Editorial: Embracing te reo
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Editorial
OPINION: Though some try to deny it, there have been times in New Zealand's not so distant past when all aspects of maoritanga was suppressed and those speaking Maori were ridiculed, admonished or even punished.
Some of the repression came in the classroom.
Often, however, the most staunch opponents of te teo were Maori parents themselves, believing – perhaps rightly, in the New Zealand of the early to mid 1900s – that the best way for their children to get ahead was to shun their cultural past and fully embrace Pakeha ways.
Now, however, things are different. Maori became an official language in 1987 – one thing of course that makes New Zealand unique. Kohanga reo – literally, language nests – offer full-immersion Maori-speaking preschool education throughout the country.
Maori words have an important role in the language of New Zealand, giving it its own unique and special flavour. Though it will never have linguistic equality with English, its role can only grow.
Each year, te reo is celebrated with Maori language week. Much of this can be seen, through the cynic's eye, as tokenism. Place-names on the TV One weather map and Air New Zealand's popular Grabaseat pages were in Maori last week.
Some supermarket advertising went bi-lingual, and a few stories based on or celebrating the use of Maori were run on television and newspapers.
In one of them, New Zealand Maori rugby captain Liam Messam admitted his team's ploy to make lineout calls in Maori had proved advantageous against visiting teams from England and Ireland this year.
However, the renaissance is much stronger than the odd soundbite, advert or newspaper colour story might suggest.
The last census, in 2006, recorded that more than 131,000, or around a quarter, of Maori could hold a conversation in te reo.
Maori Language Commission boss Glenis Philip-Barbara believes the number will be appreciably higher in next year's census.
The commission's latest research puts the number at around 50 per cent, although those who say they are "completely confident using the language in any situation" remain in single figures.
Meanwhile, Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says that non-Maori acceptance and support for Maori people speaking Maori in public places has almost doubled since 2000, from 40 per cent to 77 per cent.
Dr Sharples has been asked to lead a searching review of the estimated $250 million currently spent by the Government on te reo initiatives.
He will assess whether the Government is getting value for money in education, broadcasting and other state-funded activities.
That can only be a good thing. Some will ask whether Dr Sharples will be objective about te reo. Short answer: he won't – and nor should he be. The point of the exercise is to examine the efficiency of existing systems.
The money is already being spent, and if Dr Sharples can make it go further, or be used more effectively, well and good.
The arguments against te reo became tiresome and redundant years ago. New Zealand has two official verbal languages, plus sign for the deaf. Embracing te reo symbolises New Zealand's place as a proud Pacific nation – one that has long outgrown its earlier role as an outpost of British colonialism.
It is another sign of our gradual coming of age. Race-obsessed critics of the Maori revival should get over themselves.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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@ Rogerf
I'm English and I agree - my list would include Scots, Welsh, Vikings (Danes), Saxons (Germans), Romans (Italians), Normans (French) and so on.
NZ lives in the past (in more than one sense!) and until it grows up and gets over that nothing will change.
Ever stopped to wonder how many millions of dollars, taxpayers and Pakeha money have been spent on the survival of that rare creature the kiwi? I wonder what it will be like when NZ has no more...will it make a difference to the way we see ourselves; and what will our national icon be then? Guess it won't be long now. Is it worth it - and how much is too much? Kia ora Justice, it's interesting to read your comments because it makes me realise how long colonialist myths endure. These days, the facts, the history and the discussion are so easily accessible. I'm native to this land, Pakeha proud. Kia mau, kia u ki tenei taoka te reo, he poutokomanawa mo tatou katoa.
I deny it. Name one time or even one statement written or spoken in our history when it was said----I don't think you should carry on with your damaging assumption without any actual evidence---there is some evidence that Maori leaders asked the schools to stop their own people speaking Te Reo 80 years ago though,so stop these racist statements----I have Scottish blood and if I held on to hate like a Maori I would probably want to kill every Englishman I meet.
"Race-obsessed critics of the Maori revival should get over themselves."
Ah, why should any taxpayer funded initiative be 'race based' at all? It's nothing other than the playing of the 'victims forever' vote & blatant racism in itself. Want to learn te reo? fine, go learn BUT don't use my hard earned tax dollars to indulge YOUR interest while continuing to harp on about a history that no longer exists. When will you media ever ask that racist Hone to have a little respect for ALL that europeans and other world cultures have brought him? It's not a oneway street for recognition of culture! Oh, and for the record 'pakeha' is a derogatory term used too describe the first British settlers. Maybe it's time this rude description was removed as no pakeha exist. We are ALL 'tanga whenua' now! P.s. Put a name to your editorial
nicules - He kuare koe. Haere ki ōhou hoa, ko te BNP Party, me wētahi atu momo pokokohua. He moumou taima koe kai koneke, ko Aotearoa, pouri atu!
Good editorial. As a pakeha, I applaud te reo initiatives. All the money invested is well worth it. Te reo is a large part of what defines us as a nation.
"In one of them, New Zealand Maori rugby captain Liam Messam admitted his team's ploy to make lineout calls in Maori had proved advantageous against visiting teams from England and Ireland this year."
Wow! That's certainly worth $250,000,000 worth of tax payer funding.
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Justice #4
Actually Pakeha is not a derogatory term - you would know this if you could speak Maori. But you can't, and still assume to state "facts" about a language that is alien to you.
Pakeha is, very simply, the opposite of Maori. Maori means ordinary, or common. It was not the name of our people, it was simply stating that we were, when asked, the norm around here. In contrast, europeans were Pakeha - foreign, not common, different.
Over time the word was absorbed into NZ English language to identify settlers who were uncomfortable with being called "Europeans" - they weren't. They were a unique blend of their european whakapapa and this new land. What better way to identify that with a unique term from this land?