How our monolingual culture holds us back

Languages are vital to culture and identity. Around the world, people have fought and shed blood for the protection and preservation of their language, sometimes contributing to the formation of new nations.

Here in New Zealand, we have seen a resurgence in the uptake of te reo Ma¯ ori in the past few years. Initiatives such as Te Wiki o te Reo Ma¯ ori are being taken up in organisations throughout the country.

This month, the Media Council refused to entertain a complaint about

Stuff’s use of ‘‘Kia Ora, Aotearoa’’ on its platforms. This followed an announcement by the Broadcasting Standards Authority that it would no longer consider complaints about the use of te reo Ma¯ ori.

Te reo Ma¯ ori and New Zealand Sign Language are official languages, protected and promoted by law. It wasn’t always this way. We know of Ma¯ ori leaders who grew up without their language, and the implications of that on their sense of identity and belonging. There is the infamous story of Dame Naida Glavish, answering the phone at her work with ‘‘kia ora’’, risking her job, but starting a national conversation about the use of te reo.

When I was at primary school in Fiji, we were punished if caught speaking any language other than English. Our teachers thought this would help improve our English language skills. It was also a hangover from colonisation. You were perceived to be smarter and more sophisticated if you had good English. This perception still exists in many colonised nations.

And so it was heartening to see many of our new members of Parliament starting their maiden speeches in their mother tongue.

More than 160 languages are spoken in New Zealand. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 6000 languages spoken around the world. But languages are under threat, and some are disappearing altogether, with at least 43 per cent being endangered. According to the United Nations, every two weeks a language disappears. And with it we lose an entire culture, traditions, knowledge, history, and diversity of thought.

In New Zealand, census data show the proportion of speakers of Pacific languages has declined. Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio, in confirming support for nine Pacific Language Weeks this year, noted that loss of language ‘‘disconnects our past from our present, and will disadvantage future Pacific generations’’.

He identified language as being fundamental to providing Pacific people with ‘‘an anchor to their identity, confidence, and safety’’, while navigating the economic and social challenges of Covid-19.

The United Nations has declared 2022-32 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, placing multilingualism at the heart of indigenous people’s development. The ability of indigenous people to speak their language has been shown to enhance wellbeing.

Unfortunately, our education system supports very few languages. And the ones it does don’t necessarily acknowledge tangata whenua, or align with where we see our future as a country.

Whether language choices in the education system need to align with priority foreign affairs and trade partners is another matter. There has already been much debate about dropping Latin from NCEA, with strong arguments for and against. Similarly, the Education (Strengthening Second Language Learning in Primary and Intermediate Schools) Amendment Bill, which would require primary schools to teach one of 10 priority languages, attracted a lot of interest as to what those languages should be.

The more pertinent issue is that our systems inadvertently push multilingual speakers into becoming monolingual. In an increasingly interconnected world, instead of valuing the advantage multilingualism brings, we tend to treat it as a distraction.

Languages, and multilingualism, can advance inclusion. Understanding of languages supports cultural diversity, social integration, education and development. Research shows that children and young people who are grounded in their culture perform better at school or kura, and have a stronger sense of identity.

Knowing your mother tongue is an asset. Learning other languages has many benefits too. Learning or speaking a second language sharpens the mind, and improves memory and the ability to multitask. It also improves knowledge of your primary language. When you learn a new language, you don’t just learn the language. You learn the culture associated with it. This helps multilingual people see the world from different perspectives and connect more easily with other cultures – an advantage in a globalised world.

While the protection of a language has led to new national borders in some parts of the world, an understanding of other languages can help break barriers and transcend borders, helping to build more inclusive societies.