Ask most visitors what language they speak in Hawaiʻi and they'll say English — which is true, but only half the story. Hawaiʻi is the only U.S. state with two official languages: English and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian language. Add in Hawaiʻi Pidgin, the local creole you'll hear in grocery stores and surf lineups, and the islands turn out to be one of the most linguistically layered places you can visit.
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi: The Hawaiian Language
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is a Polynesian language related to Tahitian, Samoan, and Māori. It has just 13 letters — the five vowels plus H, K, L, M, N, P, W, and the ʻokina (a glottal stop written as a backward apostrophe). A kahakō, or macron, lengthens a vowel sound. Both marks change meaning, which is why "Hawaiʻi" is written with that small but important ʻokina.
By the early 1900s, Hawaiian had been pushed out of schools and government after the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and by the 1980s fewer than 50 children spoke it as a first language. A grassroots movement of Hawaiian-medium preschools (Pūnana Leo) and immersion schools reversed that decline, and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is now taught from kindergarten through university, spoken on Hawaiian-language news broadcasts, and printed on street signs, government seals, and school names across the state.
Hawaiʻi Pidgin: The Everyday Local Voice
Pidgin, formally Hawaiʻi Creole English, is a different language entirely — it grew out of the plantation era, when Hawaiian, English, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and other workers needed a common way to talk story on the job. Today it's the language of everyday local conversation, full of its own grammar and rhythm, not just English with a few Hawaiian words dropped in.
Words You'll Hear Everywhere
You don't need fluency to get the gist of a conversation in Hawaiʻi. A handful of words show up constantly, in both Hawaiian and Pidgin contexts:
- Aloha — hello, goodbye, and love, all at once
- Mahalo — thank you
- ʻOhana — family, including chosen family
- Keiki — child or children
- Pau — finished or done
- Brah — friend, brother (Pidgin)
- Talk story — to chat, catch up (Pidgin)
Locals genuinely appreciate visitors who learn a few of these and use them correctly — it goes a long way toward showing respect for the culture rather than treating it as a theme.
So What Will You Actually Speak?
For a typical trip, English gets you everywhere. But you'll read Hawaiian on highway signs, hear it in place names like Kalākaua, Haleʻiwa, and Kealakekua, and catch Pidgin in casual conversation at a plate lunch counter or beach park. Listening for all three is part of what makes the Hawaiian language and local slang so fun to pick up — it's a living, everyday part of island life, not just a postcard phrase.
Bring the islands home: Explore our Hawaiian Phrases & Slang collection — original designs from our Native Hawaiian–owned studio in Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi. Here are a few of the newest additions:
Brah Hawaii Local Slang Tee — a nod to the word only the locals use right.
Talk Story Tee — for the art of slowing down and catching up, island style.
No Rain No Rainbow Tee — one of Hawaiʻi's most beloved sayings, worn proud.