An Overview

Haratua/May 2005

In 1987, Māori was declared an official language of New Zealand. The Māori Language Act became law and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori – the Māori Language Commission – was set up to promote the use of Māori as a living language and as an ordinary means of communication.   

The commission’s work includes promoting quality standards of written and spoken Māori through initiatives such as administering examinations for translators and interpreters; researching and formulating policy for the promotion, maintenance and progression of reo Māori; and lexical expansion work including the production of glossaries.

Te Taura Whiri has a commissioner, Patu Hōhepa, and four other board members: Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi, Ruakere Hond, Hana O’Regan and Wayne Ngata. The chief executive is Haami Piripi.

Background:

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori has launched a new reo Māori promotion, ‘Kōrero Māori’, with support from the Government through Te Puni Kōkiri. Funding of $1 million per annum over the next four years for a nationwide Māori language information programme was approved by Cabinet in 2003.

The commission will work closely with Māori language stakeholders with expertise in language information dissemination. The first year of ‘Kōrero Māori’ will concentrate on disseminating information, providing resources and incentives to support language usage and awareness.

The public campaign began earlier this year with the ‘summer of Māori language’ and will be followed by Matariki in June, Māori Language Week from July 25 to 31, and the 2nd Māori Language Awards on September 14 – Māori Language Day. The focus will be refined each year with new resources produced to ensure the content is current and topical.

‘Kōrero Māori’ will support a total of seven information projects by the end of 2005:

• a Māori language game show for Māori Television;

• a radio drama serial for native speakers;

• a bilingual ‘radio-sode’ targeted at youth;

• an interactive website;  

• an information kit for new parents;  

• two more phrase booklets in the ‘Kōrero Māori – Give It A Go!’ series; and 

• an inaugural reo event to celebrate and promote Matariki.

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Objective:

The broad objective of the information programme is to support the regeneration of the Māori language through the provision of information. The proposed outcomes are two-fold in that more Māori will use reo Māori and that all New Zealanders will value the Māori language.

Key Messages:

• Māori language is for all New Zealanders.
  

• Māori language is unique to New Zealand – it’s one of the things that makes us stand out; it’s about national pride.
  

• Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori is focused on helping Māori language to become a living, national taonga for all New Zealanders.
  

• Developing competency and excellence in reo Māori is important to it becoming a living, national taonga for all New Zealanders.
  

• Every effort helps – whether you’re committed to learning and extending your reo Māori skills and knowledge, developing your pronunciation, or simply supporting people speaking Māori whenever and wherever they choose, everyone can contribute to regenerating this taonga for New Zealand.
  

• There are cognitive benefits in being bilingual.

Target Audience:

• All New Zealanders.
  

• Native (first language) speakers of reo Māori .
  

• Māori language learners

Content:

• Resources for Māori and all New Zealanders to increase the use and value of reo Māori in contemporary Aotearoa.
  

• Accurate and useful information for Māori and all New Zealanders to gain a greater knowledge of reo Māori, and make informed choices about language issues.
  

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Information Projects (2005):

• Television

‘Kupuhuna’ is a new game show entirely in the Māori language that is being produced for Māori Television by Kura Productions with support from Te Taura Whiri. The game is played between two competing teams, each comprising a ‘clue-giver’ guest and a contestant who play for prize money. The aim is for one team member to communicate the kupuhuna or password to their partner by using clues. The show premieres in mid-2005.

• Radio

Te Taura Whiri has commissioned Wellington Māori radio broadcaster Te Reo Irirangi o te Ūpoko o te Ika to produce a Māori language radio serial targeted at native speakers. This high-quality drama will be based on the novel ‘Makorea’ written in Māori by Kātarina Mataira who has agreed to it being re-developed for the national network of iwi stations.

A new ‘radio-sode’ targeting youth is also being made available to iwi radio stations in a bid to encourage a new generation to speak Māori. ‘Brown Street’ is a series of 30-second bilingual radio-sodes – or short episodes – produced by Te Taura Whiri in association with youth music station Mai FM. In each episode, four central characters teach a new word and provide context for its use.

• Interactive Website

Te Taura Whiri is developing a one-stop portal of information about the Māori language for speakers and writers of reo Māori as well as all New Zealanders. The interactive website will have two main functions – first as a repository of information, cataloguing existing information sources, and secondly as an interactive portal which allows users to ‘add and extract’ information to and from the website. The website will be launched on Māori Language Day in September. 

• Information Kit

  A resource information kit about reo Māori will be compiled for new parents and will contain information and resources to support Māori language usage and development in the home. It is proposed that children and their whānau receive the kit at birth with subsequent kits developed to cater for different age groups. The resource will be launched on Children’s Day in October.

•  Phrase Booklets

  Two more booklets in the ‘Kōrero Māori – Give It A Go!’ series will target beginners and learners of reo Māori as well as rangatahi Māori and all New Zealanders. More than 350,000 copies were distributed free during February through Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown stores as part of Progressive Enterprises’ ‘Celebrate New Zealand’ campaign, while a second booklet will be published in June for Matariki 2005. The booklets encourage readers to ‘Kōrero Māori – Give It A Go!’ by using and incorporating the language into everyday activities.

•   Māori Language Events

Te Taura Whiri will continue to play a leading role in the co-ordination of reo Māori events, particularly for Māori Language Week 2005 from July 25-31 and the 2nd Māori Language Week Awards on Māori Language Day in September. For the first time, the commission in partnership with the Minister of Māori Affairs will host a reo Māori event to celebrate and promote the traditional concept of Matariki, or Māori New Year, on June 8 in Wellington.

•   Affiliated Projects

  Te Taura Whiri has established joint venture working relationships with Microsoft, the University of Waikato (Computer Science and Māori Studies), and the linguistics department at Otago University as well as the University of Hawai’i and Rapa Nui.

-          One of its flagship projects is the development of ‘Te Mātāpuna’ – the monolingual Māori dictionary – and a lexical database of Māori words and phrases. The electronic resource will form a linguistic foundation for language enthusiasts and free online access to the depth and breadth of reo Māori from mid-2006. The printed version will be completed by the end of 2006.

-          The translation of Microsoft Windows and Office with an associated spell checker will also allow for a total immersion cyber environment for the first time.

-          The commission recently set up an information exchange programme, ‘Te Mātāmua’, with Hawai’i and Rapa Nui in order to work together to develop software tools to address key language and education needs in the Pacific. The new Māori dictionary database has the potential to revolutionise the production of other dictionaries, particularly for languages without huge resources.

-          Online registrations are now underway for the new national Māori Language Club which has already attracted more than 400 enrolments. As part of the ‘Kōrero Māori’ campaign, the commission is launching a button/symbol system to encourage people at all levels to use reo Māori. Club members can wear badges or ‘symbols’ to show individual stages of language development, proficiency and support.

-          On-line applications closed on May 13 for the annual Mā Te Reo fund that provides financial support to community-based Māori language regeneration projects.

-          Te Taura Whiri has completed regional training for Te Toi Reo Māori for people who wish to be certified as Māori translators and interpreters.

-          The next administration of Whakamatauria Tō Reo Māori – the national Māori language proficiency examinations – to assess the language proficiency of adult speakers of Māori will be held in Wellington on June 1. For more information, contact Pania Tahau on 021 645 625.

For more information about the information campaign, ‘Kōrero Māori’, the commission’s affiliated projects or to discuss possible joint venture opportunities to promote the Māori language, contact:

‘Kōrero Māori’ Project Team             
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori
PO Box 411                                                     
Level 14 – Investment Centre
Ballance Street  
Wellington – Te Whanganui-a-Tara 
Phone: 04 471 0244
fax: 04 471 2768
e-mail:   korero@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz                          
www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz  
www.nzreo.org.nz

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