KS creates Hawaiian language GIFs to celebrate Mahina ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i

The ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i GIFs (see below) have proven popular. Since they were uploaded in mid-January, they have received over 200,000 views. The most popular GIF so far has been “Hulō” with over 18,000 views.

Feb. 2, 2022

The Kamehameha Schools Marketing and Hawaiian Language Advancement teams collaborated to create more than 50 ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i GIFs to help users express themselves online, just in time for Mahina ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i – Hawaiian Language Month. The colorful array of messages includes “Aloha kakahiaka,” “A hui hou” and “E ola mau ka ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i – Long live the Hawaiian language.”

The ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i GIFs have proven popular. Since they were uploaded in mid-January, they have received over 200,000 views. The most popular GIF so far has been “Hulō” with over 18,000 views.

“GIFs can sometimes express more than text alone,” said Multimedia Content Senior Specialist Jacob Chinn, who helped design the GIFs. “I felt that using ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i GIFs would be a great way to incorporate the Hawaiian language into my daily life, but when you search for ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i-based GIFs online there are very few options, and most look like they are for tourists.”

Marketing Specialist Jessie Coney KSH’15 shares Chinn’s sentiment.

“When I initially took on the kuleana of social media I was surprised and slightly disappointed to see the lack of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi stickers within social media platforms like Instagram. As our marketing team prepared for Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi I wanted to make sure that we created collateral that could be used not only during the month but throughout the entire year. I hope this effort can begin to normalize ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi on social media platforms across the world and encourage others to create more stickers and GIFs as well!”

How to access the GIFs
Simply search GIF files for “Mahina Olelo Hawaii” (no diacritics needed) in Microsoft Teams or in Instagram Stories and the digital assets will pop up.

“Mahalo to our friends in KS’ Communications Group for the gift of GIFs,” said KS Director of Hawaiian Language Advancement Keoni Kelekolio. “The GIFs give us another tool to express ourselves in ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi in a contemporary and fun way. They create space for ‘ōlelo in the context of online meetings, where we’re spending so much of our time.”