State tops in nation for most non-English speakers

The most ethnically diverse state in the country, Hawaii also has the highest proportion of non-English speakers.

An April report prepared by Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism used data from the U.S. Census Bureau to analyze state language use trends and determine the impact of English proficiency on factors such as economic activities and earning potential. Most came from American Community Survey data collected between 2010 and 2014.

The report found about one-quarter of Hawaii’s population speak languages other than English at home, as compared to one-fifth of the total United States population.

Whereas the U.S. total of non-English speakers has seen marked increases since 1980, when the number was about 11 percent of the population, Hawaii’s proportion has remained stable even as its overall population has grown.

State trends also differ from national ones in the languages spoken. Spanish is by far the most common language spoken at home throughout the United States. In Hawaii, Ilocano and Tagalog (both languages of the Philippines) share that distinction.

The Ilocano-speaking population has tripled in Hawaii since 1980.

The Japanese-speaking population, on the other hand, has fallen by half of its 1980 numbers. Japanese is still the fourth-most spoken language in the state.

The report found Hawaii County has the lowest percentage of non-English speakers among the four counties (19 percent), and Honolulu County the highest (28 percent).

But Hawaii County also has the most speakers of Hawaiian: nearly 16 percent. In Maui and Kauai County, Hawaiian speakers make up 7.3 percent of the non-English speaker total, and in Honolulu County, they do not appear at all in the top five most-spoken languages.

Nearly 30 percent of school-age children in the county speak Hawaiian at home.