Rapa Nui is a Polynesian language, thus, it is different from other Indoamerican languages spoken in the country.

It belongs to the Polynesian branch of the austronesic family, a group of languages distributed from the Southeast Asia to Easter Island.

The Rapa Nui people is a culturally and linguistically distinct ethnic group in the Chilean territory, incorporated to the country in 1888.

Currently, the Rapa Nui are bilingual, speaking both Spanish and their original language, the Vaná a Rapa Nui. Children in the island speak the Rapa Nui until they enter school, where they learn Spanish, used as a second language in their relations with the continent.