LinguAvengers: How Bilbo, Harry Potter and Aslan teamed up with Pele, Māui and Kanaloa to save a dying language

Friday 8 November, 19.00 - 20.00 

Part of the ALOHA Late Night Event (Doors open at 19.00)

Free but need to book Late Night ticket for entry to talk. Book your free ticket here. 

NB. This ticket will give you entry to the rest of the Late Night event, as well as the talk.

Have you ever wondered what Gollum or Gandalf would sound like speaking Hawaiian? Or if it's possible to translate elvish into Hawaiian? Join Dr Keao NeSmith from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa for a talk about the process of translating J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit into Hawaiian - Ka Hopita. The talk will stress how, if language revitalization is to be successful in the coming years, it is vital to develop strategies that engage students of all ages in activities that relate to contemporary cultural trends and interests. One such strategy involves the creation of high-level reading materials.

Reactions to recent releases of Hawaiian translations of tremendously successful pop-culture productions, such as the Harry Potter books, Tolkien's The Hobbit, and Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, have shown that even adult learners want new and exciting books of high quality made available to them in Hawaiian. Engaging fictional universes and pop-culture fandom are a way to draw attention to communicative language learning, pragmatics, language socialization, neologisms and a host of other areas of language acquisition. The integration of modern pop-culture icons alongside traditional culture ones in additional-language teaching provides opportunities to marry language teaching and practice in new ways when such iconic stories are integrated as the medium for presenting language. The implications for rejuvenating endangered language communities this way present exciting prospects for language teaching, maintenance, and the proliferation of speakers.

Meaning of 'revitalise': to invigorate, spark enthusiasm, create excitement, inspire joy & pleasure.

Dr Keao NeSmith is a linguist of Native Hawaiian and Scottish descent, born on the island of Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Kingdom. Involved in several different fields of interest, Keao is engaged in research on and restoration of cultural sites on his home island, as well as other places around Hawai'i. He has translated and authored several books. Among his translations are Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There; J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the original English into Hawaiian. He currently teaches Tahitian language at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and works with various private and public entities in integrating Hawai‘i's history and culture into their business practices and special projects.