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November 29, 2017
Support grows against te reo Maori moaners
Waatea Team
Posted On November 29, 2017
Race Relations Conciliator Dame Susan Devoy says the response to a column complaining about the amount of te reo Maori heard on RNZ National shows how the language is becoming normalised.
Rather than it just being herself speaking out, a wide range of people condemned the piece in the Otago Daily News as outdated and unacceptable.
She says the more people hear Maori words and phrases used, the more they will have confidence to try it themselves.
"I looked at Maori Language Week this year and thought it’s such an overwhelming change of people embracing and enjoying it. It’s certainly not something inflicted on people and I think people are beginning to understand it is a real treasure and the revitalisation of our language is really important," Dame Susan says.
It’s now 30 years since Maori became an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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