Keao NeSmith is a Native-Hawaiian linguist from the island of Kaua’i. He holds a PhD in applied linguistics and is an educator and translator who has taught at various universities in Hawai’i, Tahiti and New Zealand. His work on “Neo Hawaiian” as a separate variety of Hawaiian has informed debate in Hawaiian language studies, as well as broader issues in language revitalization. He has translated a number of books into Hawaiian, including The Hobbit, The Little Prince, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the Harry Potter series. He most recently finished a Hawaiian translation of The Chronicles of Narnia. In this episode we talk about learning Hawaiian from native speakers, the Hawaiian we speak today, the goal of our language, linguistics, translating popular novels into Hawaiian, and so much more. Enjoy!

Learn more about Keao here:

https://www.waikato.ac.nz/study/success-stories/keao-nesmith

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