I am 62 years old and currently in a Te Reo Maaori course, although not my first, I am relearning what I learnt 20 years ago. The business that I work for allowed over 20 of us to attend class once a week from 3.30pm without deducting our wages. This for me was a huge bonus to us wanting to either learn for the first time or relearn what we have forgotten. When I learnt 20 years ago Te Reo Maaori was not deemed as accepted or as important as it is now. Maaori TV plus other channel news readers, reporters and TV programs have lead the way for us and those non-Maaori who have learnt themselves the correct way to pronounce Maaori words. I no longer have to suffer the insult and hurt I felt when I heard so much mispronunciation on TV. I now feel much safer in using my own language in NZ. We still have a long way to go as a country to work in equal partnership with Maaori however, we have made great progress towards this by accepting the Maaori language as an official language of Aotearoa and using this type of forum to encourage people. Ngaa mihi ki a koutou katoa.
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