A step forward for te reo

E nga¯kau reka ana nga¯ ma¯tanga reo Ma¯ori i te waihapenga i te reo ki te arapa¯ho auraki no¯ ta¯ Puna huri ki nga¯ pa¯nui reo Ma¯ ori, reorua hoki.

Reo Ma¯ ori experts are glad to see the return of the language to mainstream media following Stuff’s shift to reo Ma¯ori and bilingual articles.

I runga ano¯ i te whakaaro kia whakamanahia te iwi Ma¯ori, kua wha¯ia e Puna tana kaiwhakama¯ori pu¯mau tuatahi, Taurapa, i te Hu¯ rae. He mea e tautokona ai te whakarauoratanga i te reo puta noa i nga¯ pae a te umanga.

In the spirit of partnership and in keeping with its commitment to Ma¯ ori, Stuff hired its first fulltime reo Ma¯ori translator, Taurapa, in July to support language revitalisation and normalisation across the company’s platforms.

Ka whakama¯ori a Taurapa (Te Rarawa) i nga¯ pu¯ rongo no¯ nga¯ tini horopaki, mai i te ao Ma¯ ori ki nga¯ pa¯ nui ohotata, tae ra¯ ano¯ hoki ki nga¯ wa¯hi tare whakangahau.

Taurapa (Te Rarawa) translates a number of stories daily across many genres from te ao Ma¯ ori, hard-hitting breaking news to lighter entertainment pieces.

He honongaitua to¯ nga¯ pu¯ rongo e oti ai i te kaipa¯ nui te ko¯ whiri i te momo reo Pa¯ keha¯ , te momo reo Ma¯ ori ra¯ nei. Ki nga¯ whakama¯ oritanga, kua whai ia ko¯wae reo Ma¯ori ki tana whakapa¯keha¯tanga, na¯ kona¯ e oti i te¯ tahi e ako ana i te reo kia whakatauritehia nga¯ reo e rua, ta¯ Taurapa.

The translated stories contain a link that allows the reader to choose between the English version or te reo Ma¯ ori translation. In the translated stories, each paragraph in te reo is followed by its English counterpart so those who are on their reo journey can compare the two, Taurapa said.

I tupu a Taurapa ki te kura kaupapa Ma¯ ori, na¯ reira i hari ia i te kitenga i te reo Ma¯ori ki te¯tahi pae auraki, he wheako ho¯ u, hei ta¯ na.

Growing up in a Ma¯orimedium school, Taurapa was glad to see te reo Ma¯ ori on a mainstream platform, something he said was a new experience.

‘‘Mo¯ku ake, e ko¯ingo ana [a Puna] kia noho ma¯ ori mai te reo Ma¯ ori ki te arapa¯ ho auraki,’’ hei ta¯ na.

‘‘I think that [Stuff] very much want te reo to have a normal presence in mainstream media,’’ he said.

‘‘E roa ana te ara ki mua i te aroaro, he uaua no¯ te tutuki i nga¯ mahi pena te tangata kotahi, ka¯ore pea au e whakama¯ ori koni atu i te 1% o nga¯ pa¯ nui ka whakaputaina i ia ra¯, na¯ reira whakaarohia te pa¯ nga pena kua tokorua ma¯ ua.’’

‘‘We have a long way to go because it’s really hard to do that with just one person, I don’t think I translate more than 1% of the articles we put out a day, so imagine the impact we could have if we could have two people doing that.’’

Hei ta¯ te tohunga wetereo, te koiko¯ kiri reo Ma¯ ori ki Whakaata Ma¯ ori, Ta¯ kuta Hinurewa Poutu, kua roa nei ma¯ tou e ta¯ ria ana te waihapenga i te reo Ma¯ ori ki nga¯ pa¯ nui auraki.

Reo Ma¯ori linguist and kaiko¯kiri reo, director of te reo Ma¯ ori for Whakaata Ma¯ ori Dr Hinurewa Poutu said the return for reo Ma¯ ori to mainstream news was long overdue.

I tupu a Poutu (Nga¯ ti Rangi, Te A¯ ti Haunui-a-pa¯pa¯rangi, Nga¯ ti Maniapoto) i te ururuatanga o te reo Ma¯ ori, te ko¯ rero, te pa¯ nui, me te tuhi i te reo Ma¯ ori, na¯ reira kua hiamo i te kitenga i ta¯ Puna hu¯ nuku ki te whakaputa i te reo Ma¯ori, hei ta¯ na.

Poutu (Nga¯ti Rangi, Te A¯ti Haunui-a-pa¯ pa¯ rangi, Nga¯ ti Maniapoto) grew up speaking, reading and writing in te reo Ma¯ori, so to see Stuff shift towards publishing in te reo was exciting, she said.

‘‘Ehara nga¯ pa¯ nui reo Ma¯ ori o ia ra¯ i te mea ho¯u, ana¯, te¯ra¯ te¯tahi wa¯ i koni atu i te 40 nga¯ niupepa i whakaputaina ki te reo Ma¯ ori.

‘‘Having daily news written text in te reo Ma¯ ori is not new, in fact there was a time when there were more than 40 newspapers published in te reo Ma¯ ori.

Kua rawe te kitenga i te hokinga mai o te kupu Ma¯ ori ki nga¯ whakaputanga, nga¯ niupepa, me nga¯ pa¯nui o ia ra¯.