{"id":210954,"date":"2025-02-18T14:33:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T00:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=210954"},"modified":"2025-02-18T14:41:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T00:41:26","slug":"olelo-hawaii-for-eldercare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/02\/18\/olelo-hawaii-for-eldercare\/","title":{"rendered":"Revitalizing \u02bb\u014dlelo Hawai\u02bbi for eldercare"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

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Researchers at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa\u2019s Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health<\/a> are advancing efforts to enrich ʻōlelo<\/span> Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (Hawaiian language) with new eldercare terms, blending cultural heritage with modern healthcare concepts to ensure the language\u2019s relevance for future generations. <\/p>\n

Related Â鶹´«Ã½News<\/em> story: Free Hawaiian language resources help enhance responsible k\u016bpuna care<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Their work was recently highlighted in an article published in Genealogy<\/em><\/a>, authored by PhD student Kepoʻo<\/span> Keliʻipaʻakaua,<\/span> program coordinator Shelley Muneoka, and principal investigator Kathryn Braun with the Thompson school\u2019s H\u0101 K\u016bpuna, the National Resource Center for Native Hawaiian Elders<\/a>. Assisted by Kumu Kapili Lyon at the UH<\/abbr> Department of Religions and Ancient Civilizations<\/a>, the initiative aims to preserve and strengthen Native Hawaiian perspectives on aging while ensuring accessibility for future generations. <\/p>\n

“From our work so far, we have gained a lot of insights and learned a lot of terms and concepts that are perhaps new to us today, but were commonly understood in the past,” said Keliʻipaʻakaua<\/span>. “Most importantly, we see how much more remains to be learned.”<\/p>\n

Building on decades of efforts to revive ʻōlelo<\/span> Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, H\u0101 K\u016bpuna spearheaded three major language projects:<\/p>\n