Te pae kōrero | Our why

There are many things that define New Zealanders and connect us to our home: and te reo Māori is one of them.

Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to learn te reo and see it become normalised and spoken nationwide. Explore them below and share your favourites to inspire others to get involved.


Add your 'why'

Ahakoa he iti he pounamu - No matter how small it is our most treasured.

Robyn

It is important for me to take part as my Grandmother was a native Te Reo speaker and my mother had this vital part of her heritage stripped away from her. Time to reclaim, love and learn.

Robyn

proud of my culture

Roberta

We are a bicultural nation

Robert

Te Reo Māori is unique and does define us as NZ's including connecting us to home. I believe our whakapapa, where we come from, who we are and our beliefs connect us all together and embraces who we are as people. Te Reo Maori is so beautiful and I'm embracing learning.

Ripeka

I am Maori and feel disappointed that I can’t speak the language of my ancestors. I want to keep learning and pass on the language to my tamariki.

Rinaha

I started my Reo journey back in August with Te Wananga o Raukawa online after putting it off for years. Every day should be a celebration of our language and so taking part today is another chapter to this journey!

Rima

I am only 9 years old. This year I started being home schooled. I was never taught Maori at school while I was there and I want to learn. .

Riley

My Koro was very prominent with in Te Arawa and he worked at the Maori Radio Station here in Rotorua. He was teaching me te reo but unfortunately he passed away with i was 9yo so now i am on my journey to learn more reo and make my Koro proud.

Riki-Lee

To be involved in a nationally important activity and use what te reo i know. Tautoko

Rik

Because I am proud to be a New Zealander

Riichard

Whakanuia ā ngāi tātou - te ahurea māori, tō tātou reo te tūākiri me kī

Richie

To be more a part of this amazing country and it’s culture and people.

Richard

Te reo maori opens up a whole side of my home to me.

Richard

I am passionate to learn and keep our unique language of Aotearoa alive and well

Richard

Waiata is fun and connects to every one

Richard

Keen as to learn, relearn the Reo and be proud of who I am. If I am not already.

Richard

Maori language week.

Richard

We are a small whānau owned Aged Residential Care facility whom over the last 34 years have been a home for many of our whānau Māori from within our Hāpori. We continue to be a whare (home), a whānau (a family) and a wāhi haumaru (safe place) for many of our kaumatua who do not have any other options. We enable our people to stay closer to their turangawaewae and that too is important. We believe our Reo Māori helps to define who we are as a people here in Aotearoa and we will uphold our Reo Māori here in our little part of the Ao. Mauri ora.

Riana

As a woman of Maori descent, I believe that it is one of my greatest privileges in life to be a part of a culture so rich and powerful! I will admit that growing up, I felt disconnected to my roots but as I have grown older, I realised that it is never too late to start. I hope that is the approach that many Maori are taking on this week (and beyond). Even though it may not be our fault that we were not raised in a Maori household or attended a Maori school or even been taught about the rich history of our people; it is up to us to take that first step toward reconciling with our mother tongue.

Rhema

Hei whakatakotoria the huarahi mō ā tātou nei tamariki, mokopuna.

Rereahu

Our workplace finds it very important to embrace and encourage the opportunity to bring light to our heritage and special Maori culture.

Renee

It is important for all new zealalnders to embrace our culture and support this

Irenee

To be involved - get more educated - to feel more apart of our culture

Renee

Because it is important to keep our culture alive. It is important to learn our history and for everyone else in Aotearoa to learn it aswell. Teach our reo, our history, our kaupapa, our ways. Because the experience is one to remember

Renae

Because its good to take part in my countries culture and at least try to learn things about it.

renae

Because being a Māori who speak fluent te reo i truly believe by me speaking with everyone i am one of many people who are saving our language for generations.

Reihana

Te Reo Māori is so important and we need to treasure and preserve it.

Rebekah

To improve my everyday Te Reo skills.

Rebekah

I believe that we should all be proud of te reo Māori even if we cannot speak it. I would love to see us as a bi-lingual country in the not too distant future. It is one of the very unique and special things that defines us.

Rebekah

To keep the language alive!

Rebecca

I want to take part as I am raising two boys who are Maori, I want us all to be on a journey of learning te reo and learning more about what it means to be Maori so that the boys can grow up proudly identifying with that side of their heritage.

Rebecca

Important for us to korero

Rebecca

To be a truly multicultural nation, we must be completely bicultural in the first instance. Understanding and embracing the role and importance of tangata whenua is the foundation for this journey.

Rebecca

To be part of something awesome, to share in this beautiful language that is uniquely ours her in NZ

Rebecca

It's one of the things that make us and our nation so (very) special.

Rebecca

I think it is important to take part to strengthen our awareness and identity as a nation. Taking part in our ece setting will support our bi-cultural curriculum that we are teaching our tamariki and show that we value the language and culture in support of our country.

Rayna

I love my culture. I just wish I knew a lot more about it and eventually for my tamariki to speak te reo aswell. I want Māori to be normalised.

Ray

Tōku reo, tōku ohooho

Rawinia

To try and connect more with my Maori culture and to encourage my children to embrace and be proud of being Maori. .

Raquel

Ko Te Reo Maori te taonga o to taatou tupuna, o to taatou, te iwi o Aotearoa

Rangitehau Ruth

I'm keen to be part of an amazing kaupapa that continues to promote us. . . Maori:)

Rangita

Kia ukapotia te reo.

Rangimiria

He taonga, he kuru tongarerewa tēnei mea te reo ka mutu he whakakākahu i ōku whakaaro me te ao e noho nei au. Me aroha tētehi ki tētehi, me hiki, me hāpai te wairua me te mauri o te tangata.

Rangi te Whiu

Me whakarangatira tātau i tō tātau reo Māori

Rangi

My mom is maori.

Rain

he maori au

Raiha M

because i had no chouse

Raige

its simple our red is our future . without it we are history

Rahera

Share and celebrate Te Reo Maori

Raharu

For me it is part of becoming more culturally competent and aware.

Raewyn

Get Tamariki involved!

Raewyn

To encourage our staff to use Te Reo Maori and to celebrate it.

Raewyn

Te rep is a beautiful language and is an important part of our NZ culture. I have been learning to speak more te rep and am sharing that with my class

Raewyn

I am non Maori but born and bred Porirua wahine :) I think it is respectful if all of us living in Aotearoa acknowledge and try and speak 'te reo' to the best of our ability.

Rachel

Language is a vital part of culture, a taonga to be treasured and celebrated

Rachel

He whakahirahira i tenei kaupapa ki au. Mena i wareware koutou ki te korero Maori, a , ka ngaro to tatou reo.

Rachel

I love the Maori Language

Rachel

To be connected

Rachel

to be brave in a crowd, to have the reo noticed.

Rachel

Personally very passionate about elevating Te Reo Māori amongst all New Zealand communities and seeing it become a more everyday part of life in New Zealand. I have recently started my reo journey with AUT and am actively trying to encourage others to start learning in whatever way they can too, from tuning into Māori TV, listening to waiata, reading books like The Bone People which integrate more language etc. Posting on social emdia I know will get a lot of engagement so although I am very nervous to do it, I want to!

Rachel

Acknowledging and supporting Maori tikanga and reo is important to me as part of decolonisation and tautoko for rangatiratanga, which is part of my values.

Rachel

My grandchildren have learned Te Reo through school and my great grandchildren are learning at Kohanga. Maybe time for me to learn to korero maori. The blog post slug for this story is: rachael_-_matamata

Rachael

I don’t want the language to disappear as I thinks it’s important for my kids and there kids and there kids to learn it and about it. . . I as a child didn’t get to learn as much as I would’ve liked too. I’m very lucky to have a friend who takes the time to explain quite abit too me as I don’t have any living whanau of my own to do that for me.

Rachael

Mõ tātou tēnei taonga, nõ reira mā tātou katoa ngā mahi whakapakari, whakarauora hoki

Rach

To keep it up!

Rabi

Our reo is apart of us. It is our identity. Without it we are nothing. We have no mana! Ākina te reo inga wā katoa .

Rīanara

It is important to me because its apart of me

Puawai

Important for all New Zealanders & to show respect for our first language

Pru

The reason I want to take part because I love to tell learn about Maori culture and the history of Maori. It will be my pleasure to cherish the culture and the Language. All these will help me in my early child care education and with the children.

Priya

To encourage me to want to learn and speak Te Reo

Priscilla

Showing people that te reo Māori is not a foreign language and has been around 4 a very long time

Preston

The reason its important for me to take part is because it is my culture and i would like to support maori language week

Pounamu

Because I believe that it is possible for Aotearoa to become a truly bicultural country.

Pokere

I am proud of my heritage and wish to be more fluent in Te Reo Maori.

Poia

Kia whakapau kaha, kia tautoko i ngā whakaihu o nehe i para te huarahi ma tatou nga uri whakaheke

Pita

I would like Te Reo Maori to be part of every day communication. Everyone saying ' kia ora' instead of 'hi' would be a great start. I thank Maori who are fine about sharing te reo with others (even when we mangle the language). I'd like te reo Maori learning be more accessible to Maori who have missed out on the kind of opportunities I have had.

Pip

To learn Maori culture&language

Pichamon

To ensure future generations continue to speak te reo, by normalising it in their world, and ultimately the rest of Aotearoa.

Piata

• I want to actively contribute to increasing the use of te reo and understanding of tikanga Māori. I’m firmly of the opinion that a strongly diverse and inclusive community with Te Ao Māori as its foundation is essential for a healthy flourishing Aotearoa/New Zealand. • My early catalyst for wanting to inform myself in Te Ao Māori was driven from a social justice perspective and a desire to understand the concept of bi-culturalism and what that meant in a practical sense. Then as I started to learn more about Te Ao Māori I felt a strong resonance with and connection to Māori concepts and my own value system.

Philip

Because this is NZ language and we should respect the people and their culture but also it would just be great to have another sense of belonging in this society and become 1 instead of individuals .

Petrina

Nā te reo ahau i ora ai, māku hoki te reo e whakarauora

Petina

Te reo is the first language of this land. For the language to survive it is important that the language used in every day communication as well as English.

Peter

It's our national language and so few of us can speak it. Let's get more of us using it and see more te reo in everyday use.

Peter

Te Reo is one of our two national languages, it is important that we can all speak it.

Penny

Kia ora to tatou reo.

Penny

Language and culture are inseparable. Kaiako enhance the sense of identity, belonging and wellbeing of mokopuna by actively promoting te reo and tikanga Māori - Te Whariki, p. 43.

Peninsula

Decolonizing myself and my space

Pene

Upholding Te Reo language and recognising it as one of our national languages is important to me. Teaching our tamariki the importance of learning the language is also something I feel needs to happen. Also to continue my own personal growth in understanding tikanga and reo.

Pax

Every opportunity to learn a little more is great!

Paulette

Mō āku tamariki.

Paula

I grew up before Te Reo was taught in schools and I feel like I missed out. As a pakeha kiwi I want to learn (Te Reo, Tikanga and Te Ao Maori). I feel like there is so much we can learn through sharing and I want to be part of a better NZ where we can all learn from and be proud of our Indigenous past and help create a more equitable and better present and future for Indigenous and all NZ.

Paula

I am an ECE kaiako and feel it is important to save te reo Maaori become strong again. Q

Paula

help us be more understanding and fluent.

Paul

Hei whakamana te reo, hei whakakaha te reo, hei whakaora tonu te reo!

Paul

Te Reo Màori and Tikanga are both beautiful language and culture. Te Reo Màori enhances my life in Aotearoa ! ! The blog post slug for this story is: paul_-_hamilton

Paul

Even though I am not Moari I think it is important for all NZer's to know some Te Reo Maori and to gain confidence without fear of embarresment or redicule or being mocked. I work in a school that is mostly Maori and has a number of Maori teachers so being able to speak some Te Reo Maori is a way of showing respect for and recognition of Maori culture. Besides, ka rawe te korero Te Reo Maori, speaking Te Reo Maori is fun.

Paul

Te reo Maori is an essential part of living in Aotearoa and respecting the culture of this wonderful land.

Patricia

Te Reo is at the heart of our Community

Pat

Learning another language Can open up a world of learning more

Paradorn