June 13, 2016
Te Ataarangi methods help Ainu revival
Techniques used in Aotearoa to teach te reo Maori are helping Japan’s indigenous people to hang on to their language.
A group of Ainu people were in Taranaki last week to attend Te reo o Taranaki’s first language conference and honour long term te reo Maori advocate Huirangi Waikerepuru.
Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell, who was part of the language movement in Taranaki during his time living there, says the Ainu were able to report on progress since they were last here three years ago.
"The gaining of their language can be attributed very much to some of the mahi done through our link. When they came a couple of years ago we hooked them up learning Te Ataarangi methodology, and they are now doing it in Japan for their own language," he says.
Mr Flavell says when he went to northern Japan several years ago for the launch of the Ainu political party there were only about a dozen native speakers of the language left.
FULL INTERVIEW: TE URUROA FLAVELL
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