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Hawaii is an anomaly within the united states in several regards, including it's colonial history, indigenous culture, and not least of all, its unique lingual history. It is one of the only places in America that has retained a number of pidgin tongues in common usage and it also continues to support various other foreign language groups brought there by immigrants from Asia and other Pacific islands. While foreign languages obviously exist in other parts of the US they have not been incorporated so thoroughly into the local dialect. Languages such as Japanese, Tagalog, English, Spanish, and Chinese have all had significant influence on the language spoken in Hawaii, obviously in addition to the native Hawaiian language. Additionally, many languages are retained in full within a family's home. According to the 2000 US census, almost 27% of the Hawaiian population did not speak English in their home. After English, various pacific island languages were the most common including Hawaiian, Chomorro, Ilocano, Indonesian, and Samoan.
Many tourists that come to Big Island are amazed at the cultural diversity that exists in such a small geographical area and how much so that the cultures have been preserved through generations. Hawaii really is a world unto itself where it is not only accepted to retain your culture, but actually encouraged. One potentially negative aspect of this is that the 27% of children growing up in non-English speaking homes are at a distinct disadvantage if they venture to the mainland for school or work and do not speak the level of English that is expected for most of these places. As a result many of these children either are forced to take ESL classes or to enroll in a private class to catch them up to speed. While this is not a unique experience for children of immigrants, particularly in places such as Los Angeles or New York. There, high concentrations of non-English speakers require third party organizations such as the numerous English schools New York has available or an English school Los Angeles that targets classes specifically at first generation Latino immigrants. Hawaii is fortunate that its rich cultural history enables such a thorough mixing of cultures including the retention of language, however there are practical consequences for this. Though I'm sure most would say its more of a blessing than a curse!
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