Miller with her Marshall Islands host mother

Responding to growing interest in Marshallese language and culture, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures began offering its first regular, formal Marshallese classes this fall.

Taught by Center for Pacific Island Studies alumna and former World Teach volunteer Rachel Miller (MA ’10) with the assistance of native speakers, the beginning and intermediate Marshallese courses are co-listed with Outreach College and funded in part by a Title VI National Resource Center Grant for support of teaching less-commonly taught languages.

Additional Marshallese language resources

Need a little help with translation? University of Hawaiʻi Press offers the Marshallese-English Dictionary, with 12,000 entries on some 30,000 words, 4,000 place names and an English finder list for word categories important in Marshallese culture.

The Center for Pacific Island studies offers Marshallese and Chuukese translations of common English health terms among other resources provided online for health professionals working with Pacific Islands patients.

Tags: alumni, Center for Pacific Island Studies, Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures, international, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Pacific Islands and Australia, UH Manoa, University of Hawaii Press, Vol. 36 No. 3