Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 3, 1 March 2008 — Holoholo, Hawaiian style [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Holoholo, Hawaiian style

go\ Airlines launches a Hawaiian-language website

By Lisa Asatū Public lnfurmatiun Specialist Got plans for Holoholo? Go! Airlines has given new meaning to the term Flyin' Hawaiian with the debut of its all-Hawaiian language web site that allows patrons to book airfare in 'ōlelo Hawai'i. "Everybody's saying this is the first Hawaiian-language site for econnnerce, so this is pretty eool," said Frank Among, e-connnerce vice president for Mesa Air Group ine., the parent company of go! On the site — www.lelegowau. eom, whieh translates to www. iflygo.com — patrons select things like "lā ha'alele" (departing date) and "kahi e lele aku ai" (destination), eliek on "go!" and flight options appear, including "kumukū'ai huinanui" (total cost) and "no ho'okahi kanaka"

(kama'āina rate). Go! plans to add car and hotel bookings to the site by April, Among said. "We want to perpetuate the Hawaiian language and bring it into the new century, that's the whole goal," he said, adding that he hopes other airlines and businesses will also begin to offer Hawaiian-language web sites. "Hawaiian is an official language of the state - you ean write checks in Hawaiian, if you go to court you ean speak in Hawaiian, so it only makes sense," he said. The site had a soft launeh Feb. 15, two days before its unveiling at the Ho'omau benefit concert for 0'ahu's Hawaiian-language inunersion schools. Proceeds from lelegowau.com will benefit inunersion schools, Among said. For translation help, go! enlisted the students of Kula Kaiapuni 'o Ānuenue, a Hawaiian-language innnersion school in Pālolo, as

well as the Hawaiian-language lexicon connnittee led by Larry Kimura of UH-Hilo, whieh created new words to accommodate tenns like "itinerary" and "travel paekage," and University of Hawai'i Hawaiian Studies and Hawaiian language student Kaulana Vares and culture and language expert Manu Boyd. As for the Ānuenue students, they have their own ideas for the web site they helped create. "The kids want to volunteer to do live-chat support in Hawaiian and eventually, hopefully we ean add some staff to answer calls," Among said. Moms and dads also share the enthusiasm, he said. "We've gotten the parents in tears saying the reason they send their kids to iimnersion school is because they wanted them to use Hawaiian every day, and this is just one more step. It's pretty touching." □

NŪ HOU • NEWS

Among the highlights, go! Airlines new Hawaiian-language web site asks fliers' for la ha'alele (departure date) and la ho'i (return date). - Screen shot: lelegowau.com