char firstChar = userText.charAt(0);
if(firstChar = "a" || "A" || "e" || "E" || "i" || "I" || "o" || "O" || "u" || "U" ){
System.out.println("the first character is a vowel");}

char vowels[] = {'a','e','i','o','u'};
char chr = myString.charAt(0);
for(int i = 0;i < vowels.length;i++)
{
    if vowels[i] == chr
    {
        System.out.println("the first character is a vowel");
    }
}

static private final String vowels = "aeiou";
...
if( vowels.indexOf( userText.substring(0,1).toLowerCase( )) >= 0){

import java.util.*;

public class PigLatin{
public static void main(String[] args){
//Establish a scanner & prompt for input
Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Please Enter A Sentence:");
String toTranslate = scan.nextLine();

//Establish an object and print out return from running it
PigLatin translateIt = new PigLatin();
System.out.println(translateIt.translate(toTranslate));
}

private String translatedString = ""; //Will become the final string
private String userText; //the input from the user
private String finalWord; //Will become each word after translated
private int startWord = 0;
private int endWord = 0;
private int firstVowel = 0; //marks the first vowel in each word
private char vowelCheckChar =0; //used as a marker of what letters have been checked to be vowels

// Translate an individual word
public String translateWord(String userWord){

//create an object and then pass word to findFirstVowel
PigLatin wordIt = new PigLatin();
firstVowel = wordIt.findFirstVowel(userWord);

//If the first letter in the word is a vowel, follow piglatin rules
//and create the final word
if(firstVowel == 0 ){
finalWord = (userWord + "yay");
}

//If the first letter is a consonant, split the word at the firstVowel,
//and build a finalWord
else{
String beforeVowel = userWord.substring(0,firstVowel);
String afterVowel = userWord.substring(firstVowel);
finalWord = (afterVowel + beforeVowel + "ay");
}

return finalWord;
}

//translate a whole string of words
private String translate(String userWord){
userWord = userWord;

//this will repeat as long as the endWord (which marks the last letter of the last word translated)
//is less than the total number of letters in the string
for(int i = 0; endWord < userWord.length(); i++){

//re-establish the end of our new word as the next space
endWord = (userWord.indexOf(" ", startWord));

//if the indexOf returns a false statement, then there is no final space
//so we extend the endWord only to the last character in the string
if(endWord == -1){
endWord = userWord.length();
}

//now we know both ends of where our word is, we pull the string out of there
String nextWord = userWord.substring(startWord,endWord);
//for the next loop we establish the new startpoint
startWord = (endWord + 1);
//create a piglatin object
PigLatin wordIt = new PigLatin();
//use the translateWord method to translate each individual word,
//pass it the string we just cut out of the user entry
translatedString += wordIt.translateWord(nextWord);
//since we culled out the spaces, put one back in
translatedString += " ";
}
return translatedString;
}

private int findFirstVowel(String userWord)
{
//Establish array of vowels
char vowels[] = {'a','e','i','o','u'};

//Runs through each letter of the word until a vowel is found
for(int p=0; p < userWord.length(); p++){
vowelCheckChar = userWord.charAt(p);

//Compares the letter currently on, to the array of vowels
//if a match is found, the loop will end and the firstVowel marked
for(int q=0; q < vowels.length; q++){
    if (vowels[q] == vowelCheckChar)
    {
        firstVowel = p;
        p=userWord.length();
    }
}
}
return firstVowel;
}
}

PigLatin wordIt = new PigLatin();
firstVowel = wordIt.findFirstVowel(userWord);