My Maori great grandmother brought up my father after his mother died when he was a baby. This was in spite of her already having 17 children of her own - my grandfather- the oldest. I remember attending tangis as a child. I feel privileged to be part of a family that has regular family reunions. But I know nothing of the language and living in Australia has made it easy to ignore. On return to NZ i amazed at the prevalence of the language and how it has become/ is becoming integrated into mainstream communication. I would like to feel that I have at least made some sort of effort to acquaint myself with the language and if possible learn some of its rudiments.