Tauhoko commits to supporting te reo Māori

Trade Me is rebranding as Tauhoko to celebrate Māori Language Week with another release of te reo Māori words and phrases in its iOS app, and teaching New Zealanders how to change their preferred language on their Apple devices.

Tauhoko Head of Mobile Nick Parfene said it was important to celebrate te reo, but not just for one week a year. “While we want to use this week to celebrate te reo Māori, we want to make sure we have something that is alive the other 51 weeks of the year too.

“For last year’s Māori Language Week we put the first 37 te reo words and phrases into our iOS app for Apple users. Over the last year we’ve added more, and later this week we’ll release another 51 which will take us to approximately 150 words for Kiwis who have Māori as their preferred language on their device.

“It’s inspiring and humbling to learn a bunch of new Māori phrases – including the Māori name for Trade Me, which is Tauhoko. We enlisted the help of Karena Kelly, our reo consultant, to ensure we have accurate translations that keep the Trade Me tone.

“About 1500 people use the Tauhoko app in te reo Māori and we reckon that is the tip of the iceberg - most people don’t know they can change their preferred language to Māori on their iPhone, or how easy it is. We want more kiwis to give it a go and get buying, selling and browsing in our native language.

“We’ve put together an instructional video to make it easier to make the switch and we recommend everyone gives it a go. Not only will Tauhoko then work in Māori, so will any other app that supports te reo Māori.”

Mr Parfene said the Trade Me team’s commitment doesn’t end there. “We’re committed to supporting te reo Māori and have it embedded it into our processes - it’s part of our thinking whenever we build something into our app.

“For the rest of Māori Language Week the usual Trade Me logo will be replaced with our special edition Tauhoko logo and we’re campaigning to encourage New Zealanders with the iOS app to select Māori as their preferred language.

“This language is ours to look after as a country – it’s unique to this part of the world and it’s something we can all do our bit to support. I’d love to see te reo embedded in our daily lives as it reinforces our identity. I’m seeing signs from all over the tech industry that other organisations are reaching similar conclusions as us and that is most encouraging. ” Mr Parfene said.

The Trade Me te wiki o te reo Māori video is here - feel free to use this

An instructional video for switching the preferred language on your iOS device is here - feel free to use this

Some examples of the phrases in the Trade Me app are: Tauhoko - Trade Me Hei mātakitaki - Watchlist He hokotanga tāpuitanga $1 - $1 reserve auctions Āku hokotanga atu - Items I'm selling Tirohia ngā momo - Browse categories We don’t have Māori in our Android app because it’s not a supported language yet. We hope Google changes this in the future so our Android users have the opportunity to use Tauhoko too.

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