“What I remember from those first reo classes was realising that my monolingual, monocultural upbringing was not the only way of seeing the world, and that learning a language as an adult is hard.” — Atakohu Middleton, author of ‘Waka Aroha’, a new collection of Māori-language short stories.
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“As a learner, it’s easy to become overly cautious about the language. We can get bogged down in the seriousness of te reo Māori, in the formality and solemnity of it, the oratory, karanga, and karakia.” — Eugene Bingham.
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“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.
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“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.
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“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.
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“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.
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“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.
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“Every time I went to any Pākehā space, my reo disappeared.” — Siena Yates, on challenging herself to speak only Māori during Māori Language Week.
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“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.
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