Language

[Ania]

What percentage of people speaks Hawaiian on the islands? Is the pidgin a different name for Hawaiian?

[Glen Miyashiro]

What percentage of people speaks Hawaiian on the islands? Is the pidgin a different name for Hawaiian?
There are probably only a few thousand people who are fluent in Hawaiian these days, although many Hawaiian words are commonly used every day here.

Pidgin isn't the same as Hawaiian, it's a variant of English that's been influenced by Hawaiian and several other languages. It's also not actually a "pidgin" as the linguists define their terms. Technically, the linguists call it Hawaii Creole English (http://www2.hawaii.edu/~gavinm/hcebackground.htm), but everybody colloquially calls it pidgin.

[Ania]

Thanks Glen. :)