Te reo enriches us all

Alan Walker worries that so many te reo phrases are finding their way into everyday language but there are different ways of looking at this (Weekend Herald, Mar 16).

Languages are not static, they change constantly and integrate words from other languages all the time. Does he feel like choking when he eats an omelette or worries that some young children get linguistically contaminated when they attend kindergarten? These words were added to the language because people found them useful and English just made a place for them.

I also think he underestimates the “older generation”. I have belonged to that category for quite some years now and sometimes have trouble understanding and then remembering the te reo Māori names of many institutions.

One solution is going to the internet to find out what the names mean and if you have no access to that, you go to the library where you find books which not only give you the translation but also a wealth of interesting information and you begin to appreciate the meaning and nuances of the language.

I have often noticed Englishspeaking people feel uncomfortable when people use another language. I remember browsing in a shop with my sister who was visiting from the Netherlands. She picked something up and asked me if she should buy it for her granddaughter; the lady in the shop wasn’t even serving us but said to me “She should speak English”.

I forgot to ask if she would immediately resort to Dutch if she visited a shop in Amsterdam.

Finding out more about other languages should not be seen as a threat but an enrichment.