Te reo on display at Wildbase
The importance of te reo Ma¯ ori is being shown at the new Wildbase Recovery centre in Palmerston North.
The centre at the Victoria Esplanade is nearing completion and when finished it will feature educational material by te reo Ma¯ori educators, researchers and publishers Peti Nohotima, Ian Christensen and Shirley Mullany.
The Manawatu¯ -based team research, create and publish educational resources as part of their business, He Kupenga Hao i te Reo, where they help strengthen te reo Ma¯ ori and encourage its use throughout New Zealand society.
A $300 grant from the Mckenzie Foundation in 1991 enabled Nohotima, Christensen and Mullany to print and distribute their first Ma¯ori language resource.
‘‘Since that time we have continued to produce learning resources in te reo Ma¯ ori, mainly focusing on the curriculum areas of te reo [language], pa¯ ngarau [mathematics], pu¯ taiao [science] and nga¯ toi [the arts], up to level 5 of the curriculum,’’ Christensen said.
‘‘It has been a privilege to work on the educational materials for Wildbase Recovery and we very much commend their commitment from an early stage in the project to ensuring the materials are bilingual.
‘‘Translation is not simply a matter of taking out the English word and replacing it with a Ma¯ ori word.
‘‘The story is re-crafted, keeping the kaupapa [purpose] and essence of the story intact, but also taking care to protect the integrity of the Ma¯ori language.’’
Christensen said they ensure the story is expressed in a Ma¯ ori way and an example is the English expression flora and fauna.
Instead of translating as plants and animals, they use the phrase ‘te aitanga a Ta¯ ne’ – the realm of Ta¯ ne, god of the forest.
‘‘For the Ma¯ori speaker, this enriches the story by evoking many cultural links to things such as whakapapa [genealogy] and kaitiakitanga [stewardship].’’
Christensen said for a language to survive, it must grow and change to be able to express the contemporary world of its users. He said there is a connection between te reo and Wildbase Recovery, which is about protecting the plants, animals and the environment. ‘‘These all have Ma¯ori names and Ma¯ori ways of expressing the things connected with them.
‘‘Te reo Ma¯ ori is the language of our country, a language of beauty that unites us as people from this land.
‘‘For English speakers, concepts like wha¯ nau, mana and aroha have embedded themselves in what it means to be from Aotearoa New Zealand – and our aim is to see and hear te reo Ma¯ ori, as an expression and celebration of our identity, wherever we go within our country.’’