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Te reo Māori is being learnt by more people across Aotearoa, as the language continues to be revitalised across generations.
This year’s Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori theme, Ake, Ake, Ake - A Forever Language, reflects that intergenerational journey and the role each generation plays in keeping the reo alive and passing it on.
Māori Language Commissioner Professor Rawinia Higgins describes it as a three-generation kaupapa, where every step towards learning and using te reo contributes to the next generation.
At Selwyn Community Education in Tāmaki Makaurau, those journeys are coming together in one classroom.
For fifth-generation Pākehā Rebecca Jerram, learning te reo Māori is about understanding the relationship between Māori and Pākehā and what that means for future generations.
“I think we actually owe it to our future New Zealanders, to be honest,” she said.
“If you’ve been here a long time, then maybe the onus is on us even more to make sure that, hey, we’ve been hanging out here for quite a while, and we really need to understand te ao Māori and te taiao, and all the concepts that come with being a partner with Māori.”
Jerram has been learning te reo Māori for around five or six years. She teaches landscape architecture at Unitec and said she wants future generations of Pākehā and tauiwi to better understand the partnership between Māori and Pākehā.
“We are in a partnership, and some might say it’s a forced marriage, or it’s an arranged marriage. But it’s a marriage nonetheless.
“We’re married, and I guess you’ve got to get to know your partner. So in my mind, it’s about really getting to know that partnership and understanding what we bring to it together. And we shouldn’t be flying blind.”
Jerram said Māori have also created space for Pākehā to learn and engage with te ao Māori.
“Māori have been very patient with Pākehā in that they’ve actually opened their world to us. It’s up to us to reciprocate,” she said.
“It’s never been, or not in my lifetime, has it been thrown at us. It’s not been taunted for not speaking the tongue of the whenua.
“We’ve been coached and manaaki-ed through with a lot of awhi, and how lucky are we that Māori are prepared to take a long walk.
“It’s a long, long walk, it’s generational, and I still encourage Pākehā to join that walk.”
Jerram said she sees learning te reo as part of that long-term commitment to the relationship between Māori and Pākehā.
“I just think it’s on our generation, as much as it has been to our tūpuna that have gone, to actually ensure that the people coming through do understand this partnership as well.”
Argentinian ākonga Facu Cuello said learning te reo Māori was one of the first things he did after moving to Aotearoa three years ago.
“I moved to a new country; I need to learn the language of the country. I already spoke English, but from my perspective, Māori is the native language of the country, so for me moving from overseas into the country, the least I can do is to make an effort to learn the language.”
He hoped that more people shared that whakaaro.
“I wish more people had the same perspective, that you’re moving to a country that speaks Māori, and you should make an effort at least to pick up the basics, or do as much as you can, and it’s within your reach in your day-to-day, to honour the language, honour the people, and contribute to the revitalisation of a language that needs it.”
Cuello said learning te reo has changed the way he experiences the country around him.
“When you start learning about all those stories and those perspectives and ways of thinking, it really gives it a different meaning.”
For Māori ākonga Aidan Te Whata, learning te reo is about reconnecting with a language that was not passed down through his whānau.
Te Whata, who has whakapapa to Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Rongowhakaata and Ngāpuhi, grew up in te ao Pākehā, speaking English.
He said the attitudes he encountered towards te reo when he was younger became internalised.
“You hear, ‘Oh, what’s that language? Oh, it’s a dead language.’ It’s like, you kind of just bury it within you and you believe it yourself. It starts to manifest as a belief.”
Now in his 30s, Te Whata said his relationship with the language has changed.
“I no longer believe that. And I’m finding ways to reconnect with my whakapapa, my language.”
His reo journey has also brought him closer to his whānau and tūrangawaewae.
“Your whakapapa and your ancestors are looking down and going, you know, look at you go. You’re carrying that with you. You carry your whānau with you.”
He said being part of a generation helping revitalise te reo is something to be proud of.
“I was going to say it’s been lost. It’s not been lost. It’s been revitalised.
“And we’re the ones that are to bring it back. And it’s exciting. And something to be proud of.”
Te Whata said having Pākehā and tauiwi alongside him in the classroom also shows the language is being embraced by people from across the world.
“I think it’s beautiful...it shows us, the love will always overcome hate.”
Te Whata wants to continue learning until speaking te reo Māori becomes second nature.
“I want to do this more, and I ain’t going to stop until I begin thinking in Māori. That’s when I’m like, ‘ooh, I’ve made it’.
For many, learning te reo is a way to deeper understand the place they call home.
Jerram said the country has felt increasingly divided in the last few years and believes te ao Māori can offer a way towards greater understanding.
“I think the sea has been choppy in the last two to three years particularly. There’s been storms coming through, and they are still coming.
“I think we need to look to a place where Tangaroa is calm.
“We need the seas to just settle. We need people to understand why it’s so important to have that settling, because we’re a country that’s at peace in a really mixed-up world.”
Jerram believes it’s on the generation that she belongs to to see themselves as part of continuing the change.
“I was going to say proponents of change, but Māori themselves have driven that.”
“The least we can do is get on board.”
Nā Layla Bailey-McDowell nō RNZ
