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'

I am passionate about using and teaching te reo in the classroom.

karen

To connect to my wakapapa

Kara

Like many other Māori I don't know the language and feel embarrassed at times. It's important to me to take part and show people that its ok to not know and we all have to start somewhere.

Kahu

Language has a deep connection with culture and identity. Events such as this help keep te reo alive and encourage more people to learn the language and about Māori culture.

Justyna

Te Reo Maori is a part of what makes New Zealander's who we are. . I look forward to learning more, sharing with my Daughter and Friends. . Thank you for the opportunity to learn more :-) Kind regards Julie Nielsen

Julie

I’m a New Zealander celebrating New Zealand’s national language I do it everyday.

Julia

It is important for me as a foreigner to integrate into NZ culture and to expose my class to Maori culture.

Juergen

To be part of a greater good

Judy

To be proud to speak Te REO Maori

judith

Te Reo Māori is an official language of NZ. Whether we’re of Māori heritage or not, it’s up to all of us to keep the language alive & give it a go. He waka eke noa.

Joy

It is important to me because i want to be able to fluently speak my language- Te Reo. i have grown up speaking English and not knowing how to korero te reo. this has always been something that i have felt i was disadvantaged in, sense of loss in culture and identity. it is important to me, my mana and my mauri and wairua that i can one day become a confident te reo speaker. i love everything about my people, culture and language and just want to be able to embrace it. When i have tamariki i don't want them to grow up without having te reo as a part of them. It is something i missed out on and i do not want that to happen for my tamariki and future generations.

Josina

Because its important to continually breathe life into our language, to expand my world through reo, and open my eyes to the world of my people.

Josh

its really important to me to respect and value Te Reo and integrate it into our every day lives ❤

Josephine

Kei te Akonga taku Reo, he tuku iho ngā korero mai ōku Kaumātua. Kei te korero au ki aku tamariki, me aku mokopuna, I a ra, I a ra.

Joseph

Generations before me were Maori, I am maori and my children and future generations will have Maori in them, it is important they not only know who they are but everything that is incorporated with being Maori, the language, tikanga, waiata, whakapapa, etc.

Jordan

Being able to keep our culture and more importantly our language alive is so important in itself, being able to enable people that live in Aotearoa be comfortable to use maori words.

Jordan

I'm of Ngaitahu decent- this is important for my Whanau

Jonathan

To acknowledge the reo, Encourage speaking Te Reo so it can become normalized.

John

He tangata au, o te motu nei Ko Aotearoa, i te Moana nui a Kiwa Rakiura, me Rekohu, Te Wai Pounamu Me te ika ā Maui, ēnei ngā motu Kua eke mai nei ngā tūpuna Māori i ngā waka o mua, i nuku ai rātou Enei ngā kakano, nō Rangiatea Nō Hawaiiki nui, i nuku ai rātau Tēnei te taonga i tuku mai iho Ko te reo tuatahi, ko te reo Māori! Kia manawanui, i te reo rangatira Kia rangona ia, rite tonu hau Hau! Rite tonu hau.

John

Möku ake nei, e hiahia ana au ki te whakapiki ake te reo māori i töku ao me töku wāhi mahi. Ka whakanoa au i te reo māori mö te roanga o te wiki.

Jock

I am proud to be a New Zealander. It’s important in my life that I live as a te Tiriti o Waitangi partner as best I can.

Jocelyn

Being away from whanau and our whenua I need to reconnect.

Joanne

Participation in Te wiki o te reo Maori ensures that I keep learning and extending my knowledge, understanding and confidence to practice in the culture of my whanau. Te reo Maori is our past our present and our future and understanding this guides our journey through life.

Jo

Te reo maori is my language, my passion and the language of my ancestors.

Jo

Te Reo is our national language and we're keen to encourage more of our staff and farmers to learn, and use, more words relating to the dairy sector.

Jo

Learning more about myself, my whanau and my home

Jo

Support keeping te reo alive in Aotearoa

Jo

It’s part of who we are in nz and it’s one of our national languages

Tejo

Te Reo is a beautiful language and more importantly it's unique to Aotearoa and should be celebrated. More voices will hopefully lead to greater acceptance. Our history is fascinating and to hear it told in Te Reo is something special.

Jill

I think it’s vital for everyone to do their part to keep our native language alive and thriving. Gone are the days where it was prohibited to talk Te Reo. There’s no excuse these days so we should all be learning or understanding the language as it is our native language.

Jess

Language is a gateway into understanding and appreciating a unqiue culture. For me it's about understanding and connecting as a fellow NZer, helping to keep Te Reo alive.

Jessica

To reclaim te reo maori for my whanau. So my future whanau will not know what it means to feel distant from their native tongue. I wish to be able to indigenise all spaces I enter including with te reo maori.

Jessica

As a New Zealander I think it should be my duty to learn our official languages- and learn as much as I can about the people around me. As a history teacher I know how much wrong us pakeha have done when it comes to Te Ao Maori and in particular Te Reo.

Jessica

For awareness and connection. Although Maaori is not in my blood it's certainly in my heart, soul and home culture. I need to do this for me, my family and to help strengthen Maaori culture.

Jess

A language has to be used to stay alive, te reo Maori belongs here in Aotearoa and we can all give it life by using and learning to understand it. A language carries the world view of its speakers which is unique and we can be better people if we embrace what makes Aotearoa a special place, a place where we strive to know ourselves and others.

Jennifer

Respect for tangata whenua. Supporting the movement for Te Reo Maori to be our default, not an after thought.

Jeanne

We need to preserve the great toanga we have been gifted

Jayne

I want to learn more māori language and inspire the children I teach to do the same thing.

Jayne

Keep te reo fresh in my mind so i never forget

Jaxon

To show that i am also part of nz and i can learn maori language.

Jarnail
Jared

Te reo is the language of tangnata whenua. I have the responsibility to learn to understand and use te reo so that I can better understand and respect the peoples, land, water, mountains, bush, sky and all that lives now and before.

Janet

I want to feel connected to my culture and community. I want to give a little back to those around me. I want to celebrate some of what make me, me!

James

I think it is important to celebrate our diversity. We are not just a country with one culture or identity, we are a mixture of different cultures, values and ideas that help make up our countries identity. Māori language week is just one way to celebrate that diversity, to bring people together all across New Zealand.

James

Te reo Māori represents the heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand and it is part of the role of local government to support and promote te reo Māori alongside our mana whenua partners. Our organisation, Hastings District Council has a range of internal initiatives running across the week at all of its facilities, as well as out in its community. Tihei Heretaunga!

Te aute

It's important to me because I was born in New Zealand growing up in small towns and being aware of Maori culture and Te Reo from a young age. I have fond memories of marae visits and Te Reo lessons during previous employment enjoying waiata, finding out about local history and the generous hospitality. My son is now at school learning Te Reo and waiata in his class. He is picking it up fast and I want to be able to join in and take part and help him if needed. I'd also like to be able to say simple phrases and become more confident with Te Reo. E noho ra.

James

Te Reo is a toango for our future. It needs to be given life. . . this is one of the ways I can be a part of doing that

Jacquie

To help revitalise our language

Iwa

I want to be more comfortable with the Maori Language. I feel I have been a beginner for years. I need to move forward.

Irene

This is unique to NZ, unlike other Pacifica languages if the language does not survive here then it dies.

Sian

cos would love to support te reo me te ao Māori

Huyuki

No te mea pirangi au te whakanui te reo maori kia kaua to matou reo e mate

hirani

Me pēhea e kore ai e kuhu ki tēnei kaupapa, inārā, koinei tētahi kaupapa e āki nei te whakarauoratanga mai o tō tātou reo. Nā te reo Māori, nā ngā tikanga Māori i tangata mai ai ahau i tēnei ao weriweri. Me whakatipu tātou i ā tātou tamariki ki ēnei taonga, e kore ai rātou e paheke ki te hē. E whakapono nui ana ahau ki ngā kōrero a ō tātou pakeke e mea ana, ki te whakatōkia te reo Māori ki te whatumanawa, ki te hinengaro, ki te māngai hoki, ka ora te reo Māori me te tangata. Ka mutu, kei te reo ngā kura huna e tūwhera ai te tangata ki te ahurea whakaaro Māori. He mano hua ka puta i tēnei kaupapa. Ko te kōrerotia o te reo tetahi hua nui. Mā tō rourou, mā tōku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi. Mā tō reo Māori, mā tōku reo Māori, ka ora ai te ao Māori. Whītiki tauā!

Hinerapa

Te Reo is the pito of us all. I think it is important to get onto this bandwagon because the more we influence it within our workplace and communities the more thriving our culture, our reo will be.

Hinemoana

My children are of maori decent, I am not. My youngest is learning te reo and my son at high school has had some learning. I just want to speak and understand.

Hila

For our people Our tamariki Our generations to come So our reo will never be lost So the value is more than just language. It is the people who will take it forward and grow it. He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. MAURI ORA! ! The blog post slug for this story is: hellen_-_dargaville

Hellen

Honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi and being a bicultural country is important to me, and language is critical to culture. . . and I am finding it really hard to learning te reo, and this will help me prioritise my learning.

Helena

We asked the tamariki why learning te reo Māori is important to them. . . They shared their ideas with us "At Preschool we want to learn to reo māori because we only know a little bit of te reo Māori and we don't know all the words of it. We can count in te reo Māori but we want to learn up to 100". "We like to sing tirama tirama and Tutira mai nga iwi and we know karakia".

Helen

I moved to NZ 8 years ago and felt it was important to learn Māori as it’s an official language of the country. 2 years ago I moved to Northland and always look for opportunities to speak te reo. I want to help promote the use of te reo in everyday NZ life.

Helen

I have been on a journey of learning te reo Māori since 2017, largely because I have mokopuna Māori but also because I think it is important to me as a New Zealander to be able to have some basic conversations in te reo Māori.

Helen

It's one of the many things that makes NZ unique. Also similar to my scottish ancestors our native language was banned as well so I want to support the resurgence as it's part of our cultural identity.

Heather

Te reo is such a beautiful language and it is vitally important we all use it as much as we can.

Hayley

Having lived in Northland for several years, listening to te reo Maori became part of my normal life. Just so wished I learnt enough to understand the language as well as the culture then. So my journey starts from now when I see the opportunity of learning re reo.

Haruna

I want to be more fluent in speaking te reo. I’m from māori decent from about 7 generations but I feel such a close connections to the values and ways of learning/being as māori.

Hannah

For us it is more important bringing our culture to our children’s lives as we no longer live in New Zealand - it’s still in our blood.

Hannah

Because māori is everything to me, learning the language and the kaupapa is also important to me and keeping it running through our country is also important, Te reo māori is not only a language to me but it’s also a gift and to have that gift it feels I’ve been given that gift passed down by our past ancestors, that’s why I’m interested in taking part of this thing, why because we are all one and I believe māori is a taōnga, a treasure to have in this country

Henare

It's part of who I am and I think it's important to keep our culture and reo alive.

Haley

it is the language of my ancestors and of our future, it is who I am

haley

Because this is one of our official languages and I personally believe that we as NZ Citizens, need to learn our culture and traditional language :)

Gwen

Without te reo Maori we don't have New Zealand or Aotearoa. Simply put it is a part of them, so lets make it part of us all.

Greg

I am a british immigrant, and permanent resident of New Zealand. I want to learn and embrace the language and culture of our new home

Gill

As an immigrant, it is a privilege and honour coming into New Zealand to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi.

Geraldine

Its important to revitalize the language and share its significance with the next generation.

Georgia

Te Reo Maori is the rightful language of Aotearoa. English can take a back seat for a long while as far as I am concerned. We should all speak Te Reo. There is no reason to be speaking the language of a false idol, a Queen, whose life is paid for by our taxes, she and her family serve no purpose except as an emblem of past violence inflicted on the globe. Te Reo Maori is connected to nature, to being, it flows in a frequency that connects all as one in its mere vibration. We need to move back towards the ways of the indigenous earth peoples, especially New Zealand, a country and population (even the colonizers) that prides itself on natural beauty.

Gabriela

The Māori language and culture is recognised nationally by other indigenous people and i think it is imperative that we get behind such an amazing celebration as leaders in the indigenous space. We all have a part to play. Kia Kaha Toku Reo.

Gabriel

Ensure the upkeep of the languange an all its teachings so it may continue to florish creating a feeling of normality for the future generation so they may not feeo burdened when speaking!

Francis

Our te reo our history our traditions our whenua our religion needs to be protect for our direct blood descendants future

Francis

Proud being Maori wahine! Proud of our maori culture! Proud to stand & strongly support our maori heritage! & every aspect pertaining TE REO MAORI

Franii

Our language is an important link to the culture of NZ!

Fiona

Its important to me because i need to embrace my culture and i love the idea

Eric

My brother encouraged me.

Erana

tis time to be loud and proud and korero ia rā ia rā.

Erana

I want the next generation to know it's cool to korero and not to feel the shame I felt as a child for wanting to korero maori.

Emma

To share, inspire, motivate and encourage others to embrace our beautiful customs and language.

Emily

Why? To increase my sense of belonging, acknowledging who I am and what it means to do this. Increasing my understanding I will then be able to pass this knowledge on to my own whanau, and my place of mahi.

Emily

I'm a pakeha but te reo and tikanga māori are part of who I am through my connections and whakapapa to Aotearoa. I think this is vitally important for all of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Emily

He tino whakahirahira ki ahau nā te mea ko tenei reo rangatira ko te reo Māori ko tõku tuakiritanga.

Elyse

as a creole form an island in Indian Ocean, I think it's important to celebrate the roots

Elodie

Te reo Māori, is not only about continuing to promote our reo (Māori/Non-Māori) but it is also an opportunity to celebrate past and present rangatira who fought so hard in getting our Reo recognised. Our reo alongside our culture (tikanga, whanau, whakapapa etc), is our protective factors in keeping us well and proud of who we are and where we are from.

Ellen

Te Reo is a beautiful language and deserves to be preserved and promoted and taught. It is an important initiative for New Zealand and it’s unique identity.

Elizabeth

Tautoko tenei kaupapa i to tatou reo maori. Mama nohio mo a wai ki te mohio a tatou tikanga. Koina toku whakaaro.

Erueti

My teacher told me to do this

Edward
Ebony

We as Maori are unique people that have so much depth into our culture and history. We are are connected together through these two things, and that’s what makes us strong. Our stories and our beliefs as Maori are like no other, we look at life the Maori way and we see things the Maori way. We are more connected to this world than we think and our history and culture should be heard.

Dray

Tautoko mai tēnei kaupapa e whakanui ana i tō tātou reo Māori

Donna

I'm a kiwi who grew up in the UK and returned to Aotearoa 12 years ago with very little knowledge of te ao Maori. Learning a little te reo Maori and using it everyday is helping me on my journey to connect with Maori and learn more about their history.

Donna

Our Kaiako would like to show our commitment and support the revitalization of Te reo Māori through our preschool environment.

Donna

For my mokopuna who are all fluent in te reo and for me I am just starting on my journey of learning te reo

Don

I have always felt there was a missing link in my identity. I am coming to realise that is from the hole in my life where my reo should be. It is more than just a language, it is an artform, a way of looking at life, it is the whakapapa in my blood, the feelings that I have that don't have english words to describe them. It is me.

Dominique

Ko Te Reo Māori he taonga tuku iho.

Dominic