What Language Do They Speak in Hawaii Today?

People in Hawaii speak English most often in daily public life, while English and Hawaiian are the state’s two official languages. Many locals also use Hawaiian Pidgin, known in linguistics as Hawaii Creole English, in casual conversation, family settings, local media, and community life. 

Today, Hawaii is best understood as English-dominant, officially bilingual, and culturally multilingual. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 24.7% of Hawaii residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, reflecting the islands' rich cultural diversity. 

People in Hawaii mostly speak English today, especially in schools, government services, tourism, business, healthcare, and public communication. But that answer is incomplete without Hawaiian and Hawaiian Pidgin, because language in Hawaii reflects law, culture, identity, migration, and everyday local speech. 

This distinction matters because “official language” and “most commonly spoken language” do not mean the same thing. 

English is spoken most in daily life in Hawaii. Visitors who speak English can communicate across hotels, restaurants, airports, tours, shops, schools, public offices, and healthcare settings.

The data support that practical reality. The State of Hawaii’s DBEDT Data Book reports that, across 2019-2023, 1,021,218 people age 5 and older spoke only English at home, while 342,396 spoke a language other than English at home.

That does not make Hawaii monolingual. It means English is the shared public language in a state with many home languages and strong local language traditions.

English is the main language of public life in Hawaii. It is the language most visitors need for travel and the standard language for most signage, customer service, official communication, and school instruction.

For a traveler, English is enough to navigate Hawaii. For a writer seeking to explain Hawaii accurately, English alone is not enough because the state’s linguistic identity is layered.

Hawaiian is used today in cultural, educational, ceremonial, governmental, and community settings. You will see and hear Hawaiian in place names, school programs, music, hula, protocol, public events, and Native Hawaiian cultural practice.

Hawaiian is also part of active revitalization work. Ka Haka Ula O Keelikolani College of Hawaiian Language is part of a Hawaiian-medium educational system supporting language revitalization across the islands.

Locals use Hawaiian Pidgin most often in informal settings. It appears in neighborhood conversations, family talk, on playgrounds, in local storytelling, in advertising, on the radio, in comedy, and in creative writing.

The University of Hawaii’s Sato Center explains that Hawaii Creole English is commonly called “Pidgin” in Hawaii and has a rich history rooted in the need for a common language among people from different language backgrounds.

No. Hawaiian Pidgin is not the same as Hawaiian. Hawaiian is an Indigenous Polynesian language. Hawaiian Pidgin, or Hawaii Creole English, is an English-based creole that developed in Hawaii through contact among speakers of Hawaiian, English, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Ilocano, Korean, and other languages.

Calling Pidgin “broken English” is inaccurate and disrespectful. Linguists treat it as a creole language with its own history, structure, vocabulary, and social meaning.

Hawaiian is official because of legal, cultural, and Indigenous recognition, not because it is the most commonly spoken daily language. English is both official and dominant in public life.

This is the main nuance readers need: Hawaii’s official language status tells you what the state recognizes. Daily language use tells you how most people communicate. Cultural language use tells you what carries identity, history, and belonging.

You can hear Hawaiian in many parts of everyday island life, including:

• Cultural ceremonies

• Hula performances

• Hawaiian music (mele)

• Schools and Hawaiian immersion programs

• Public events

• Street and place names

• Government buildings

• Museums and cultural centers

• Family gatherings

• Community celebrations

Visitors also encounter Hawaiian through common words such as aloha, mahalo, ohana, keiki, and lanai. These words are meaningful cultural terms, not decorative travel vocabulary.

If you'd like to express gratitude respectfully, here's how to say thankful in Hawaiian along with the cultural meaning behind the expression.

Olelo Hawaii matters because language carries worldview, genealogy, place, protocol, memory, and cultural knowledge. Many Hawaiian words do not map neatly onto English because they hold relationships among land, family, responsibility, and identity.

For example, “aloha” is commonly translated as a greeting, but its cultural meaning is deeper than “hello.” A respectful article should avoid reducing Hawaiian words to tourist phrases.

If you want to learn more common expressions before visiting, see our guide to Hawaiian phrases for useful words, greetings, and respectful everyday usage. 

Visitors can use common Hawaiian words respectfully when they understand the context and pronunciation. Start with words you hear in public and use them sincerely.

Avoid performing Hawaiian Pidgin for humor or copying local speech to sound “authentic.” Pidgin is tied to local identity and has been stigmatized; treating it as a novelty misses its cultural weight.

Want to learn more everyday Hawaiian expressions? Start with how to say "I love you" in Hawaiian and discover when it's appropriate to use.

Hawaii is English-dominant but multilingual. Alongside English, Hawaiian, and Pidgin, many residents speak languages connected to Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, and other communities.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 QuickFacts reports that 24.7% of Hawaii residents age 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home. That number gives the article a useful middle ground: English is dominant, but a large minority of residents live in multilingual households.

This is a better framing than saying Hawaii “speaks English and Hawaiian” only. That answer is technically useful but culturally thin.

The State of Hawaii DBEDT 2019-2023 table lists several major language categories spoken at home beyond English, including:

• Ilocano, Samoan, Hawaiian, and other Austronesian languages

• Tagalog, including Filipino

• Japanese

• Chinese, including Mandarin and Cantonese

• Spanish

• Korean

• Vietnamese

• Other English-based creole languages, a category that includes Hawaii Creole English

This data shows why Hawaii’s language landscape is broader than the official-language question.

Hawaii’s multilingual character comes from Indigenous Hawaiian history, American political change, plantation-era labor migration, Pacific movement, and modern immigration. Plantation communities brought together speakers of Hawaiian, English, Portuguese, Cantonese, Japanese, Ilocano, Korean, Okinawan, and other languages.

That contact shaped Hawaiian Pidgin and helped create a local speech community distinct from standard mainland American English.

Tourists need English in Hawaii. English is enough for hotels, restaurants, rental cars, tours, shopping, airports, emergency services, and most public situations.

The more respectful question is not “Do I need Hawaiian?” but “What language habits help me be a better visitor?” Learn common Hawaiian words, pronounce place names carefully, and understand that the local language belongs to local communities.

Celebrating someone special? Learn how to say happy birthday in Hawaiian with the correct phrase and pronunciation.

Use language in Hawaii with humility and attention:

• Learn the meaning of common Hawaiian words before using them.

• Pronounce place names as carefully as you can.

• Do not treat Hawaiian as a souvenir phrasebook.

• Do not imitate Pidgin for entertainment.

• Listen more than you perform.

• Recognize that English access does not erase Hawaiian cultural authority.

Hawaii’s language landscape is more layered than a single answer can capture. English is the primary public language, while Hawaiian is an official Indigenous language of great cultural significance. Hawaiian Pidgin also plays an important role in local identity and everyday speech, and languages such as Ilocano, Tagalog, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, and Samoan reflect the islands’ diverse communities.

For visitors, English is enough for practical travel, but understanding the differences among Hawaiian, Pidgin, and Hawaii’s community languages provides a more accurate and respectful view of how people communicate in Hawaii today.