The renaissance of te reo Māori
With te wiki o te reo Māori coming to a close in 2018, it’s become increasingly evident that our indigenous language is experiencing a revival. The government has set an ambitious target for more than 20 percent of Aotearoa’s population to speak basic te reo by 2040, pledging to provide lessons in all New Zealand schools by 2025.
Dr Ella Henry provided comment in a New York Times article focused on the revival of te reo Māori in Aotearoa saying, “This is the new New Zealand. It’s not a blip in the cultural landscape. This is what New Zealand is becoming: a truly integrated place.”
In 2013, just 3.7 percent of the NZ population spoke te reo Māori fluently, with some predicting that it would die out. But analysts now say that the status of the language is shifting.
Enrolment and interest in beginner level te reo Māori courses at AUT are higher than ever before, with many New Zealanders showing a keen interest in learning te reo and using it in everyday language.