International experts for Kahungunu reo symposium

Ngati Kahungunu is expecting up to 500 people at its language symposium in Hastings next week.

Its Director of Language and Tikanga, Jeremy Tatere MacLeod, says the tribe suffered major language loss because of colonisation, and it has a depleting pool of native speakers.

He says the symposium aims to increase awareness, encourage second language learners, strengthen language champions and give families the tools for making their homes bi-lingual.

As well as hearing from exponents who have worked tirelessly over decades to revive te reo Maori within the tribe, there will be contributions from internationally recognized language revitalizsation experts, Ghil'ad Zuckermann of Israel and Kaliko Baker of Hawaii.

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