How do you define “birth language”? If you mean they are, for example, 3rd generation Japanese born and raised in Hawai’i who speak English as a first language but have directly traceable ancestors whose first language is Japanese, then yes, your statement is correct.
But the vast majority of Asian-heritage residents of Hawai’i were born here and speak English as their mother tongue.
Right. While the Census Bureau indicates that 37% of Hawaiians list “Asian alone” as their race, only 18% of all Hawaiians are foreign-born (which undoubtedly includes many Hawaiians who are not of Asian descent).
Skimmed the thread so apologies if this has already been discussed. Would any of this be influenced by the history of Irish rebellion against the English/British thus usage of the Irish language as an FU to the Brits while Hawai’i has no equivalent history of rebellion against the US.
Right now people of Native Hawaiian ancestry are something under 10% of the state’s population (and under 0.1% of the total US).
There are many times more White, Filipino or Japanese ancestry residents in Hawaii than Native Hawaiian.
Contrast this to over 80% of Ireland identifying as being of Irish ancestry (not to mention big chunks of US, Canada and Australia population). All of whom are invested to some degree or another in promoting the Irish language by official and unofficial means.
What is “of American descent”? American English only becomes a heritage language as families have become Americans and participated in American culture. An Asian-American in Hawai’i is exactly as American as I am, and English part of their cultural heritage exactly as it is for me, with maybe a slight difference in emotional associations for people who learned English as an adult.
What I’m suggesting is parallel—move to Hawai’i and become a Hawai’ian (by residence, and by the state’s own version of American culture, though obviously you can’t become an Indigenous Hawai’ian). Learn the local language, and pass in on to your kids as part of their state-of-Hawai’i heritage, as we pass along English as part of our USA-ian heritage, whether or not we’re of English descent.
Having the “wrong” ancestry does not render one not capable of, or not required to, learn the local language, whether in Hawaii or Ireland.
I am still waiting for a decent-sized polity, say a town, to become non-English-speaking, with at least 3/4 of the population speaking Spanish or French or Chinese or whatever on a daily basis to the extent that you can’t really get by there speaking only English.
Did I say that it did? What I’m talking about is a broader push to have the local language become a community language, across ethnicities. This is sort of the case in Ireland (everyone in school is exposed to the language, but most people with only school exposure do not use it fluently as adults), but doesn’t seem to be the case in Hawai’i except on an ad-hoc voluntary basis.
The political will to enforce this requirement is likely to be VERY correlated with having the “right” ancestry.
Thank you. I was under the mistaken impression there was a fairly large first generation population of Asian folks who grew up elsewhere speaking not-English and arrived in Hawaii as adults. Much like the Chinese influx into San Francisco.
My point about the Asians was sort-of secondary to what I thought @Dr.Drake meant. which it seems I misunderstood as well. Which he now clarifies here:
Wow. I totally did not get that the first time. Thanks for the clarification. What I said to you was a total non sequitur to what you meant.
Had the Hawaiian language not been so suppresed, and had the Hawaiian population not been so first decimated then marginalized and finally numerically overwhelmed then I could see your proposal going.
e.g. Ethnically I’m a whitebread northern mutt. Were I a young man and moved to Puerto Rico I could certainly see adopting Spanish as my daily use tongue, trying to raise my PR-born kids in it, etc. I’d always be “faking” being Puerto Rican culturally, but my kids would not be faking it much, and their kids not at all. One can get by in English in PR, but you’re not really living in the culture until you’re speaking Spanish and doing the various cultural things that go along.
I suppose a similar example could be made of Anglophone folks moving to Quebec.
For a situation like Hawaii as it really is today, having the population of generic white (or Asian) immigrants or locally born second generation of those immigrants en masse adopting Hawaiian as a secondary tongue strikes me far more as cultural appropriation than joining the local cultural milleu. Had Hawaii’s history since the arrival of Europeans & Americans been more like e.g. PR’s, I could see the balance of sensitivities go the other way.
I’m not hostile to your proposal. Given time to grow over a couple generations it’s probably the best way to keep some semblance of respect for indigenous Hawaiian culture and language alive. It would certainly be a more enlightened approach then the cultural and demographic imperialism practiced against Hawaiians for most of their history with the outside world.
I’d agree with you, but there are the professionally offended who howl about “cultural appropriation” any time someone shows an interest in a culture they weren’t born into, particularly if the curious one is Caucasian.
I recall an anecdote—mind you, I have no idea how true it is or in what town it supposedly took place— of two Alsatians, who right up until that moment had been conversing in fluent French, switching to Alsatian in mid-sentence when they noticed a non-local getting close.
Perhaps a closer comparator than Ireland and Irish would be New Zealand and Māori?
I’m sure the State Department of Education would be surprised to hear that their linguistic efforts are “ad-hoc” and “voluntary.”
Oh, oopsie - that official state website page was in ōlelo Hawai’i, not English. My apologies. You can read about the voluntary, ad hoc efforts to promote the language in English here.
I’m not trying to claim that there is a miraculous resurgence of ōlelo Hawai’i and that everyone speaks it. Far from it - English is unquestionably the lingua franca, and if any parent were to insist their child learn only ōlelo Hawai’i and prevent them from learning English, that would be tantamount to child abuse, as English is necessary for functioning in just about every public and private sphere.
Still, I would like to know more about the base of knowledge you are drawing on to heap such scorn on public institutions with respect to nurturing linguistic and cultural Hawaiian traditions. As I hope I frequently repeat, I am no expert - I’m a haole who didn’t start spending time in the State until 2002, and have only lived and worked here full time for 5 years. Still, my work has put me not exactly on the front lines, but let’s say I have front row seats to what’s happening, as I work(*) for a diverse cultural non-profit on Hawai’i Island.
Anyway, I just wonder if you live and work in Hawai’i, talk story regularly with Kānaka Maoli, or what. I feel as though if you did, you’d either be less pessimistic, or would have more concrete data/examples to back your generalizations.
(*) I just retired, but am still working hard as a volunteer. In fact my sudden facility with the cultural history of Hawai’i during the 19th century is a direct result of some work I’m doing for the institution.
I think the main problem is the tone of my writing: I don’t have any local knowledge of Hawai’i, and I’m not trying to claim that I do. I have opinions, and some knowledge of what it looks like when a government really DOES support a minority language elsewhere, but if you think I’m coming across as ignorant because I’m not there and don’t know the situation, you’re probably right.
I’ll tone it down and try to flag the opinions more clearly as such. I’m here to learn, not just mouth off.
The simple answer would be to investigate or ask what the current policy is in the state.
Thank you @Dr.Drake, that was a gracious response.