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Max Smitheram, 54, tried to learn you reo Māori (the Māori language) on many occasions, but he never followed it – until the end of the day. now. A pakeha [European New Zealander] Smitheram attends free weekly classes and practice at home with his Uruguayan partner, who also learns the language.
"I had a long-time desire to learn Maori – it's really interesting to have the opportunity to understand different ways of thinking and understanding my home better. Smitheram, an environmental planner, said. "It's an important part of New Zealand's heritage and identity."
Smitherham is not alone. the object of a renaissance in New Zealand, with overcrowded classes and waiting lists now common.Maorian language teachers from Auckland in the North Island to Dunedin and Invercargill in the south say that they are unable to meet the demand for their services and the free classes regularly attract hundreds of students.
John McCaffery, language expert at the university. Auckland University According to him, the language is flourishing and other indigenous peoples are traveling to Nou New Zealand to learn how the Maori have made such a dramatic comeback. "It has been really dramatic, especially over the past three years, Maori have become dominant," he said. "What we see is a clear indication that the status and prestige of the language has increased dramatically and research shows that it is one of the key indicators of whether children and young people will be interested and committed to learning it. "
Statistics New Zealand, the proportion of Maori able to hold a daily conversation decreased by 3.7% between 1996 and 2013. But anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of non-Maori speakers of the language increases, as do young people Maori adults and professionals, who would not have been captured at the last census.
Large companies are also on board. Google launched a Maori version of its website, Vodafone helped Google Maps record more accurate Maori pronunciations, Disney released a Maori version of Polynesian film Moana and Fletcher Building deployed bilingual "There are more and more the feeling that the job is good to identify your business as being dedicated to New Zealand, "said Ngahiwi Apanui, general manager of the Maori Language Commission. McCaffery echoed his argument, saying that more than one-third of Maori education graduates have been snapped up by big corporations eager to strengthen their relationships with Maori and tribal groups who have not. important financial portfolios.
Te reo's status as an increasingly admired language – with respect for its speakers – is far removed from the post-Second World War period when Maori speakers were punished for using their language. . Maori youths remember being beaten or whipped because they spoke in schools and government institutions such as orphanages and, at home, more Maori abandoned the language and learned the language. English to get a job. In the 1980s, less than 20% of Maori spoke out loud.
Now, it's very different. According to studies by Te Puni Kōkiri, a Maori public policy group, "attitudes towards the Maori language among Maori and non-Maori improve," and "the Maori language currently enjoys a status high in Maori society and also of a positive acceptance by the majority.
Maori words such as kia ora (good morning), Aotearoa (New Zealand), kia kaha (be strong) and kai (food) have long been part of New Zealand English. But the use of others is spreading. Premier Jacinda Ardern recently gave her child a second Maori name: Te Aroha, Aroha meaning "love". The gesture was well received by tribal groups, who said that Armern improved relations between the government and the Maori and also sharpened its own language skills.
In New Zealand, Waitangi, this year the 49 first few seconds of Ardern's speech on the motives of the sacred treaty were pronounced in té, while the former prime minister Bill English spoke for five minutes. The current ministers of labor, Nanaia Mahuta and Peeni Henare, are current speakers while Marama Davidson, co-leader of the Greens party, learns in adulthood
At Buckingham Palace in April, the prime minister started his Commonwealth toast with a Maori proverb.
In June, the album of Maori heavy metal band Alien Weaponry Tū went straight to number one in New Zealand and had more than one million streams on Spotify , while last year Wairua by Maori group Maimoa Music has been the most-watched YouTube clip in New Zealand, seen more than 5.5 million times. In 2016, the song Māori Maimoatia reached the top of the iTunes charts in New Zealand, bringing Justin Timberlake to the forefront. Producer Marama Gardiner, who is fluent in the language, said the song was designed to boost the confidence of young TV speakers, who could sometimes feel embarrassed about practicing their language skills. "I want people to sing a great song to you all over the world, it would be such a reinforcement of the confidence of New Zealand speakers that their native language would not die but would adapt."
Maori's wider range of programs has also played an important role in the standardization of the language. , whose presenters and reporters speak only in Maori, with captions provided.
All panels are now bilingual in government offices, hospitals and most public spaces and the first bilingual children's playground opened in Rotorua this year. commercial channels like TVNZ and TV3 have committed to using Maori live and ignoring critics who complain about feeling excluded.
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