New Zealanders have woken up to a topsy turvy world this morning, with normally annoying commentators Mark Richardson and Mike Hosking talking a lot of sense, reports Hayden Donnell. Stash some canned food under your bed. Fashion your garden implements into makeshift weapons. Sprinkle the blood of a lamb or goat over your home’s threshold. … Read more
Children are sponges, they say. So why, asks Emily Holdaway, won’t radio give some thought to the kids who are adopting the incorrect pronunciation they hear on a daily basis? I stand in the kitchen, doing the dishes. I can hear Mum reading to Ziggy in the lounge. She’s reading to him the story of … Read more
He showed up to a voice over job and was asked to mispronounce a Māori place name. Dave Ward explains why he chose to speak up instead. Taika Waititi was right on the money. We have a race issue in Aotearoa and it’s not going away. Last week I refused to deliberately mispronounce a Māori … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to co-founder of Reobot, Jason Lovell, whose IBM Watson-powered chatbot allows you to practise conversational Māori via Facebook Messenger. ONE: How did Reobot start and what was the inspiration behind it? I want to … Read more
Vincent Olsen-Reeder writes about collaborating with experimental Māori musician Rob Thorne and the New Zealand String Quartet, and the push and pull of multicultural exchange and taking traditional forms to new worlds. Composing music has been a love of mine since I first picked up a guitar at age 10. I’ve always felt an intrinsic connection to … Read more
Nichole Brown shares a beautiful personal essay about how her daughter’s thirst for knowledge has reignited her love for her te reo Māori. Shoes inside. That was my ultimate act of defiance against my mother’s tongue. Wearing shoes inside. It might not seem like much, but inside I felt like I was screaming rebellion at my … Read more
Nadine Anne Hura shares the challenges of encouraging te reo Māori with teenagers and the joy of total immersion environments for all of the whānau. My motivation for learning Māori has changed a lot since I first enrolled in a total immersion te reo course three years ago. Back then, I was all about the fast-track to … Read more
Visitors to this weekend’s Womad festival in Taranaki will have the opportunity to brush up on their te reo and understanding of tikanga Māori, writes RNZ’s Taranaki correspondent Robin Martin. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa has come onboard as a programme partner and will be offering a virtual pōwhiri experience and has helped develop a “Teach Me … Read more
New verse by Maraea Rakuraku, taken from a new anthology in English and te reo (translated by Jamie Cowell). when does it start? It’s not waving a flag, holding a banner, knowing what postcolonial theory means and when to use it, memorising quotes and lining them up like soldiers that are sent out in waves … Read more
We should promote everyone having a go at learning te reo Māori – but please think twice before you ask a Māori person to do the heavy lifting for you, writes Nadine Anne Hura. One thing I’ve noticed about being a te reo speaker is just how often people assume I can do translations. I’ve … Read more
Historians and language experts agree that the original meaning of the word Pākehā is most likely to be ‘pale, imaginary beings resembling men’, referring to a sea-dwelling, godlike people in Māori mythology. It has been used to describe Europeans, and then New Zealanders of European descent since before 1815. So why do some people object … Read more
The Race is an original piece of theatre about those marginalised by society, created by those who have been marginalised themselves. Simon Day spoke to some of the cast about the role acting has in their lives. His gappy grin beaming across the street, Rawiri Sears Ngatai was waiting at the top of the stone … Read more
Paul Moon, author of the controversial new book Killing Te Reo Maori, argues that making te reo Māori a compulsory school subject is the worst thing we could do to preserve the language. To paraphrase Nietzsche, “te reo Māori is dead, and we have killed it.” Well, not quite, but it is possibly only a … Read more
I pānui a Hēmi Kelly, pūkenga reo Māori nō AUT i te pukapuka hou e whakatutū nei i te puehu nā te tohunga hītōria Pākehā, nā Paul Moon kia kore ai koe e mate ki te pānui. Ko te ingoa o te pukapuka ko Killing Te Reo Maori. Kite tonu atu au e tamō ana … Read more
Te reo Māori teacher and fellow AUT lecturer Hēmi Kelly read the controversial new monograph by Pākehā historian Paul Moon, Killing Te Reo Maori: An Indigenous Language Facing Extinction, so that you don’t have to. Click here to read this review in te reo Māori I immediately notice the macron is missing over the ‘a’ … Read more
The current conversation about the preservation of te reo has been focused on the role and responsibility of Māori speakers, as exemplified by Bill English’s claim that it’s not government’s place to save ‘someone else’s’ language. But what about Pākehā learners of te reo? Eliza Jane looks back on her experience at Auckland’s Newton Central … Read more
In the wake of negative te reo Māori stories this week, a hashtag has appeared that centres the conversation back on the positive. It’s said that in politics, once you’re in opposition conciliatory gestures are no longer required and the aim is to stay in the spotlight however you can. National Party leader Bill English … Read more
The tohutō (macron) is an important and powerful part of te reo Māori. Simon Day explains how to use it. The macron matters. The use of the tohutō is essential for the pronunciation, meaning, and status of te reo Māori. When you see a vowel with its hat on it means the sound is held … Read more
The usual defence of stories about Pākehā enraged by Māori ‘uppitiness’ is that the media are simply reporting people’s views. And that’s bollocks, says Aaron Smale. First published on 1 May 2017. If you drive down the new expressway on the Kapiti Coast towards Wellington, when you get near Waikanae there is a slight bend. On … Read more
This morning on RNZ Kim Hill generously gave Don Brash 30 minutes in which to explain his problem with Guyon Espiner speaking te reo on the radio. Self-appointed Kim Hill expert and superfan Sam Brooks brings you her best burns. When it was announced that Don Brash was going to be interviewed by Kim Hill … Read more
Use of te reo by the national broadcaster has come under fire this week from leading New Zealand thinkers including Dave Witherow, Don Brash and John Drinnan. The debate shows how far we have come as a nation – and how far we still have to go, writes RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson. RNZ’s small but significant … Read more
With 2017 coming to a close, one brave fisherman has thrown his hat in the Worst Opinions ring with a rant against te reo and those who dare speak it. Madeleine Chapman responds. You might be thinking that the Spinoff publishing responses to bad columns is getting old. But so are these columnists and that … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of Rob Ruha & The Witch Dr’s ‘KALEGA’, featuring Michael Jackson street dancer Shaun Lindsay and members of Te Kapa Haka o Te Whānau a Apanui. Rob Ruha says: ‘KALEGA’ is the perfect summer anthem and a hot festival jam. It’s a song about the great Aotearoa summer pilgrimage back to the … Read more
A Māori language version of blockbuster Disney film Moana was released in September to celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo. Now you can get the soundtrack in your ears! E te iwi!!! The Moana Reo Māori soundtrack is now available on Spotify! Mauri ora! @Lin_Manuel @DisneyStudios #Moana https://t.co/oUeDA1bBqA — Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) November 3, 2017 The film … Read more
Graham Cameron proposes reasons for learning a language that have nothing to do with business. Ni hao! It’s Chinese Language Week. There has been some attempt in our local media to wrap their lips around the unfamiliar sounds of Mandarin, a few pieces about the local Chinese community, but mostly pieces about the importance of business … Read more
The tohutō (macron) is an important and powerful part of te reo Māori. Simon Day explains how to use it. The macron matters. The use of the tohutō is essential for the pronunciation, meaning, and status of te reo Māori. When you see a vowel with its hat on it means the sound is held … Read more
No more ‘us’ and ‘them’, writes Ātea editor Leonie Hayden. The marae ātea is the open area in front of the wharenui where a ritual of encounter takes place between hosts and guests. It is the domain of Tūmatauenga, the god of war and people. To show respect for the mana of Tūmatauenga, whaikōrero between … Read more
What’s in a name? Only everything, writes Miriama Kamo. I didn’t always love my name. When I was in primary I used to wish I was called Lisa or Michelle, something easy that didn’t raise eyebrows. As I recall this, another memory comes to mind. I remember plucking a flower from a tree on the … Read more