Maori Language Week 2015 Set To Launch

Maori Language Week 2015 Set To Launch

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, Māori Language Commission is anticipating another successful Māori Language Week with the Commission’s online order form, receiving nearly 1,000 applications from throughout the country within 24 hours of its release last week.

The theme for Māori Language Week 27 July – 2 August 2015 is ‘Whāngaihia te Reo ki ngā Mātua’ ‘Nurture the language in parents’. It aims to encourage and support every day Māori language use for parents and caregivers with children” says Acting Chief Executive Tuehu Harris.

Following last year’s format of one word per week, this year’s campaign ‘Te Rerengā Kōrero o te Wiki’ ‘The Phrase of the Week’ introduces a new and simple phrase each week for 50 weeks.
In keeping with the theme, this year’s free-to-public Māori language resources encourage use of te reo Māori in the home and everyday situations, for example ‘Are you tired?’ ‘Kei te hiamoe koe?’ or ‘I will help you’ ‘Māku koe e āwhina’.

“For the language to thrive, it needs to be used regularly and meaningfully. This new campaign ‘Te Rerenga Kōrero o te Wiki’ uses phrases that provide instant and natural examples of verbal Māori language for use by parents and caregivers with children, but which are also relevant in all situations”, says Harris.

40 Years of Māori Language Week

While the annual focus is on nurturing Māori language amongst parents and caregivers, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori also celebrates and commemorates 40 years of Māori Language Week.

With the special release of a set-of-two commemoration posters, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori uses striking images to depict, through symbolism, the Māori language journey.

Capturing determination and struggle in the first poster, and consciousness and triumph in the second, the poster set includes the iconic photograph of esteemed leader, the late Dame Whina Cooper and her mokopuna, hand in hand, beginning the walk of a lifetime. The second image reflects on the place of Māori language today, its progress, success and the generation who bring to life the hopes and dreams of those whose actions, 40 years ago, paved the way.

The posters
In 1975, the late Dame Whina Cooper embarked on what is now widely regarded as a flashpoint for Māori cultural reclamation. The northern matriarch’s protest was deliberately staged to coincide with the first Māori Language Day (later to become Māori Language Week). For Māori people, land/whenua/pāpātuānuku and language/reo are inextricably linked. Alienation of one results in alienation of the other.

The image of the late Dame Whina Cooper and her mokopuna is contrasted with 2015 and a new generation, a generation ripe with Māori language and cultural riches. The image shows Māori Language Commissioner Hinurewa Poutu, her students and whānau of Mana Tamariki, framed by the distinctly modern waharoa – a perfect blend of old and new. Despite being captured 40 years apart, the message remains the same: ‘Toitū te whenua, toitū te mana, toitū te reo!’ Hold fast to the land, hold fast to our authority, hold fast to our language.

The programme’s major co-sponsor is the Ministry of Education who will distribute additional Māori Language Week resources to schools throughout Aotearoa. Plunket New Zealand, Te Puni Kōkiri, New Zealand Post, Māori Television and Te Kupu o te Rā are also supporting Māori Language Week by promoting te reo Māori throughout the country.

The Māori Language Week launch will be held on Monday 27th July 2015 at Waiwhetū Marae, the venue that also hosted the hearings for the Māori Language claim in 1985, and which ultimately gave rise to te reo Māori as an official language and the establishment of the Māori Language Commission.

Māori Language Week 2015 will also host the first inaugural State of Te Reo Māori address to be given by leading te reo Māori advocate, Professor Timoti Karetu, at Te Papa Tongarewa.

Free Māori Language Week resources can be ordered or downloaded from The Māori Language Commission’s website www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz

ENDS

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