Nearly all of the people included in our survey in Reporoa who could speak and understand Māori well were over the age of 5. Only two people under 25 could understand spoken Maori with ease and over two thirds had no knowledge at all. Maori language in the community was generally restricted to religious ceremonies and on the marae.
Those amongst the people we spoke to who could speak Maori or who wanted to learn spoke of the difficulties of finding other fluent speakers to talk with in Maori and some said ·that this lack of practice had resulted in a loss of ability in speaking the language.
Waikato | Rotorua | 1970-75 | 5% of Māori children can speak te reo. (1970-75) | Story is by tangata whenua
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