Why I dread Cook Islands Māori Language Week
“Whenever Cook Islands Māori languages week rolls around, I get a sense of dread. I know that’s probably not what some of you want or expect to hear. But it is my reality.” — Tepaeru Minster.
Reo
Hona Black: The journey of te reo is a shared one
“There are many Pākehā out there, including my mum and partner, who have learned or are learning te reo Māori, who are not just the metaphorical womb but are quite literally the whare tangata of our language.” — Professor Hona Black.
Jason Tiatia: Your identity is your strength
“You hate it as a kid, but when you grow up, you realise: ‘Oh, there's a big picture here.’ Your identity is your strength.” — Jason Tiatia, author of ‘Sāmoan Made Simple’, on speaking only Sāmoan at home.
It’s not “our” reo if you’re Pākehā
“I’m not arguing that Pākehā can’t learn te reo Māori. Anyone can learn te reo Māori, speak te reo Māori, and have a relationship with te reo Māori. But only Māori can claim te reo as ‘ours’.” — Taea Staples.
Witi Ihimaera Smiler: ‘Call me Ishmael’
“My fellow students thought I was that person, the Ihimaera, when I was really this person, Witi Smiler. Witi Ihimaera was really a construct, somebody I had created to do the mahi he does.” — Witi Ihimaera Smiler, in an extract from ‘Te Kaikaukau / The Swimmer’.
Breaking through the biggest barrier to learning te reo
“When we’re feeling vulnerable, with negative self-chatter going round and round in our heads, the fear of making a mistake stills our tongues.” — Atakohu Middleton talks to Awanui Te Huia about how negative self-talk can undermine efforts to learn te reo.
Bilingual superpowers
“We should not underestimate the capacity of our children’s brains, but should be celebrating and supporting all the benefits of their potential bilingual superpowers.” — Linguist Hilary Smith.
Be more curious than afraid
“This year has been about navigating the surprising layers of grief for a language I never had until now, and envying anybody who grew up with it.” — Michelle Campbell.
Violence beat te reo Māori out of my whakapapa. Aroha brought it back.
“Generational trauma rises in me every time I think of Nana as a little girl being violently punished for speaking the only language she knew. Generational aroha pushes me forward to the mic.” — Marama Davidson on her reo journey.
Our birdsong is back
“It was a thrilling cacophony of joyous birdsong. A jostling, prancing throng of utterly diverse tangata whenua giving vigorous and unified voice to a new māori era.” — Tainui Stephens on the response to Kuini Nga wai hono i te po’s first speech.
The $53m cost of losing our reo
“Cultural harm was no longer just ‘sad but unmeasurable’. It had become economically quantifiable. We'd created a bridge between how we understand our losses and how legal systems work.” — Atawhai Tibble.
Witi Ihimaera: Back at the beginning
“When I die, I want to make sure that when my ancestors say to me: ‘Kia ora, nau mai, haere mai,’ I won't say to them: ‘I’m sorry, but I can't speak te reo.’” — Witi Ihimaera, on learning te reo at 80.
Hands fluent in silence
“The steamroller of Pākehā assimilation, combined with patriarchal notions of masculinity, flattened all the words out of Moses, in any language. This left only his hands to demonstrate what could not be uttered out loud.” — Nadine Hura, from her book ‘Slowing the Sun’.
Beating the taniwha of shame
"I speak the reo like a newborn. I make shapes with my mouth and hope the correct sounds will come out. I'm now eight weeks into this journey, and it’s been a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs." — Michelle Campbell.
We are strongest when we walk together
Gagana Sāmoa “has challenged, humbled, and ultimately made me a better person.” — Dr Will Flavell, a former reo Māori teacher, on learning Sāmoan.
Language experts don’t do their homework either — Hēmi told us
“Going to kura reo for the first time, I remember feeling completely out of my comfort zone. Driving there, parking up, stepping out of the car, going to the pōwhiri — that was really, really hard.” — Hēmi Kelly.
Sticking with my language journey
“I had no idea during that first class that I was about to embark on a path which would see me return to the classroom every year. I’d finish at one language institution and move to another.” — Renee Karena.
Clues to the story of your life
"Your language contains clues to the story of your life. You don't sound like anyone else. Your voice is your audio signature in a world of sound. Your voice. Your reo." — Tainui Stephens
Te reo is not a Pākehā asset
“Pākehā being supportive tāngata Tiriti is more than just learning a language. We have to start with untangling our sense of entitlement to all that we can access.” — Kay Benseman.
Stuck in the middle with reo
“It’s filled from cover to cover with the version of te reo Māori that my cousins and I speak in the kitchen while we’re washing dishes. The words, the sentence structures, the expressions, the adulterated versions of famous whakataukī, and the jokes.” — Airana Ngarewa on his new book Ngāti Pātea.
Reckoning with reo revival
“Te reo can’t be revitalised to its fullest extent without addressing some of the fundamental constraints under which its revitalisation is taking place.” — Awanui Te Huia.
Common mistakes in reo Māori
“If you get too caught up on mistakes all the time, you get into analysis paralysis, where you focus so much on not messing up that it stunts your ability to speak.” — Hona Black on correcting errors in te reo Māori.
Kia ora, Mayor Tim
“You look at the young people in this district, you go into the schools, and the strength of Māori language as part of who we are is palpable. I genuinely believe that in 20 years time we’ll be asking ourselves what all the fuss was about.” — Tim Cadogan, mayor of Central Otago.
Making room for the reo
“As life got harder and more things started cropping up, it was the reo that kept being put on the back burner — something I swore I wouldn’t do.” — Siena Yates on life after full-immersion reo learning.
Learning te reo as an adult: Tips for success
“There is a common factor that I see about those who are very quick adult learners. They quickly see that there is no point trying to maintain their ego . . . they are able to laugh at themselves, even if they make lots of mistakes.” — Matiu Ratima.
Language imperialism is alive and well in New Zealand
“I arrived here with the baggage of ignorance, thinking that New Zealand was a white country. I spent several years living in that wilful ignorance, and I kept my head down trying to be a model minority.” — Ahmed Aziz.
New Zealander of the Year
“My reo journey is one of constant conflict. There are times when the reo just flows out of me, from a place that I believe lies somewhere both within and beyond myself. Then there are times I can’t even string a basic sentence together.” — Tīhema Baker.
Tin canning
The Pikihuia Awards are held every two years to celebrate excellence in Māori writing, both in reo Pākehā and reo Māori. This is the winning reo Māori essay in the non-fiction category, written by Zeb Tamihana Nicklin.
Matua kind. We lucky.
“I had a lot of ideas. But every time I tried to turn them into a sentence in te reo, it amounted to: ‘Māori good. Colonisation bad. Matua smart. Me dumb.’ And also: ‘Me tired. Want nap.’” — Siena Yates.
Forever learning
“When you haven’t been exposed to te ao Māori during your upbringing, you’re making up for lost time as you get older. Listening, learning, and asking questions. For us as a whānau, it’s been a journey — and we know it’s one that will never end.” — Cornell Tukiri.
Modern mōteatea
"Mōteatea were the storehouses of tribal and whānau memory and aspiration, drawn upon to nourish and feed the current and new generations, whilst ensuring they were equipped with the essential knowledge to help them navigate, understand, and explore their world." — Dr Hana O'Regan.
Want to support te reo Māori? Learn about colonisation
“The notion that Māori are responsible for our own language decline is a convenient argument. It absolves the Crown of its responsibilities to make right its many wrongs.” — Awanui Te Huia.
Stacey Morrison: Our reo still needs all hands on deck
“What inspires us to keep going, to revitalise te reo Māori in our homes and whānau, is a deeply personal intention, making us understandably sensitive about our struggle to learn the language that should have been our birthright.” — Stacey Morrison.
How we save our Pacific languages
“The English were willing to borrow and absorb. When they saw a word that they needed, they took it and made it their own. They even took Polynesian words, like tapu (taboo) and tatau (tattoo).” — Sefita Hao‘uli, Tongan language advocate.
Reworking a classic waiata for healing and hope
“She wrote that mamae and those fears into her song, so others who could relate might find some comfort in it.” — Siena Yates on Whirimako Black’s classic waiata 'Kei hea taku reo?'
We lose our languages, we lose who we are
“Our Pacific Blue Continent is not just bound by ocean. It’s also bound by our languages.” — Ngahiwi Apanui, chief executive of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.
‘You can’t speak what you can’t hear’
“It wasn’t very long ago that Indigenous athletes would only speak English during interviews. So the fact they will now use their star status to raise awareness of their culture and language is a sign of progress.” — Dion Enari & Sierra Keunga.
Embrace the whakamā, embrace the mamae
“The reo journey is hard and confronting, and a lot of the time you just have to push through. There’s no skirting around it, especially if you’re Māori and carrying the language trauma that many of us do.” — Siena Yates.
Siena Yates: I finally feel the connection
“For the first time in my life, I feel whole. I feel spiritually well. I feel Māori. And not because I can have a short conversation in the reo, but because I finally feel the connection.” — Siena Yates.
Learning from legends
“The kura reo is specifically designed to challenge you, to push your limits and demolish any concept of a comfort zone. But it’s done in a way that is manageable for you, and with aroha.” — Siena Yates.
Melanesians in Aotearoa — a minority within a minority
“The development of the Pacific Languages Strategy is an example of how, too often, Polynesian countries and cultures are often taken as representing all of the Pacific population.” — Leina Isno.
Te wero nui o te Wiki o te Reo Māori
“Every time I went to any Pākehā space, my reo disappeared.” — Siena Yates, on challenging herself to speak only Māori during Māori Language Week.
Tokenism and te reo Māori: Why some things just shouldn’t be translated
“From a Māori perspective of the interconnectedness of things, there is a particularly isolating, divisive tendency in English, which diminishes full Māori meanings.” — Professor Carl Mika.
If you’re listening, you’re learning
“Sometimes, it doesn’t seem to make sense. Sometimes, it’s unbearably hard and you want to quit.” — Siena Yates.
My mum, my mountain: Hana Te Hemara
“Mum was an articulate, visionary, and fearless woman. She was the biggest driver of the petition for reo Māori to be included in the school curriculum . . . She did all that organising from her kitchen table.” — Ramari Jackson.
The right words to say
“I sometimes find myself on the speakers’ paepae at a formal hui. It’s always a daunting thing. Never to be taken for granted. Always to be reflected on.” — Tainui Stephens.
Ensuring access to te ao Māori
“We’re here to pass on our mātauranga Māori, and to lift each other up.” — Āwhina Kihi.
When the reo settles into your heart
“Once you’ve started to kōrero Māori with your kurī, there’s no going back.” — Siena Yates.
I’m not plastic — I’m Sāmoan
“It made the racism that came with being Sāmoan in Australia even harder to deal with. On one hand, I didn’t cut it as a real Sāmoan. On the other, I was being stereotyped as dumb and a troublemaker.“ — Lefaoali’i Dion Enari.
Can they cope with ‘more than the odd kia ora’?
“Being exposed to te reo in our everyday environments, including on our news channels, benefits both speakers and non-speakers of the language.” — Awanui Te Huia.
Taking care of our kupu
“The word kaitiaki is everywhere in mainstream Aotearoa these days. We often see it used to describe a person who takes cares of others, or to describe someone who takes care of taonga and items of value.” — Tame Malcolm.
A space to breathe
“The full-time, full-immersion learning environment gives us a space where we don’t have to try so hard to be in te ao Māori.” — Siena Yates.
We don’t see te reo as ‘Māori nonsense’
“Te reo Māori is endangered in the land it comes from. It is a language that is native to this country and like an endangered bird, its future depends on what we do.” — Professor Rawinia Higgins.
Finding my real voice
“I’d finally joined an environment where I didn’t have to use my Pākehā voice for the first time in my life.” — Siena Yates.
Waikaremoana Waitoki: Don’t let your mana be trampled
“I'm well if my family is well, and my family is well if I'm well. Also, as a people, we are all well if the land is well.” — Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki, clinical psychologist.
Embrace the taniwha
“I vowed that I wouldn’t allow myself to be shamed by my ignorance again. As I think back to that long ago hui, part of me realises that all I had to do was get over myself.” — Tainui Stephens.
The role of Pākehā is to support
“It’s right that Pākehā should speak Māori, and Pākehā engagement is important to the revitalisation of te reo Māori. . . . But, as a people, we must wait our turn.” — Andrew Robb.
For the love of the language
"I believe that the music will continue to help us heal, so we can celebrate the new cultural narrative of Aotearoa, and be proud of the diverse cultural heritage we all share." — Hinewehi Mohi.
The shame is gone
“With the help of caring people, through a lens now tinted with aroha, I could embrace the experience of speaking re reo Māori and let it melt my heart.” — Shelley Burne-Field.
Privilege and language trauma
“As the dust settles following Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, I feel like I’ve been through all the stages of grief. I’m unsure what part I play now.” — Vini Olsen-Reeder.
Solar power and forgiveness
“In the digital age, it’s naïve to think that we can control the use and growth of te reo — which I believe is a positive thing. The language is flourishing, and I, for one, embrace the change with gay abandon.” — Anton Blank.
We must be brave and use the reo
“Everything I say in the courtroom now is said in te reo Māori. All of my submissions, every written document.” — Alana Thomas.
My complicated relationship with te reo Māori
“At the age of five, I was already consciously distancing myself from the Māori world. I already knew that to be Māori was to be less than. The same way that my son knows that pink is not an acceptable colour for boys to like.” — Moata Tamaira.
The making of a Māori town: Ōtaki
“There is an indigenous spirit in Ōtaki that is unapologetic and proud. By definition that spirit is also loving.” — Tainui Stephens.
A commitment to younger voices
“I can’t watch the show without cringing at the risque subject matter. Auē. But if they made the show based on my sensibilities, there would be ZERO rangatahi watching it.” — Quinton Hita on the bilingual drama series Ahikāroa.
Calling in on The Godfather
“I sometimes get: ‘Kei te takahi koe i taku mana’ — you’re trampling on my mana. And I think to myself: ‘Well, you're murdering my language. Which one is it going to be? Murdering my language or your mana?’" — Tīmoti Kāretu.
Alison Jones: When Pākeha acquire te reo
“I worry that te reo, like land, may be in the process of becoming yet another thing that Pākehā can acquire from Māori, like a unique new jacket that we think suits us.” — Professor Alison Jones.
This doesn’t make us less
“We can be Māori and reo-less at the same time. It’s not ideal — especially in the hidden places we never talk about — but we can keep our heads held high. This doesn’t make us less.” — Shelley Burne-Field.
Reclaiming what was lost
“That bridge tragedy in 1947 severed my links to my taha Māori. And only now, in my early 40s, am I reclaiming what was lost.” — Cornell Tukiri.
No longer scared to speak my language
“It’s only in recent years that I’ve even plucked up the courage to claim my identity, to proudly say: Yes, I am Māori.” — Siena Yates.
Keeping Māori storytelling alive
“Ours is an oral tradition and that's important because it's not only how we share stories but how we transfer and transmit knowledge.” — Lee Timutimu.
A whānau affair
“We have almost four generations of te reo Māori speakers in our family. My goal in life before I leave this earth is that those teachings will funnel down to the next three generations after my children.” — Eli Smith.
Reflecting the reo world
“Their decision to be a reo Māori-speaking household instantly cut off friends and whānau who either didn't agree with their decision or found it too challenging to communicate solely in te reo.”
Fish and chips and a serving of te reo
“It really didn't sit well with me that, outside our home, my kids would feel like they’d have to leave that part of themselves at the door and be somebody else. To put on a mask.” — Anton Matthews.
To be Māori requires action
“For parents on our own language journeys, we need to bring our children along for the ride.” — Tainui Stephens.
Pay attention to those who go before
“I would seek out kaumātua who were knowledgeable about the Māori world. I’d sit and listen to their words, try and remember them, and write them down afterwards.” — Tainui Stephens.
A yearning for the reo
“I think had I stayed in Australia, I wouldn't have been happy and my heart would've yearned to be here." — Jeremy MacLeod.
Hinewehi Mohi: Beyond Twickenham
“I was often defined by that moment which was probably, what, a minute? I get it. I understand the importance of it, but it's nice to be able to focus on new and important developments.” — Hinewehi Mohi.
This Pākehā life
“I decided to enrol in an immersion course at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, in South Auckland. My friends were impressed, commending me for my ‘bravery’.” — Alison Jones in her new book 'This Pākehā Life: An Unsettled Memoir'.
Asking the right questions
“My journey to speak Māori became an act of reclaiming my identity. I had to know who I really was, before I could speak Māori fully.” — Tainui Stephens.
Finding your voice through the reo
“The hardest part about learning Māori, is learning how to think Māori.” — Tainui Stephens.
My pepeha is my world
“I knew of relations in Auckland, but not of any tribe. All that the old man had told us was he was from ‘up north’. Oh good, that narrows it down then!” — Tainui Stephens.
Language, identity and ‘real’ Sāmoans
"The issue of language and identity haunts all Sāmoans who were raised in New Zealand. I know this because of the recurring conversation on social media around whether you can call yourself a 'real' Sāmoan if you don’t speak the language." — Patrick Thomsen.
Pimp my reo
“I’ve always wanted to be confidently fluent and, at times, I’ve felt like it’s been within my grasp. But then I let it slip away.”
Rahera Shortland: To know your reo is to know your culture
“Sometimes we don't appreciate what's right under our noses until we go away from home. Then we tangi weto for our reo. And that's the situation for some of our Aussie whānau.”
Celebrating our reo warriors
“When the Māori Language Commission first opened its doors in 1987, te reo was viewed by many New Zealanders as something that would divide us. Māori language proponents were often seen as the enemy.”
Rawinia Higgins: Regenerating the reo
“My greatest aspiration for the future of te reo is to have a mokopuna, so I can speak Māori to that mokopuna every day.”
Timoti Karetu: A stickler for standards
“All the Māori students at Victoria wanted to be lawyers and accountants, but I only ever wanted to be a teacher.” — Sir Timoti Karetu.
One reo to rule them all?
“If the best resources on offer for our children aren’t in our dialect, then how the heck does dialect survive?” — Quinton Hita on the unintended consequences of the project to translate titles like 'Harry Potter' into Māori.
A Tongan without the tongue — a cautionary tale
"Rightly or wrongly, my father was trying to protect us from a world that treasured English above all else, that used English as a marker for intelligence."
I’m good at languages — so why can’t I speak Sāmoan?
“Many of us have lost our languages through no fault of our own. Let’s remove the shame from reclaiming our languages.”
Rawiri Wright: It’s cool to be Māori
“I believe absolutely that the Kura Kaupapa Māori Aho Matua is the way forward for us to revitalise and regenerate ourselves as Māori.”
Māori media revamp: Where’s the focus on quality journalism?
Being a good reo speaker doesn’t necessarily qualify you as a good reporter.
Cathy Dewes: We have a right to be Māori in our own land
"Our goal is that all Māori children should have access to their language and be able to live as Māori in Aotearoa."
Māori media: Broadcasting can’t save te reo
"The sad truth is our kids don’t really watch te reo Māori television. Or listen to te reo Māori radio. If they do, it’s not improving their ability to kōrero."
How compulsory te reo in schools would make us smarter
A bilingual education policy may well become the greatest strategy for racial harmony and social cohesion that this country has ever seen.
Ruakere Hond: A language and a legacy
“If we're not going to use the reo on a regular basis in our homes, as we’re raising our children, we're probably going to miss the main way forward for reo Māori.”
Guyon Espiner: I’d love a New Zealand where we all embrace te reo
"It doesn't make sense to be sharing a land with others, if you don't make an effort to learn their stories or their language."
Rediscovering our mother tongues
Four plays in four languages staged over four weeks — a theatre experiment which aims to challenge the idea of English as the “mainstream” language and all other languages as exotic.
Holding on to all our ancestral languages
"Our ancestral languages and concepts, in their purest forms, are largely untouched by colonisation and Christianity."
Stacey Morrison: What I’d do if I was the boss of education
Parents who want their children to learn in te reo Māori are always compromising — whether it’s discovering your local school isn’t that supportive of te reo or whether you need to be able to afford an hour-long commute to get to your pēpi’s puna reo.
Simone Kaho: My father’s language
"Being an outsider because of my personality quirks was an identity I could embrace. Better than being defined purely by my lack of culture and language. Give me Crazy Pālangi over plain Pālangi any day."
It all started with Ten Guitars
We’ve done a fair few te reo stories on e-Tangata. But it seems you can never have too many,...
The Great Silence — the heartbreak of losing te reo
In the opening sequence of the cult classic The Great Silence, the cowboy — a lone figure on a...
Stacey Morrison: Te reo growing pains — this is what change feels like
When there were cries of “Māori snowflakes” in the media, it seemed to me the writer...
We should take risks with our reo — and not worry about making mistakes
Vini Olsen-Reeder will soon graduate with Victoria University’s first PhD in te reo Māori —...
Hēmi Dale: The reo is important to all of Aotearoa, not just Māori
Hēmi Dale was born in Auckland, and has spent most of his life in Māngere. That’s not an...
Just let the revolution come
The call to make te reo Māori compulsory is getting louder and louder. This year, with Te Wiki o...
Embracing the chaos — the challenges of bringing up kids with te reo
Scotty and Stacey Morrison have spent 10 years bringing up their bilingual kids, and speaking only...
What is the role of Pākehā in supporting te reo Māori?
I caught up with the movie Poi E! the other day, and tears welled up at the sight of Ngoi...
Who should call the shots on reo Māori priorities?
In my 13 years of school in Wellington, about the only Māori language I learned was “Hōmai te...
What if we threw a party and didn’t invite English?
Nadine Millar on what happened when she took on the Mahuru Māori challenge to quit English and...
10 ways to keep the reo going in your home
Not long ago, I realised that I’m an expert in Māori. I can’t string two sentences...
Ngahiwi Apanui: Don’t tell me te reo is a waste of time
Back in Ngahiwi Apanui’s boyhood days on the East Coast, nearly 50 years ago, absorbing te...
Why we’ve become reo refugees
I’m a refugee. Apparently. I didn’t know I was one until a Sunday newspaper told me. When our baby...
Jennifer Ward-Lealand’s “quite scary” six-year reo journey
Jennifer Ward-Lealand would love to play a Pākehā woman who speaks Māori — because, well, after...
Te reo Māori: a key to our future
My mum forced me to take Japanese all through high school. She believed that a second language...
Five things you should know about learning the reo
A lot of people have asked if I’m fluent in Māori after my year of total immersion. The...
Nadine Millar: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good
About 10 years ago, I tried to enrol my two-year-old son in kōhanga reo. I was enthusiastic and...
A Taniwha by the Tail
I heard the news yesterday and my heart gave a leap. In fact, I think it must have levitated a...
Ending the shame of not speaking the reo
A while ago, my husband suggested I learn Māori. We were discussing potential ways I could boost...
Give it a go and learn from your mistakes
Julian Wilcox was the most familiar face and voice of the Māori Television Service for the...
Rewa Harriman: Still travelling on her language journey
Rewa Harriman tells Dale Husband how she turned from tennis to pursue te reo Māori. Will...
Haami Piripi: Still fighting the losing reo battle
These days, Haami Piripi chairs Te Runanga o Te Rarawa in Kaitaia. But he spent some time in...
Should the state control our language?
There is a fairly strong indication that the Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill could be on the...
Scotty and his fateful (or flukey?) reo journey
Is your name Scotty Morrison, or do you have a Māori handle tucked away somewhere in there? I was...
Jenny-May Coffin: Special Moments
As kids growing up in Piopio, in the King Country, the six of us (I was the baby) had any amount...