“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.
Read More
“I would try hard to find jobs that ensured I’d have people around me who spoke te reo and encouraged it. I’ve been very deliberate and intentional about that.” — Hone Hurihanganui, teacher and composer of waiata and haka.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“We shoulder the burden of ensuring that Te Tiriti lives in our classrooms, even when government policy tries to erase it.” — Rongopai Kira, deputy principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“Western, colonial education systems may be out of favour in 2025, but call it a ‘knowledge-rich’ system, and somehow it’s more acceptable.” — Erica Hamilton, secondary school teacher.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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’.
Read More
Gagana Sāmoa “has challenged, humbled, and ultimately made me a better person.” — Dr Will Flavell, a former reo Māori teacher, on learning Sāmoan.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“Sometimes, it doesn’t seem to make sense. Sometimes, it’s unbearably hard and you want to quit.” — Siena Yates.
Read More
“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.
Read More
“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.
Read MoreE-Tangata is an online Sunday magazine specialising in stories that reflect the experiences of Māori and Pasifika in Aotearoa.
We welcome submissions or inquiries to:
editor@e-tangata.co.nz
Sign up for our email newsletter and get the latest E-Tangata stories sent straight to your inbox.
SubscribeYou can support E-Tangata’s kaupapa by contributing through PressPatron. With your help, we can tell more Māori and Pacific stories.
