R. Keao NeSmith’s Hawaiian mother was fluent in her native tongue but chose to raise her son in an English-speaking household in Kekaha, Kauai, because of the stigma associated with the Hawaiian language at the time.

NeSmith (pronounced Nee-smith, from his Scottish-Welsh father) did come to learn and love the Hawaiian language through his maternal grandmother Annie Kauhane, who was raised in a pili grass house in Puna on Hawaii island. As a teenager, he lived with her in Hauula while attending Kamehameha Schools.

Now an instructor at the University of Hawaii’s Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language, the scholar has found another way to put his linguistic skills to good use, translating English-language classics into Hawaiian for specialty presses in Europe.

"It makes for an enjoyable mental workout," said NeSmith, who is also fluent in French and Tahitian.

For Evertype Publishing in Ireland, he translated two well-known Lewis Carroll books from the 1800s: "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland" ("Na Hana Kupanaha a ‘Aleka ma ka ‘Aina Kamaha‘o") and "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There" ("Ma Loko o ke Aniani Ku a me ka Mea i Loa‘a ia ‘Aleka ma Laila").

Last month, NeSmith helped Luafata Simanu-Klutz of UH’s Indo-Pacific Language and Literature Department get a job with Evertype to translate "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland" into Samoan.

NeSmith said the publisher also plans to publish "Alice" in Tahitian, Tongan, Maori and perhaps even Marquesan.

Evertype already translated Carroll’s book into other lesser-known languages such as Icelandic, Viennese German, three Scottish dialects, and the Belgian dialect Walloon. The translations are meant to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the original "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland" in 2015, celebrating Carroll’s work on an international level.

NeSmith said translating the books were akin to "literary sudoku." For a trial run, he was asked by the publisher to translate the tea party scene in "Alice" into Hawaiian. "It presented quite a puzzle because there are any number of puns within it, as well as political satire," he said.

NeSmith acknowledges taking "some leeway" in translating some of the poems in Carroll’s book. For example, there are no crocodiles in Hawaii, so he completely changed "How Doth the Little Crocodile," basing it on a shark and a traditional Hawaiian mele about the phases of the moon.

"I made it fit as a literary device in the translation."

NeSmith said Evertype’s Michael Everson — a linguist who supports minority-language communities around the world — "has been great to work with. He’s even asked me to do a translation of Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit.’"

Translating important English-language texts into Hawaiian has a long tradition in the islands, which boasted high literacy rates during the days of the monarchy. In the 1800s, popular literary works of the time were translated in Hawaiian-language newspapers. "There’s documentation that stories like ‘Beowulf,’ ‘The Arabian Nights’ and ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ were translated and published in serial form, all with the Hawaiian sense of voice in mind. … Textbooks and encyclopedias were also translated, taking readers to Asian, African and Latin American lands," NeSmith said.

NeSmith said he hopes his work draws attention to what he says is a lack of reading materials for Hawaiian-language immersion schools.

His next translation should further appeal to young Hawaiian-language readers. NeSmith’s "Alice" translations caught the notice of German publisher Edition Tintenfass, which hired him to take on "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who published "Le Petit Prince" in French in 1943. NeSmith translated the title to "Ke Keiki Ali‘i Li‘ili‘i," which was released just last month.

"It was a bit easier to work with, a little more ‘fluffy,’ complete with silly scenarios and a nice, heartfelt point at the end," he said.

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R. Kaeo NeSmith’s Hawaiian translations of Lewis Carroll’s "Alice" books, priced at $15.95, are available in paperback at Native Books/Na Mea Hawai‘i in Ward Warehouse and Amazon.com.