself. If you choose not to be a member of law enforcement, then guess what, Fern, you are not a member of the law enforcement community, and the only person responsible for that is YOU. You're welcome. DUH!
on May 17,2012 | 12:21PM DiverDave wrote:
Elijah, You protest too much. I must be right. You can't take the truth.
on May 17,2012 | 01:48PM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Well, I'll just take your skewed logic here and apply it to your alter ego KKKonklin, considering the book of comments he wrote above. Cool!!!! Mahalo.
==============
http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/kauakukalahale/20120526_Ulana_me_ke_aloha.html?id=154316125
Ulana me ke aloha
For Saturday, May 26, 2012
By Na David Lee Rogers
Correction [Posted by Kekeha Solis approximately May 30]: This column was written by Kekeha Solis. A previous version credited David Lee Rogers. [Ken Conklin's comments following the article, directed at David Lee Rogers, were written and posted before the correction was posted]
Synopsis: The Lauhala Weaving workshop, Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona, and its teachers and students inspire one to weave.
———
Aloha mai e nā makamaka heluhelu o Kauakūkalahale. Ua pōmaika'i ko 'oukou mea kākau i ka hele 'ana aku nei i Kona i kēlā pule aku nei. Ma laila, ma Keauhou, i mālama 'ia ai ka 'Aha Ulana Lauhala e ka hui 'o Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona. 'O ka makahiki 'umikumamāhiku kēia o ka mālama 'ia 'ana. A ho'okahi wale nō mea minamina, 'o ia ho'i, 'akahi nō a lohe ko 'oukou mea kākau no ia 'aha i kekahi mau mahina i hala iho nei. A no laila, 'o ka makamua kēia o kona komo 'ana aku i loko o ia papahana.
Eia nō na'e ke lana nei ka mana'o o ko 'oukou mea kākau, e ho'omau i ke a'o 'ana mai i nei hana a nā kūpuna, 'o ka ulana lauhala, a mākaukau nā lima e ulana ai i pāpale, e like ho'i me ka hana a kekahi mau haumāna o ia 'aha ulana lauhala o Keauhou. I ka lā 16 o Mei i ho'omaka ai, a i ka lā 19, ka lā hope loa ho'i, ua pau ka pāpale i ka ulana 'ia e kekahi mau haumāna lima palanehe. A he keu aku nō ia mau pāpale a ka nani. 'O nā haumāna ia i mākaukau. A no nā haumāna 'akahi 'akahi, he papa nō kahi e launa mua ai lākou me ia mea he ulana lauhala.
He nui nā mea like 'ole i ulana 'ia ma ia 'aha, 'o ka pāpale 'oe, 'o ke 'eke 'oe, 'o ka pē'ahi 'oe, 'o ke apo lima, me ia mau mea. A 'o kahi mea maika'i, ma ke ahiahi hope loa o ia 'aha, he 'aha 'aina. 'A'ahu 'ia ihola ka lole nani, e kīkaha ana ka 'iwa i nā pali, a hele ihola i ka 'aha, pā'ina, kama'ilio, a ho'onanea ihola. A pau ka pā'ina, hō'ike'ike nā haumāna a pau i kā lākou mau mea i ulana ai. He keu aku a ka maika'i.
'O kekahi pōmaika'i, i kekahi lā, ua ninaninau aku 'o Ipo Wong iā 'Anakē Maluihi Lee ma ka 'ōlelo makuahine a lāua, a eia mai kahi paukū pa'a na'au maiā 'Anakē Maluihi mai, “A'a nā maka o nā a'a; ulu nā kumu; ha'i nā lālā; mai ka lālā, mohala nā lau; mai ka lau, pua ka hīnano; mai ka hīnano, kau ka hala; pala ka hala, ala ka hala, ulu ke kī hala.”
Ua nui loa ka mahalo o 'Anakē Maluihi i nā kānaka a pau i kāko'o a kōkua mai iā ia nei a me ka hui 'o Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona e hiki ai ke mālama 'ia nei 'aha 'o Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona a ho'omau 'ia aku kēia hana mai nā kūpuna mai, 'o ia ho'i, ka ulana lauhala a me nā 'ike a pau e pili ana.
A 'o 'Anakē Maluihi, he 83 ona makahiki, a kohu 'ōpiopio ka 'oni o ke kino, a ikaika nō ho'i kona mau lima i ka hana 'ana i ka lau o ka hala ma ke kīhae 'ana a me ka pākī 'ana.
Mahalo iā 'oe, e 'Anakē, a mahalo ho'i i ka Papa Ho'okō o Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona, a me nā kumu a pau o ka 'aha, 'o Hulali Jewell, 'o Donna Brown, 'o Ku'uipo Morales, 'o Alice, 'o Karen, a 'o Paula Kawamoto, 'o Pualani Muraki, 'o Dee Shimabukuro, 'o Katie Lowrey, 'o Michael Nahoopii, 'o Pam Lipscomb, 'o Debbie Toko, 'o Gwen Kamisugi, 'o Caroline Affonso, 'o Kathy Walsh, 'o Lola Spencer, 'o Margaret Lovett, 'o Marcia Omura, 'o Ed Kaneko, 'o Josephine Fergerstrom, 'o Lynda Tu'a, a 'o Herb Kaneko, ke kanaka hana i nā mea pa'ahana no ka ulana lauhala. A mahalo i nā haumāna i hele no ka 'i'ini e a'o mai i nei hana. A 'o ke kumu e kau nei ia po'o mana'o ma luna, “Ulana me ke aloha,” he 'oia'i'o nō ia, ua nui ke aloha o nā kānaka a pau ma laila.
'Eā, e nā makamaka heluhelu, inā ua komo ka 'i'ini, e hele aku i ka 'aha ulana lauhala i kēia makahiki a'e.
———
E ho'ouna 'ia mai na ā leka iā māua, 'o ia ho'i 'o Laiana Wong a me Kekeha Solis ma ka pahu leka uila ma lalo nei:
>> kwong@hawaii.edu
>> rsolis@hawaii.edu
a i ‘ole ia, ma ke kelepona:
>> 956-2627 (Laiana)
>> 956-2627 (Kekeha)
This column is coordinated by Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
--------------------
on May 26,2012 | 05:25AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Aia he wahi pa‘i hewa e kau nei i luna a‘e. ‘A‘ole na‘u kēia kolamu i haku mai. Na wai i haku? --- David Lee "Teri‘i" Rogers
[** Translated by Ken Conklin with translation appearing only on this webpage:
There's a typographical error printed above. This column was not written by me. Who wrote it? -- David Lee "Teri‘i" Rogers]
on May 26,2012 | 07:51PM Ken_Conklin wrote:
Congratulations to the Lauhala weaving workshop teachers and students. Congratulations to us all, that we have many such groups who not only preserve Hawaiian culture but also bring it to life and help it thrive into the future. Congratulations also to the author of this article, David Lee Rogers, who respected the actual names of the teachers and students mentioned in this article, and neither transliterated them nor created conceptual translations of them. Readers may recall that in his April 28 column, writer Kekeha Solis chose to butcher the name of a basketball player, Metta World Peace, by rendering it into a conceptual Hawaiian-language translation as "Maluhia Honua Meka". Following my criticism of Hawaiianizing the names of people and places, Solis devoted his entire May 12 column to defending the Hawaiianization of names, citing numerous examples where it had been done previously by others. Some languages occasionally transliterate a foreign person's name so that readers of the local language will be able to make the same sounds when speaking it, especially if the two languages use different alphabets; for example, writing a Russian or Chinese person's name using English alphabet letters when mentioning that person in an English-language essay. But creating a conceptual translation of a name, like Metta World Peace into "Maluhia Honua Meka" is simply not done in modern languages used by highly civilized people. Since just about everyone who speaks Hawaiian today also speaks English, and has English as their first language, there's no need to transliterate an English-language name into Hawaiian to make it possible for Hawaiian-speakers to pronounce it, and there's certainly no excuse for doing a conceptual translation of anybody's name. Here in this article we see that David Lee Rogers has followed the universally accepted custom of preserving people's names without transliterating them unnecessarily, and without doing a conceptual translation of those which could in fact be given a conceptual translation. For example, "Donna Brown" did not get a transliteration of her name into "Kana Palaunu" which, undoubtedly, Mr. Rogers realized would have been disrespectful. And thank goodness Mr. Rogers did not do a conceptual translation of the last name of Hulali JEWELL into "Mea Ho'onani Kino." By the way, I had asked for examples of conceptual translation of Western names into Asian or tribal languages, and did not receive any replies. However, I did rediscover an example where my own name as author of a scholarly article was left in its original English when the article was translated into Mandarin for use in a college in Taiwan. My name, in English, is retained in English alphabet even in the middle of sentences printed in Mandarin. Likewise the names of books, journals, and various philosophers, and a few phrases which are perhaps untranslatable, are retained in English in the middle of an article which is otherwise printed in Mandarin. Those names are not even transliterated merely to facilitate proper pronunciation by Mandarin-speakers, and most certainly not given conceptual translations. Asian cultural practice apparently is to accord great respect to names and to leave them in their original form, neither transliterated nor translated.
Kenneth R. Conklin, "The Aesthetic Dimension of Education in the Abstract Disciplines," JOURNAL OF AESTHETIC EDUCATION, IV, 3 (July, 1970), pp. 21-36. pdf version in English is at
http://tinyurl.com/bon7489
Chinese language version for use at the National Changhua University of Education, Graduate Institute of Education, Taiwan is at
http://tinyurl.com/ccdxw3e
on May 28,2012 | 05:45AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
This is absolutely friggin hilarious!! I am in the library just ROTF LOL for days!
on May 28,2012 | 06:22AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
By the way, Conklin in Hawaiian is Meaʻōhumukipi. Can it be any more fitting???? *LAUGH!* I am using that from now on.
on May 28,2012 | 06:40AM Ken_Conklin wrote:
'A'ole. 'O Kanakalino ko'u inoa Hawai'i. He "transliteration" kena, no na'e he inoa kupono ho'ike 'ano no ia'u.
on May 29,2012 | 03:33AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Dear KKKonklin, aka Mika Meaʻōhumukipi, this response just adds to the hilarity of your original "I'm soooo clueless" comment above! *LAUGH!* O. M. G. !!!!!!!
==============
http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/kauakukalahale/20120602_Aohe_inoa_komo_ole_o_ka_ai.html?id=156585895
'A'ohe inoa komo 'ole o ka 'ai
For Saturday, June 2, 2012
Na Kekeha Solis
Synopsis: Continuation of discussion about translating names.
———
Aloha mai e nā makamaka puni heluhelu mai Hawai'i a Ni'ihau. Eia nō ko 'oukou mea kākau ke ho'omau aku nei i ke kumuhana no ka unuhi inoa 'ana. Akā, ma mua o ka lele 'ana aku i laila, e mihi mua aku ko 'oukou mea kākau iā Teri'i (David Lee Rogers) i ke kiko hewa e hō'ike ana, nāna i kākau ke kolamu o kēlā Pō'aono aku nei. Na ko 'oukou mea kākau nō, na Kekeha, i kākau. A ma ia kolamu, 'a'ole i unuhi 'ia iho nā inoa o nā kumu ulana lauhala. 'A'ole na'e i mana'o iki ko 'oukou mea kākau, he kūpono 'ole ka unuhi 'ia 'ana iho o ka ha'iinoa pili kahi, 'a'ole loa. Akā, ke heluhelu 'ia aku nā nūpepa kahiko, pēlā nō i kekahi manawa. A i kekahi manawa, ua ho'ohawai'i 'ia aku ka inoa, a i kekahi manawa, ua unuhi 'ia aku nō.
A eia mai kekahi kumu ho'ohālike, e hō'ike ana i ka unuhi inoa, “Loko Pa'akai.” 'Eā, he inoa haole kahiko loa paha ia? 'A'ole. Ua unuhi 'ia, a 'o ka inoa haole, 'o ia 'o Salt Lake City. 'A'ole paha i ho'ohawai'i 'ia ua ha'iinoa pili wahi lā, 'o ia ho'i, 'o Salata Leika. Ua unuhi 'ia iho nō a he maika'i 'o Loko Pa'akai a me ke kūpono ho'i. A ke kākau ko 'oukou mea kākau, a kama'ilio paha i kona mau hoa, 'o Loko Pa'akai ka inoa e puka ana mai ka waha aku no ka mea, aia kākou ma Hawai'i nei. A 'o ka 'ōlelo hea lā ka 'ōlelo kumu o nei pae 'āina? 'O ka 'ōlelo Hawai'i nō. Akā, inā e hele kino ko 'oukou mea kākau i Loko Pa'akai, a e kama'ilio auane'i me kekahi kama'āina o laila, a 'o ka 'ōlelo haole kāna 'ōlelo, 'a'ole 'o Loko Pa'akai ke puka a'e mai ka waha aku. 'O ka inoa haole ke ho'opuka 'ia a'e. Pēia pū ke kākau a kama'ilio paha no Maluhia Honua Meka ma Hawai'i nei, 'o ia ihola ka inoa e ho'opuka 'ia. Akā, inā e kama'ilio ana ko 'oukou mea kākau iā Maluhia Honua Meka he alo a he alo, e kāhea 'ia aku 'o ia ala ma kona inoa haole, 'oiai, 'a'ole maopopo iki ka 'ōlelo Hawai'i iā ia ala. Aia wale nō a wehewehe 'ia aku ka inoa Hawai'i nona, a laila, e kāhea 'ia aku 'o ia ala ma ia inoa.
'Eā, mai nō a poina kahi 'ōlelo no'eau kahiko, 'o ia ho'i, 'oiai 'oe ma Loma, e hana e like me ko laila po'e kānaka. A ma Hawai'i nei kākou, a ua unuhi 'ia ka inoa kanaka a me ka inoa 'āina ma nā nūpepa kahiko ma mua. A no laila, ke hō'ike mai kekahi, “'A'ole i hana ka po'e Kelemānia pēlā. 'A'ole nō ho'i i hana ka po'e Lukia pēlā. A pau pū me ka po'e Pākē.” Eia mai kahi pane: He mea 'ole ia. 'A'ole nānā ko 'oukou mea kākau i ka hana a ia mau lāhui. No ke aha lā e alaka'i mai ai ia mau lāhui i ka 'ōlelo Hawai'i? 'A'ohe wahi kumu.
A i ka hō'ike 'ia 'ana o ia mau kumu ho'ohālike ma Kauakūkalahale o ka lā 12 o Mei, he mau ha'iinoa pili kahi, a he mau ha'iinoa pili wahi nō ho'i, i unuhi 'ia, e kanikani mai ana ka waha o kahi manu kapalulu, 'a'ole ia 'o ke ‘ano mau ma nā 'ōlelo 'ē a'e i kama'āina iā ia. Kohu mea lā, he ho'okahi wale nō ala hele kūpono, 'o kāna ala hele e kuhikuhi ai.
Ke 'ōlelo Hawai'i ko 'oukou mea kākau, 'a'ole e ho'opuka 'ia ka 'ōlelo, “ke alanui King.” Ho'opuka 'ia aku nō “ke alanui Mō'ī.” A 'a'ole nō ia he 'ano 'ē. Akā, i kahi manu kapalulu, “'A'ole ia 'o ke 'ano mau.”
('A'ole i pau.)
———
E ho'ouna 'ia mai na ā leka iā māua, 'o ia ho'i 'o Laiana Wong a me Kekeha Solis ma ka pahu leka uila ma lalo nei:
>> kwong@hawaii.edu
>> rsolis@hawaii.edu
a i ‘ole ia, ma ke kelepona:
>> 956-2627 (Laiana)
>> 956-2627 (Kekeha)
This column is coordinated by Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
on June 2,2012 | 04:39AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Dear Kekeha, Chief Sitting Bull, Chief Crazy Horse, and Chief Red Cloud would all be proud. That one old, decrepit "manu kapalulu" obviously has a very short memory. Those TRANSLATED names to English were for what reason? To put foreign names into English! Using KKKonklin's own logic, they would still be known by their original Native American names, as would the tens of thousands of contemporaries who now use such surnames as White Bear and Soaring Eagle, but of course he will find some way to justify this and not the other for Hawaiian. Again, it's just the obstinant and arrogant racism that he embodies. Were you hoping no one would remember this little fact of linguistic history, KKKonklin? So, please, the next time you refer to any Native American person, please keep their names in their original language, since that is what you have been throwing your little tirades here about. Mahalo.
on June 2,2012 | 09:16AM DiverDave wrote:
Actually, Elijah, it worked both ways with the plains Indians. Trading was big amonst the Indians and the early settlers. Because of the many, many, different languages spoken by many, many different tribes, the Indians all learned some English in order to communicate not only with traders, but even amonst different tribes. When they spoke about individuals, such as their Chiefs, they would translate the names into English themselves, in order for easier understanding by English speaking traders as to what tribe they were from. The Indians even gave discriptive names to White men. For instance one of the names they gave to George A. Custer was "Yellow Hair".
on June 2,2012 | 01:16PM Ken_Conklin wrote:
Elijahhawaii3 has written his/her usual angry, insulting rant. But even garbage in a dumpster might have a few useful things that can be salvaged, so I shall respond in a rational tone to the substantive comments. Several trustworthy webpages indicate that the English names of Indian chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were in fact correct conceptual translations of their native-language names. Apparently there was no attempt to create English-language transliterations of them so that English-speakers would pronounce the native names in a way similar to how they were actually pronounced in their native language. Apparently the English-language conceptual translations Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were acceptable to those Indian chiefs themselves and to their tribal members, so that both Indians and Caucasians used those English-language names by mutual consent and without giving insult or taking offense. That still does not answer my question how the Indian languages dealt with English names (a question very relevant here because we have a Hawaiian-language writer abusing the basketball player's English-language name Metta World Peace). Probably English names which had no conceptual meaning, like Custer or Lincoln, might have been spoken by the Indians with pronunciations as close to English as they could manage, although perhaps the Indians might have created brand new Indian names related to their physical appearance (as Custer was called Yellowhair) or to some event that they were involved in. I have no information whether Caucasians with names that could be given conceptual translations, like King or Wolfe or Flowers, were given the corresponding names translated into the Indian languages. But I suspect that did not happen because the conceptual translation of the name, at least in those three examples, would probably not correspond to either the appearance or the behavior or social function of the person. However, there are other examples where Indian names were never given a conceptual translation but were always cited in English using a transliteration of the native pronunciation. For example, consider the name of the Indian woman who joined with Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition. The official English spelling of her name is Sacagawea. Both the spelling and pronunciation have been controversial. Also, there's confusion because she had a name in the tribe of her birth, and a name with similar pronunciation but different meaning in the tribe which kidnapped her. But apparently no English-speaker ever called her by a conceptual translation which would have been Bird Woman in the language of her birth-tribe or Boat Puller in the language of her capturers' tribe. Lewis and Clark apparently referred to her by speaking her name as close as they could to the pronunciation which she herself used, and they always wrote her name in English as a transliteration of that pronunciation, never as a conceptual translation. A couple years ago a statue of her was placed in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall, with great ceremony and speechifying by politicians and scholars, both Indian and Caucasian, with everyone using the now-politically-correct pronunciation Sah-CAH-gwah rather than the more commonly used Sah-kah-jow-EE-ah. Nobody called her Bird Woman or Boat Puller, which would have been considered an insult, although Kekeha Solis and elijahhawaii3 might have done that. It's also interesting that speakers of English and other European languages apparently always did their best to honor Hawaiian names by rendering them with transliterations that preserved pronunciation rather than disrespecting them by creating conceptual translations of them. For example the famous Hawaiian native who traveled to Yale University, became a fervent Christian, and invited the missionaries to come to Hawaii, Opukaha'ia. Most often the missionaries spelled his name Obookiah, probably because that was a spelling which came as close as possible to what English-speakers were able to pronounce, and perhaps because Obookiah sounds and looks like what could be a name of an Old Testament prophet or king like Jeremiah or Hezekiah. English-speakers never referred to him with a conceptual translation of his name as Belly Sliced Open, even though that was the way English-speakers typically handled Indian names like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Another obvious example is Kamehameha, whose name was always preserved intact, and never cited as Lonely One. Even Russian explorers, who met him and wrote about him but in a language with a different alphabet, preserved the pronunciation of his name when they transliterated his name into the Cyrillic alphabet rather than giving a conceptual translation. (It's interesting that the Russian spelling begins with the letter which is pronounced like a "T" rather than a "K", perhaps because the Russians heard his name in Ni'ihau dialect as Tamehameha). The author of all the Hawaiian-language columns dealing with name translations, Kekeha Solis, has acknowledged that he was also the author of the May 26 column about the lauhala group, despite the name originally printed as author. So it is interesting that he chose to render the personal name "Metta World Peace" into the conceptual translation "Maluhia Honua Meka" but on May 26 he chose to respect the actual names of several members of the lauhala group and refrained from citing them with either Hawaiianized transliterations or conceptual translations. For example, "Donna Brown" did not get a transliteration of her name into "Kana Palaunu" which, undoubtedly, Mr. Solis realized would have been disrespectful. And thank goodness Mr. Solis did not do a conceptual translation of the last name of Hulali JEWELL into "Mea Ho'onani Kino." Thus it appears that Kekeha Solis disrespects and butchers the names of outsiders like Metta World Peace by Hawaiianizing them, while he respects the names of racial or social or cultural insiders by leaving their English names intact, unmolested and unhawaiianized. If I were to follow Mr. Solis' lead, perhaps I should do a conceptual translation of his name for use in this English language essay. "Keha" means "lofty" or "majestic." "Ke" means "the." "Solis" would seem to have something to do with the Sun. So perhaps I should abide by his belief that it's OK to refer to people by using conceptually translated names. Let's call him "Sun The Majestic One." Meanwhile the fake-name commenter who prefers insults to intellectual discussion might be given an Indian name befitting his/her behavior: Pottymouth.
on June 3,2012 | 07:51AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
Ah okay. So you admit that Kekeha is right and KKKonklin, aka Mika Mea‘ōhumukipi, is wrong. Mahalo! Me ke aloha, David Lee Rogers
on June 3,2012 | 11:43AM Ken_Conklin wrote:
Elijahhawaii3 has just proved my case by providing terrific evidence in support of my assertion that it is fundamentally disrespectful to a person to change his name unnecessarily, without good reason and without permission. Here in this small message, EJH has displayed two names created by EJH for the specific purpose of being nasty and insulting: KKKonklin and Mika Mea‘ōhumukipi.
When Kekeha Solis butchers the name "Metta World Peace" by rendering it as a conceptual translation "Maluhia Honua Meka", either it is an intentional insult (as EJH has done) or else it is merely collateral damage -- the disrespect shown to a person by an overly zealous insistence that every English language word must be Hawaiianized in a Hawaiian language essay. The insistence on Hawaiianizing names is a political act -- it's one of the ways Hawaiian language is being used as a political weapon.
Long ago, when native Hawaiians were first encountering English-speakers, Hawaiians gave them Hawaiian names. Sometimes those Hawaiian names were transliterations, consistent with Hawaiian grammatical rules, of how the English names were pronounced (David --> Kawika or Jim --> Kimo); sometimes the Hawaiian names were conceptual translations of the meaning of the English names (King --> Mo'i); sometimes the Hawaiian names were descriptions of what the person looked like or what actions he performed (British sailor John Young being given the Hawaiian name Olohana because Olohana is a transliteration of how the Hawaiians heard the first words he spoke when they first met him ("All Hands [on deck!]"). Nothing wrong with that. Apparently Indian tribes on the mainland also did the same thing. And even today, names are often transliterated between two languages that use different alphabets, such as converting an English or Russian name so it can be printed in a Russian or English publication.
But today, probably every person who speaks Hawaiian also speaks English, and nearly all of them are more fluent in English than in Hawaiian. Hawaiians have no excuse for butchering the names of non-Hawaiians by Hawaiianizing them. Kekeha Solis has provided numerous examples where Hawaiians one or two centuries ago Hawaiianized English names. That was then. This is now. It's no longer necessary for Hawaiians to do that to be able to pronounce an English name or to understand any conceptual meaning it might have. Hawaiians should respect people's names. I respect the name of Kamehameha School and do not call it "The Lonely One" school even though I am speaking English and might want to "Englishify" what I say.
The Hawaiianizing of non-Hawaiian names is a political action. It's an example of how Hawaiian language is used as a political weapon. A newcomer might think it's cute if he gets his name Hawaiianized, and that's OK. But Hawaiianizing a name when it is not necessary or is done without permission is either an act of disrespect to the named individual or else a display of over-zealousness in trying to purify everything by expelling outside influences. It's like the current passion for exterminating "invasive species" that have become well-established in Hawaii in order to preserve native species. It's like Trisha Kehauani Watson dropping the "Trisha" from her name, or Lily Dorton changing her name to Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa. It's like someone with 1/32 Hawaiian blood pushing aside the other 31/32 of his ancestry and telling the Census he is solely Hawaiian (did you know we have over 80,000 "pure Hawaiians" in Hawaii according to Census 2010?).
on June 3,2012 | 08:04AM elijahhawaii3 wrote:
See? I told you so. Oh and scanning through the monologue above, all the "perhaps" and "maybe"s indicate that the person is speculating and does not actually know (one thing he is talking about) .... "transliteration" ..... *LAUGH!*
on June 3,2012 | 11:54AM Ken_Conklin wrote:
Hey dummy, look it up. "Transliteration" is a perfectly correct word, used by linguists all the time. Especially if they are cunning linguists like me. *laugh*
=============
http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/kauakukalahale/20120623_Ke_kuuml_ana_i_ka_moku.html?id=160099695
Ke kü 'ana i ka moku
For Saturday, June 23, 2012
Na Kekeha Solis
Synopsis: Discussion about the sale of Läna'i.
———
Aloha mai e nä makamaka heluhelu, eia mai ka päpä 'ölelo 'ana a kekahi mau känaka 'elua no ke kü'ai 'ia 'ana o Läna'i a Kaululä'au. Ke mana'o nei ko 'oukou mea käkau, ua lohe 'ia nö këia päpä 'ölelo, akä, he moe paha ia, a ma ka no'ono'o wale nö paha. Penei ia.
Puni Kälä: Ke kü'ai 'ia aku nei ka mokupuni 'o Läna'i i kekahi 'ona biliona.
Puni Mälama Kanaka: 'O ia kä? 'O wai aku nei ka mea nona ia mokupuni? 'O ke aupuni paha?
Puni Kälä: 'A'ole 'o ke aupuni. 'O David Murdock ka mea nona ia mokupuni, a 'o Castle and Cook (Käkela me Kuke) kona hui. A i kü'ai aku nei 'o ia iä Läna'i no ka nui o ka pohö. Ua 'ölelo 'ia ma ka Star Bulletin (Hökü Avalataisa), mai ka makahiki 2006 a i ka makahiki 2010, 'o ka pohö i këlä me këia makahiki, ma waena ia o ka $20 miliona a ke $30 miliona.
Puni Mälama Kanaka: Aloha nö. Akä, 'o ka nïnau nui, 'o ia ho'i, pehea nä känaka e noho akula ma ia mokupuni a Kaululä'au?
Puni Kälä: Pehea lä? 'A'ole nö au i nïele aku, 'o ka lohe 'ana i ka nui o ka pohö, lele akula ka hauli.
Puni Mälama Kanaka: Auë! I hewa paha i ka mea näna i kapa aku i kou inoa. 'Eä, he aha ana lä ka hopena o nä känaka o Läna'i? 'O wai ke kü ana i ka moku? 'O ke aupuni paha?
Puni Kälä: 'A'ole. 'O kekahi 'ona biliona ke kü ana i ka moku. 'O Larry Ellison kona inoa. A 'o ia ka helu 'ekolu o nä känaka waiwai loa o America. A no laila, ke mana'o nei au, ua pau ihola ka wä pohö o Läna'i. A e kani ana ka leo o ka pelehü no Ellison, “Pökeokeo, pökeokeo.”
Puni Mälama Kanaka: 'A'ole ka mea nui 'o ke kälä a 'Elikona! 'O ke kanaka ka mea nui. Ua poina paha ka mo'olelo no Kawelomahamahaia a me nä ali'i he nui e like me ia? Iä Kawelomahamahaia e noho ali'i ana no Kaua'i, 'o ia käna hana, 'o ia ka hana e laupa'i nui ai nä känaka ma luna o ka 'äina, a ua lako nä mea a pau e pono ai ka noho 'ana.
Puni Kälä: Kä! Mai hopohopo no ka pono o nä känaka o laila. Aia a nui ka loa'a a Ellison, a laila, e mälama ana 'o ia i nä känaka.
Puni Mälama Kanaka: A inä 'a'ole e nui ka loa'a, a e nui paha ka pohö, e like me Käwika Mükaka? E kü'ai wale 'ia aku me ka nänä 'ole no ka pono o nä maka'äinana? A pehea ana lä ka nui o ka pohö e kü'ai hou 'ia aku ai 'o Läna'i, he keiki ho'okama. 'Eä, ua 'ölelo mai 'oe, 'o ka pohö o ka makahiki, i ka wä a Mükaka e kü ana i ka moku, he $30 miliona a emi mai. Iä käua, he pu'u kälä nui ia e pohä ai ka lae. Akä, inä he mau 'ona biliona käua, he mea iki wale nö ia. A eia mai kahi mea e pono ai ko Läna'i. 'Oiai, he 'ona biliona 'o 'Elikona, e ho'olilo 'o ia i kahi pu'u kälä nui ma ka ho'ona'auao 'ana, e uku ho'i no ka hele kulanui 'ana o nä 'öpio o Läna'i, me ka mana'o e ho'i läkou i ko läkou one hänau no ka ho'olako 'ana i ko läkou 'äina aloha. 'O ia ka mea e pono ai. A ke nui ke kälä ma ia hope aku, he pömaika'i paha ia. Akä, 'o ka mea nui, 'o ka mälama kanaka nö ia.
Puni Kälä: 'A'ohe kä he lohe o kou pepeiao huluhulu? Aia ka mälama 'ia ana o nä känaka a nui ka loa'a. Auë, e ku'u hoa, kohu mea lä, 'a'ole 'oe ho'olohe iki i ka'u 'ölelo.
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E ho'ouna 'ia mai na ä leka iä mäua, 'o ia ho'i 'o Laiana Wong a me Kekeha Solis ma ka pahu leka uila ma lalo nei:
>> kwong@hawaii.edu
>> rsolis@hawaii.edu
a i ‘ole ia, ma ke kelepona:
>> 956-2627 (Laiana)
>> 956-2627 (Kekeha)
This column is coordinated by Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i at Mänoa.
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Ken Conklin wrote:
I was pleased to see that Kekeha Solis wrote this essay in a way that respects the names of the individuals and institutions under discussion, and the name of the newspaper. At least a little bit. At least for a while. Example: "... a 'o Castle and Cook (Käkela me Kuke) kona hui." and also " ... ka Star Bulletin (Hökü Avalataisa) ..." So, the actual name is stated first. And then, for the benefit of those poor unfortunate Hawaiians who don't speak English and don't know how to pronounce English names [there are zero such people] the English name is given a Hawaiianized version in parentheses. Except that there's a little confusion over the newspaper's name in 2006 (Star Bulletin) vs. the Hawaiianization of the successor newspaper's new name at present (Hökü Avalataisa).
Solis has created a dialog and seems to adopt a technique of using the actual spelling of an English name when it's the money doing the talking, and using the Hawaiianized version when it's the native people doing the talking. Thus we have David Murdock and Larry Ellison whenever the money talks, while we have Käwika Mükaka and 'Elikona when da peeps speak. Velly klevel (Very clever). But of course there's never any need to Hawaiianize any English name, because there are no speakers of Hawaiian who do not also speak English even better than they speak Hawaiian. Once upon a time it might have been necessary to Hawaiianize names for the benefit of natives who had no experience of the outside world. But it is disrespectful to people and institutions to change their names unnecessarily. As I have shown previously, other languages in civilized places do their best to avoid butchering names. If Hawaiian-speakers continue doing that, they will lose respect for themselves and their language to the same extent that they fail to give respect to the rightful names of non-Hawaiian people and institutions.
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http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/kauakukalahale/20120630_Aole_e_x014Dlelo_mai_ana_ke_ahi_ua_ana_ia.html?id=160926295
'A'ole e 'ōlelo mai ana ke ahi, ua ana ia
For Saturday, June 30, 2012
Na Kekeha Solis
Synopsis: Accidental or intentional brush fires can get out of hand.
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Welina e nā makamaka heluhelu ma kēia kau wela nei. 'A'ole i wela loa 'o ne'i nei e like me ka mea e 'ike 'ia akula ma 'Amelika Hui pū 'ia. 'O ke po'omana'o e kau a'ela ma luna, he 'ōlelo no'eau ia mai nā kūpuna mai e hō'ike ana i ka ikaika o ka inaina a o ke aloha paha, 'o ia ho'i, e wela mau ana ka inaina i loko o ke kanaka ke loa'a ke kumu.
A pēlā pū me ke aloha. He nani ia mana'o, akā, 'o ka mea i koho 'ia ai ua 'ōlelo no'eau nei i po'o mana'o no kēia pule, 'o ia nā ahi e lapalapa ana ma Hawai'i nei i kēia kau wela nei, a ma 'Amelika 'Ākau kekahi, e 'ai ana i ka 'āina a me nā mea a pau ma luna, 'o ka hale 'oe, 'o ke kumu lā'au 'oe a pēlā aku.
A he 'ōpū nunui ko ke ahi, e mā'ona 'ole ana i ka nui o nā mea e ulu ana a e waiho wale ana ma ka 'āina, i pulupulu ia mau mea e hōlapu ai ke ahi. A ke hui pū ia me ka malo'o o ka nahele a me ka ikaika o ka makani, 'o ka laha koke auane'i ia o ke ahi, e like me ke ahi e lapalapa ana ma Kololako, ma Monakana, ma 'Alikona a me kekahi mau moku'āina. Kau ka weli ke nānā aku. A pēlā pū me Hikimoe ma Kaua'i.
'O ke ahi e 'ā wale, 'a'ole e hiki ke 'alo a'e, akā, 'o ke kanaka puhi paka e ko'ele wāwae ana ma ka pīpā alanui, a e holo ana paha ma luna o ke ka'a, a 'o kona pana aku nō ia i ke po'omuku kikaliki i ka nahele a i ka la'alā'au ma ka'e o ke alanui paha, he hana lapuwale ia e pō'ino ai ka 'āina a me ke ola nō ho'i paha. A 'o ka 'oi loa aku, 'o ia ke puhi kolohe 'ana i ke ahi.
'O ka nīnau nui ke 'ā ke ahi, a lapalapa ana ma ka nāhelehele, he aha kona mea e pio koke ai? 'Eā, 'a'ole e 'ōlelo mai ana ke ahi, ua ana ia.
'O kekahi mea, 'o ia ke kiola 'ole 'ia 'ana o ke po'omuku kikaliki ma 'ō a ma 'ane'i.'Auhea 'oukou e nā kānaka puhi paka, e ho'opio pono 'ia ke kikaliki a e mālama 'ia a hiki aku i ke 'ie 'ōpala, a ma loko o laila e kiola aku ai i ke po'omuku. A i ka wā paha e koe ai i ke ahikoe a 'ā, a 'ā ho'i ke kikaliki, e ho'opio pono 'ia ke ahikoe, 'a'ole e kiola wale aku. 'A'ole paha i pio pono, e 'ā iki iho ana nō paha.
Eia mai paha kekahi mea e pau ai ka laha 'ana a'e o ke ahi i kona wā e lapalapa ana ma ka nāhelehele. He 'āpana lole nunui loa, kohu kapa moe. A 'o ke 'ano o ka lole, ua like ia me ka lole pale ahi o ka po'e kinai ahi e komo ai. A ma nā lihi 'ao'ao o ia kapa pale ahi, e humuhumu 'ia ke kēpau a me ka mea kaumaha 'ē a'e paha.
A na kekahi mau mokulele pinao e ho'omoe iho i ke kapa pale ahi a ma luna o ka nāhelehele o ke ahi e lele ana, i 'ole e 'ā ke ahi ma ia māhele 'āina, a pau ka laha 'ana a'e.
A laila, e ku'upau nā kinaiahi ma kahi e lapalapa ana ke ahi me ka hopohopo 'ole paha i ka laha loa 'ana aku. Inā e hana 'ia kahi kapa e like me ia, 'a'ole nō paha kākou e pilikia loa i ke ahi 'āhiu ma ka nāhelehele.
(He wahi kīna'u ko ka mo'olelo Kauakūkalahale o kēlā Pō'aono aku nei. Ua kiko hewa 'ia ka inoa o ka nūpepa puka lā, 'o ka Star-Advertiser ka pololei, a 'o ka inoa Hawai'i, 'o ia nō 'o ka Hōkū Avalataisa. LH.)
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This column is coordinated by Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
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Ken Conklin wrote:
Yes, it's true: accidental or intentional brush fires can get out of hand. One metaphorical brush fire that has clearly gotten out of hand is the butchering of names of people and places when names originating in one language are changed to make them obey the rules of a different language. If such a brush fire starts when citing English names in a Hawaiian-language article, then the brush fire might spread to the way Hawaiian names are cited in English-language articles. Disrespecting names is like a dangerous wildfire, which can spread to other places. Hawaiian writers cannot butcher English place-names while demanding that English writers respect Hawaiian place-names.
For example, this article disrespects place-names of the United States and the states that comprise it, by unnecessarily Hawaiianizing them. Speakers of Hawaiian language are not so stupid that a writer must help them by Hawaiianizing place names originating from Native American, Spanish, or English languages. 'Amelika Hui pū 'ia, Kololako, Monakana, 'Alikona are really the United States, Colorado, Montana, and Arizona. Why butcher them by Hawaiianizing them merely because an essay referring to them happens to be written in Hawaiian language? Let's tell the editors of this newspaper that when it publishes any article in English language, the Hawaiian place-names should be Englished. For example, Ken Conklin and his friend "Kimo" live on "Kahuhipa" street in "Kane'ohe" should be Englished to make it say Ken Conklin and his friend Jim live on Shepherd Street in Bamboo Man town.
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Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.
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