Life-long commitment to language

Life-long commitment to language The day a young WiremuDoherty Rosetta Stone outlet started school he stood out from his fellow Maoristudents - he could speak Maori.Unlike most of his peers,Wiremu was taught Maori, and not English, as a firstlanguage at home. The first time he encountered English waswhen he started school at the age of five.Being able tospeak Maori, but not English, was unusual for children ofWiremus generation. At the time, according to Wiremu, inthe late 1960s and early 1970s many parents believed theirchildren would benefit more from learning English as opposedto Te Reo.Wiremu says the use of Te Reo in the educationsystem had been actively discouraged and the teachers atmy school could not quite believe there were people whocould not speak English. This shows the lack of importanceMaori played, for some, in the school system at thetime. Before starting school Wiremu lived in the remoteTuhoe iwi community of Nga Putahi in the Urewera Ranges,where he never encountered anyone who spoke anything butMaori. We were completely isolated from the outsideworld, with no television or radio. Everything Rosetta Stone Arabic I learnt wasfrom a Tuhoe perspective. I did not even know people spokeany other languages apart from Maori. This earlygrounding in his native tongue ignited a sense of pride inthe language in Wiremu, and also laid the foundation for acareer promoting the use of Te Reo Maori.After years as ateacher and principal at kura kaupapa or Maori languageschools, Wiremu is now head of Te Tari Matauranga Maori,Manukau Institute of Technologys Department of MaoriEducation, and is currently completing a PhD in MataurangaMaori.Wiremu feels he is privileged and fortunate to havelearnt Te Reo Maori as a first language when many of hispeers did not have the opportunity. My generation hadlost the language, he says.Although Wiremu is pleasedwith the current resurgence in the use of Te Reo Maori, hebelieves much has been lost from the language. Much ofthe richness, nuances and vibrancy of a language is lost ifit is learnt as a second language. Modern-day Maori hasa different sentence structure, which has been influenced byEnglish, than when Wiremu learnt the language, hesays. When I hear young people speak Maori, I hearMaori words, but English sentenceconstruction. However, Wiremu acknowledges that suchchanges are part of the ongoing development of a language. Languages have to evolve and develop tosurvive. Events such as Maori Language Week - for whichTe Tari Matauranga is spearheading celebrations at MIT from24 July - are important in keeping the language vibrant andalive, says Wiremu. Maori Language Week is a greatstart. I hope it helps change peoples perception of whatTe Reo Maori means for New Zealand. MITs Te TariMatauranga Maori offers a range of programmes that emphasisethe importance of biculturalism and an understanding ofMaori in Rosetta Stone French the workplace, including diploma and certificatecourses in Maori language immersion.Maori Language Weekhas been celebrated since 1975 and is coordinated by TeTaura Whiri i Te Reo Maori/Maori Language Commission, TePuni Kokiri/Ministry of Maori Development and Te Kahui TikaTangata/Human RightsCommission.