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> Uh... The open-vowel Hawaiian language is pronounced with a Spanish accent?
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> Getting back to what Eric asked... How *does* one pronounce the Hawaiian name 'Hawaii' such that it would sound odd in English?
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> Wolf "muy inquisitivo" spirit

In Hawaiian, as in Spanish, the a is ah, the e is like the English a, the i is an e sound and o is oo. There are some minor variations, but basically* the vowel sounds in Spanish and Hawaiian are the same.

Hawaii is pronounced by Hawaiian as if the w was a v and there is a gutteral stop between the two i's. Proper spelling is Hawai'i. I think it sounds great in an English sentence, if only for contrast. I don't include the v sound myself, but I ususally get the stop in there. The language sounds best when sung.
It occurs to me that we need a native Hawaiian on this forum.
Howard
* Basically! I swore I'd never use that word again!