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'

Because the Maori language is part of our history and culture. My job is with predominantly Maori.

Wendy

I would like to be part of the journey, and learn more

Wendy

Te Reo is sadly missing in the workplace. I would like to be more aware of it and use it more often.

Wendy

I want children to be excited about speaking the unique language of te reo Maaori and this is just one way to celebrate our learning of it.

Roto-o-Rangi

As someone proud of my Māori whakapapa but not a fluent speaker of te reo (a regret I hope to rectify one day) I think it is great to celebrate te reo in this way. Have seen the small introduction of Maori words/sayings into business life which should continue to be developed.

Wayne

Constitutionally we're a bicultural nation, so being bilingual seems appropriate . . .

Walter

Important to learn our reo so it won’t be lost.

Waiora

I strongly believe that we need to continue to lift the Maori language throughout NZ. After too many years when te reo has been underused and not valued we MUST learn it and use it!

Waimarie

I love hearing people speak te reo and always shy away from learning it myself. Our reo is part of who we are where we're from. I have slowly begun greeting in reo and hope to further my kupu.

waimaria

I think ancient languages and tūpuna have so much to tell and teach as humans, no matter what part of Earth we were born and live. I am brazilian and my country is Pindorama, land of Tupis, brave warriors, owners of the land. Unfortunately, white man and religion made their language vanished and my heritage and sense of belonging gone together. Studying Te Reo Māori is my way to connect my heart with my past somehow.

Wagner

My mum and her whānau were punished at school for speaking Te Reo which was brutal considering that was all they knew. Fast forward to us kids wanting to learn te reo & mum's reluctance. The difference in dialect and what our school taught us often differed to what she knew which created more angst and our learning faulted. Fast forward to the next generation & fortunately my daughter sent her son to kohanga & now kura kaupapa, and we are learning te reo ano. It's been a struggle sometimes, but I'm glad we are persevering to pass on this taonga mai i tô tātau tipuna ki tô tātau mokopuna.

vivienne

Because it's important to keep traditional languages alive and I'd like to encourage younger people to learn Maori.

Vivien

kause The blog post slug for this story is: vita_-_northcote

vita

Te reo should be used everywhere. People go to Spain and try and speak Spanish or go France and speak french. Same attitude for here would be awesome

Vishal

It's an important part of being a New Zealander. I want us to show the world that Māori culture and language is valued and treasured by all kinds of New Zealanders.

Virginia

It's important for me to take part because I live in NZ where Maori is an official language. It is important for me to take part because I didn't learn Maori at school when I was growing up.

Viki

As a Maori in Aotearoa/NZ this is an important part of everyday life

Victoria

I think the Maori language is beautiful and I think it's important that all children learn the basics at school, which I did and find very valuable and still remember even though I'm in my 40's!

Victoria

To connect with the people, land and language of Aotearoas ancestors.

Victoria

I respect Maori people as tangata whenua of this land and the language as their identity and taonga just l as I respect my culture and my language.

Vesi

I would love to speak te reo.

Verbinia

Because I am Māori and I work in the Māori freshwater space. I am learning te reo as part of my professional as well as my personal development, and I am committed to teaching my son as well.

Vanessa

Having pride in one of our official languages of Aoteoroa. Kia kaha.

Vanessa

Recognising that the Maori language is the language and culture of the Country I live in. Knowing a language and its culture is important and better define me as an Aotearoa citizen.

Valerio

The Reo is a part of who I am, it is our history, it is the first language for our nation

I want to learn more te reo and really like this idea.

Ute

Because we need to enhance Te Reo Maori more in our country.

Ursula

Sir James Henare- the language is the core of our Māori culture and mana. If the language dies as some predict what do we have left to us? Then I ask our own people, who are we? Our Māori language, as far as our people are concerned, is the very soul of the Māori people. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but suffer the loss of his own soul? Even if we gain the world, to be monolingual, a Japanese once said, is to know only one universe. Ka tau ka pai.

Uenukuterangihoka

I am taking part because I want to make a change. I am an 19 year old university student here at otago - originally I come from small town from the North Island. Since coming to university, I have been facing an identity crisis and have realized that there is no shame in being Maori. I want to be involved with my culture and what better way to start by learning my language. I have signed up for te reo classes - and hope to be fluent enough to teach my kids some day.

Sally

Hei whakanuia i tōku reo, i tōku tuakiri

Turuhira

WE want to encourage our tamariki to learn maori and be part of a movement. Work towards making Te Reo Maori strong in the classroom and at home.

Tupu

Because I was not brought up with the reo and am a grandmother, great grandmother and no longer want to feel whakama for not knowing or understanding when my mokopuna speak Te Reo around me. . . I want to know embrace and feel proud to be Maori and feel it's timely now that I'm working for a Maori kaupapa.

Tui

The best way to preserve our beautiful indigenous languages is to learn it and use it, every day.

Trudy

To be apart of the kaupapa to celebrate our language

Trudy

Ki Te Ako tonu i Te reo maori

Trudy

It's an important part of calling Aotearoa home and, as a Pakeha, it helps me to connect to, respect and appreciate Maori and their culture.

Tristan

To help them celebrate maori

Trisha

I've recently started to learn te reo and have only just realised how much this means to my sense of being a New Zealander

Trish

it is important to me to take part as i am of Maori decent and I have a passion for all tikanga and Kawa i roro i te ao Maori

trish

Te Reo Maori is a taonga and a beautiful gift to be honoured. It is a passion of mine to learn and be fluent. I am still at a beginner/intermedaiate stage, and just need to commit! !

Trish

Me akona i te reo Māori i roto i Aotearoa!

Trevor

To actively participate in being a New Zealander

Trcia

Just keen to learn

Travis

Because I am Maori and we need to celebrate that every day not just one week of the year :)

Tracy

To pass on my knowlegde to my son make sure hes grows up with the same guildlines and respect for his culture.

Tracy

I've very proud to be a New Zealander and learning about Māori culture (of which te reo is key) is an important part of understanding what it is to be a New Zealander. Also, there are significant inequities between Māori and Pākehā, and learning more about Māori culture is an important step in trying to understand how to help.

Tracey

This is important as it is part of my culture and more importantly a recognised language of our country as well as being proud to be Maori.

Tracey

Because as a Maori. I should know more than I do.

Tracee

We are in partnership with Te tiriti O Waitangi , it is important for it to be a art of our curriculum and show our Maori students who they are is important, their language is important

TOTally Kids Early Childhood Centre

To whakanui the reo. To further my goal to learn more reo and more waiata.

tosca

Doing my part to ensure our Ao survives for our mokopuna.

Tori

I have the time now to learn.

Comrie Anthony

Kia whakanuia te Reo Māori!

Toni

I am maori women working in a cultural whanau worker role. It good to bring my organisation along with us in our journey

Toni

I believe that learning te reo Māori is the most important way that pākehā and other ethnicities can build deep understanding and respect for te ao Māori and address institutional and casual racism. And in this troubled time of such huge global challenges mātauranga Māori offers the best opportunity Aotearoa has to respond in a positive way to these huge global and national challenges. For there to be any hope of a positive future for today's rangatahi and coming generations Aotearoa needs to embrace mātauranga Māori and concepts of kaitiakitanga. The reo opens the door to mātauranga Māori and the opportunity to build a strong united Aotearoa fit to face the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Toni

Kia kaha te reo! I reckon it’s pretty sad that so many Māori people, through the effects of colonization, have lost their language. When you lose a language, you lose a part of yourself, your history, your story. It’s up to us to bring it back. It won’t be achieved unless we all do it, we all normalize it, and we all celebrate it. Te reo Māori is taonga tuku iho – a treasure to be handed down through the generations. Every New Zealander has a part to play.

Toni

So that I can learn the National language of New Zealand

Tom

Ki te pupuritia tonu tenei taonga o taatou.

Tokowha

So I can help show my children that it can be easy to use some Reo in everyday life

Toby

Our whanau list our identity

Tirita

Efforts to keep Te Reo growing.

Tinaka

Have a basic grasp of the language

Tina

I would like to see te reo Maori be more widely accepted and used in NZ - as our national language I feel it is important for it to be recognised.

Tina

Have been waiting for this to come since the mid 1980s when I first learned te reo. Wonderful to see it come to fruition in my old age ; >

New Zealand is a unique place with a unique culture. We should share and celebrate the taonga that is te reo māori. As an official language we should see te reo along side English is all parts of nz life.

Tim

I want to show respect to our founding culture and the best way I can do that is learn more Te Reo

Tim

I'd love for Te Reo to become more of a staple of NZ's everyday dialect. I'm personally a pakeha but am keen to learn how to speak our country's language!

Tim

Te Reo Māori is a national taonga, and I want to actively participate in the celebration of te reo Māori. I am only just beginning my journey, with an ultimate goal toward joining my fiancè and daughter in fluency. Kia kaha te reo Māori!

Tim

I've always wanted to speak Te Reo fluently. It is the mother tongue of this country and I feel that we as a nation have a responsibility to take care of the language as it is the essence of its culture.

Tilomai

Te Ao Maori is woven into the cultural fabric of who we are and everything we do.

Tiere

To keep Te Reo Māori alive & to appreciate the culture indigenous to this land.

Tianna

To learn more about my whakapapa

Tia

Te Ao Māori is beautiful and as a Pākehā we have done a lot of damage to it. Time to try and reverse the damage my tupuna have done and grow te reo in our country!

Thomas

I am a Niuean born in Aotearoa and I feel so connected to the people, to the land, the love and the waiatas, the language of the Maori. I have two beautiful Ngapuhi daughters so my connection for me is deeper still. I am awakening to my own language of Vagahau Niue and culture and it only feels natural that I do the same with Te Reo and add to my knowledge of the Maori culture and Pasifika People as a whole. I am grateful to you all who helped this joining in Te Reo come about because this morning watching Jenny May dancing to Pere's singing an Earth Wind & Fire song called September, man my spirit just soared and I got up and danced along with them & felt mana in me and I just love that so much. Faaka ua lahi.

Theresa

Because my teacher made me, i mean told me this was happening

Theo

When you learn a language, you also learn about the culture of that language—it's important to preserve our te reo Māori and culture, because it's what makes New Zealand the way it is.

Tessa

Because te reo Māori is a living language and we need to be using it as much as possible, especially in educational settings

Tess

Awhi tamariki

Terrence

No te mea ka whai mokopuna ahau

Mau

We love using Maori in our daily language and learning about Papatunuku. We are also learning how to be kaitiaki of our environment and how to name many things in Maori together

Teresa

to help build our movement for Reo inclusion for our entire society. . . to help share the beauty

Terence

Because I had no choice

Terangianiwaniwa

To nurture our reo so that it may flourish for many generations to come

Teone

Te Reo is our national language and I need to learn more

Teneti

Always keen to Tautoko Kaupapa Maori, Tu Maori Mai 👀

Teina

#Samestorydifferentva'a

Ted

BECAUSE

Te Runui

Soak in all the knowledge

Te Rauhui

It's who I am, a King Country born and breed, Tapu Toa Wahine!

Te Rangimarie

Te reo is our language & we should all learn it. It’s part of our heritage and culture.

Te Rangi

Te Puni Kōkiri is a proud partner in the Maihi Karauna. As professionals, as uri and as New Zealanders our kaimahi believe in its vision, ‘Kia māhorahora te reo – every day, by everyone, every way, everywhere’.

Te Puni

because we owe it to our ancestors and to our future generations to learn!

Te Mahara

Ko te reo te mauri o te Mana Māori.

Te Kowhai

We would like to learn everday Te Reo words that we can use at the workshop

Te Kanawa

To learn, teach and pass on Te Reo Māori to everyone in Aotearoa and beyond. . . .

Te Kōrari

My children. I was ignorant of the importance of my reo when I was at school and didn’t think it was useful. Now, as an adult I wish with everything that I learnt Māori as a child. Because the struggle is real as an adult to learn, retain and pass it on to my children. It is important that I encourage the importance of normalising our language and culture now so that my children don’t ever have to struggle as adults as I am now. Reo Māori shouldn’t have to be an option to learn for us as Māori. It should be something we are born into. The only option we should have with regard to our language is where we speak it. Which should be everywhere. By being part of Māori Language Week I hope that I can do my small part to encourage and normalise the use of our reo both in the home and in my place of work.

Te Ata

Kia haapai i te oranga tonutanga o too taatou reo

Te Aroa

The language will be lost if we wait too long andmy mokos will need it, more than I do, I have the memories

Te Aniwa

Na taku aroha ki tōku reo te take! Kia kaua hoki te reo e mate ā moa.

Taylah

I want to discover my sense of identity, and feel closer to my ancestry, my whanau. Know where I came from to know where I can go, and not go forth alone.

Tayla