Our language is our soul

We use language to express all that we are. It is the tool by which we communicate everything from scientific principles to gossip and idle banter. Our means for expressing love and hate, despair and joy it is intrinsically tied to the heights and depths of our emotions. We revel in its beauty using it to create poetry, drama and literature. It unravels our knowledge of the past and weaves our dreams for the future. Our language expresses not just what we think but how we think. It expresses not just what we are saying but who we are. A people's language is a priceless treasure and no culture can survive without it.

Te Reo Māori is the indigenous tongue of this land the language of the Tangata Whenua. It is a taonga, a unique national treasure that exists nowhere else and occupies a special place at the heart of New Zealand culture. Today the majority of Māori no longer speak Māori . However the Reo is vibrant and vital with a growing pool of new speakers and a future waiting to be mapped it has defied its portrayal as a "relic of ancient Māori life" (ominously coined by the 1961 'Hunn Report'). The strength of its past augurs well for the unfolding of its future.

At the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi Te Reo Māori was by far the predominant language of Aotearoa. It was used extensively in social, religious, commercial and political interactions among MMāori , and between Māori and Pakeha. Education provided by missionaries at the time was conveyed in Māori and the first book published in New Zealand was written in Māori Ko te Katekima 1830 (a translation of the English catechism). In the 1990s Māori medium has become an important tool of communication for iwi Māori . This repeats the pattern set last century when Māori used the printed word confidently in their own language. Between 1842 and 1900 there were 42 newspapers published which used the Māori language. Many of these reported both national and international news. (A selection of these niupepa are now available on microfiche in the Christchurch City Libraries.) But Māori was an oral language long before the European technology of writing brought it into written form.

The Māori oral tradition is a living tradition in New Zealand and still flourishes on marae.

Outside marae Te Reo is gathering strength in official learning institutions. As well as universities, public and private schools, there are now nearly 700 Kohanga Reo catering to around 13,500 children, 54 Kura Kaupapa Māori and three Whare Wananga. Over 32,000 students receive Māori medium education and another 55,500 learn the Māori language. It is in these learning centres, in the hands of the language teachers they employ and in the hearts of their students that the future of Te Reo Māori lies.

A Māori language teacher for 20 years, Te Rita Papesch currently teaches at the University of Canterbury. She is passionate about her job, her students and the future of Te Reo: "Learning Māori is a bit of a soul thing if you learn the language you get involved in the culture because you live amongst it [the learning] is more than an academic exercise." Despite a positive outlook she recognises a great challenge to the future of the Reo in its "huge lack of quality teachers". Since 1982 when the first Te Kohanga Reo (language nest) was established in an attempt to foster Māori language knowledge among Māori infants, there has been a distinct increase in the accessibility and availability of Māori language learning. However there are few teachers for whom Māori is a first language and there are inevitable problems when second language learners become the next generation of language teachers. With a total commitment to teaching, Te Rita impresses upon the teachers of the future that they not "take shortcuts and jeopardise the language that was left to [them] retain it in as pure a form as possible." It is critical that potential teachers press themselves to attain excellence in the Māori language prior to entering the teaching arena. This issue will increasingly need to be addressed as more young Māori speakers develop language skills that allow them to move beyond an elementary level.

There is an irony and perhaps also a hint of justice in the fact that the education system that largely worked to cripple the Māori language is now a major conduit for its revitalisation. Crown policy has come some distance since the days when Māori were forbidden to speak their language in school (this rigorously enforced under the 1867 Native Schools Act.) However the scars of this policy and others that discouraged the use of Māori language have been borne by subsequent generations. Māori was not declared an official language until 1987 under the Māori Language Act that also established Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission.) Now a major publisher of educational resources, Te Taura Whiri meets the demand for Māori material in kohanga reo and kura kaupapa that are delivering the New Zealand curriculum through the medium of Māori language.

The 1990s have seen a huge increase in publication of Māori material, most of this educational. There is however a distinctive lack of contemporary adult writing in Te Reo for the simple reason that most proficient speakers and writers of the language are committed to recording stories of the past before they are lost forever. The rich tradition of oratory manifested in Te Reo Māori is being accessed by increasing numbers of people. As with any language there are things said in Māori that are incapable of translation into any other language. You can perhaps convey the idea, but not the nuances, the aptness, the real heart of what is being said. An understanding of the Māori language provides not only an entry point to a culture steeped in tradition but also a greater understanding of a people deeply connected to this land.

Helen Brown