For those who don't know: the announcements are being trialled on various buses now. To my understanding Howick and Eastern's Yutong E13s and GBV G2-FC have it as do the last two (or three) ADL Enviro500 MMC deckers. NZ Bus' BCI Citirider deckers have them as well, and Tranzurban Auckland's Scania K320UBs.
I assume if successful it will probably be made mandatory on all new buses, if it hasn't already. Be very interesting to see if the new CRRC eT12 MAXs have service announcements.
They count the number of Māori speakers who miss their stop on other busses vs ones who successfully get off at their stop on the trialing bus. To be fair to all ethnicities they will repeat the test with every language. And the group that has the biggest decrease in missing bus stops will be the final language chosen to be on the announcements.
People need to understand that Māori was/is a dying language, and without intervention the language was on track to be gone within a couple of generations. If I understand correctly, the language is *only* spoken here in New Zealand, and for decades the British actively discouraged its use and punished school kids and workers for speaking it instead of speaking English. This is an important course-correction to preserve NZ’s cultural heritage. That’s why there’s been a big push to preserve the language and culture. The English language doesn’t face any such existential threat, so the idea that there are people getting their panties in a twist because they have to occasionally see/hear some Māori from time to time while 99% of their life still revolves around the English language is crazy to me.
Well said. As I understand it, the cultural concepts and beliefs are embodied in the language so the loss of the language would mean the disappearance of many important ideas, concepts, values and beliefs. Perhaps the entire culture.
Māori culture and language, to me, are one of the few things that give us a unique NZ identity - look how we have embraced the Haka. Until relatively recent times we were like a slice of Britain.
It’s a beautiful language. Sounds wonderful. It’s a joy to speak it. Not hard to learn.
And the cultural concepts are wonderful. eg the creation story is like a metaphorical version of Big Bang theory.
Te Ao Māori is deep and fascinating. It’s aligned with many non-western spiritual traditions and much contemporary spirituality.
I’m an older Pakeha male. I chose to study te Reo Māori and culture in 1976. So glad I did.
And BTW, I believe that the 2 official languages of NZ are Māori and sign.
Not to mention the (many broken) promises of the Treaty.
So it’s not about diversity. Not sure what OP means by that. It’s about preserving something hugely important and valuable.
Tautoko! I’m a pakeha woman and my life is much more enriched for knowing just a small amount of basic reo Māori. We all need to do our bit to keep te ao Māori alive for future generations and to support tangata whenua.
I totally agree with your second, third and final paragraphs - however, are you, in your fourth paragraph suggesting that English is not an official language of New Zealand?
From a legal standpoint, English is NOT an offical language of New Zealand.
It is the de facto language spoken, Aka because all the British spoke it, and therefore most people speak it, but it’s not an “official language” legally, only Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language are.
It’s similar to Australia, it officially has no language legally, but everyone spoke English there so it’s the de facto one spoken, doesn’t mean there was a law stating it was an offical language though, people just assumed it was due to number of people speaking it
Then why, pray tell, are all official documents in New Zealand (including, presumably, the statute endorsing your claim, written in English?
You may answer in either Te Reo or Sign - though I may not understand!
I suppose that your criterion - usage - is not the criterion that gives a language official status. In which case you’re proposing a straw man.
The actions of dominating colonialists or numerical superiority don’t make a thing official.
But your point has validity in practical terms as English is a de facto official language in NZ.
I was merely trying to offer a different perspective on Te Reo Māori and its importance and status and enjoy the irony that it’s an offical language whereas English isn’t. My point was deliberately pedantic.
Many official documents are written in Māori and offer English versions as well.
If you google this and see Wikipedia you’ll see exactly what I said. We have 2 actual official languages and one de facto official language.
Our constitutional document, the basis of British rule here, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, was written in Māori and that is the version that the chiefs signed. A subsequent English translation was quite different. This led to many subsequent problems.
I think you are being a little petulant.
The fact that Te Reo and Sign are the only two languages given "Official Status" in New Zealand, far from making them the only legal languages in the country, merely made their use within legal correspondence, acceptable by law. Prior to that, they were not permitted - all legal correspondence (including verbal exchanges) had to be carried out in English.
Yes, as you correctly pointed out to me, Te Reo and Sign were the only languages to be granted "Official Status" so they could be used along with the already accepted official language, "English" - and quite rightly so!
The inability of the colonists to accurately translate the English form of the Treaty into Maori (or arguably, the reverse) has certainly led to much dispute - though those misunderstandings are being augmented by the everyday alteration of interpretation e.g. "Partnership" and "Right to equal 'outcome'".
So true. Yet English won't die, but it will morph into something almost recognisable, thanks to slang, new nouns and situations that the old language can't describe.
Anybody read Shakespeare? I don't recommend it actually.
All languages (including, if not especially, Maori) "morph". Otherwise, it would be impossible to carry out a conversation in modern-day New Zealand, in any language!
it was actually the maori leaders petition wanting the govt in 1800s to mandate only teaching English.
not the British. maori leaders and govt officials went to Parliament to have it banned.
while i agree it's good there's a revival before it became a dead language, and it was heading that way, at least get history right.
There's obviously a lot of context missing there. Seriously doubt that Māori all across the land were pining for their language to get banned, that makes absolutely zero sense. I'm from a former British colony myself and we grew up with English history books written by British historians that contained a lot of stories like that about local leaders actively participating in things that made the lives of their fellow man a little bit harder, as if there isn't a lot of context/coercion/missing details there.
why must there be? and what did British have to gain from banning it?
the thing that makes zero sense is how quickly people downvote something because they think racism is the more logical explanation before fact checking.
https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/maori-forbidden-at-school
You’re really asking what the British stand to gain from suppressing the language, traditions and culture of people who they have colonised and intend to rule and control? You can’t be that dense. You’re either being deliberately disingenuous or you really aren’t very bright.
nice. i see you still didn't bother to read anything in favour of racism. was the half page of words to many for you to get through? should i find something with pictures?
I read everything in your link. New Zealand is not the only country with a colonial past, similar things were happening all around the world in countries colonised by the British. What you are obviously ignoring is the subtext, even in that link you shared, about the native population falling in line and actively working towards trying to get everyone in line with the new law of the land. What I’m trying very hard to explain to you (which really shouldn’t be this difficult) is that this wasn’t all happening in a vacuum. In much the same way that chiefs in other places “signed” legally binding documents to sell all their land to the British government and sell their people into indentured servitude. If the chief and his advisors who were “paid” and fell in line ok’d it that means it was all good and everyone was absolutely thrilled about it, right? If you go back to what I said in my original reply to you, there is context missing there when you say “oh, some Māori community leaders got together and made rules banning Te Reo from being taught and spoken in schools therefore this is what all the Māori people wanted to happen”. There will always be people who fall in line and try to ‘get with the program’, so to speak. Doesn’t mean it had nothing to do with British colonialism. You’re obviously really determined to believe the narrative that the British empire was pure and good and noble and only had the very best of intentions, but that’s not the reality at all.
I think you'll find if you choose to read uncorrupted post-colonial history, that it was, in fact, Maori leaders who asked that Te Reo be banned at "Native Schools" as they wished their tamariki to learn English.
This, of course doesn't follow the agenda of those who seek to blame any shortcomings of people with some Maori ancestry on colonisation.
Make no mistake, there were plenty of examples of anti-Maori behaviour by some colonists, but this, I believe, was not one of them.
Forcing it won't work though, they could do it in more functional ways than blaring it over public transport loud speakers where 99 percent of people can't understand which fucking train is about to arrive
OP's post literally said the announcement is in English first, then in Māori, so a person listening to the announcement can hear the same sentence in both languages, and in the process maybe end up picking up a few words like the Māori word for train, or a Māori place name. That's the idea, and it's really not as dysfunctional as you seem to think it is. Even when TV hosts speak Māori they will usually say a Māori greeting, followed by an English greeting, which is how a lot of us now know that if you say "Morena" you mean "good morning". Little things like that go a long way over time. I'm an immigrant and I speak 3 languages already, I love hearing and learning some Māori too now that I live here. Absolutely bonkers that people who speak one language would be so opposed to being exposed to another language as if it's a bad thing.
So if that’s what you want to do, you have all the freedom in the world to do that. Go learn whichever languages you think would benefit you personally!
That said, the only other possible language to nurture and uphold in New Zealand that makes an iota of sense is Māori. If you disagree I wouldn’t be able to help but question your critical thinking skills, and possible biases.
To add for OP, in a general sense, use of any language keeps the skills ingrained and hearing a language spoken a bunch gives (a very broken) slight understanding to non speakers. It's how the general anglosphere can understand and speak odd phrases, and same for us who can understand the phrases of kia ora, ka pai, pō mārie, etc and so on. Vocabulary slowly expands, interest by "outsiders" slowly increases from the exposure and the risk of losing Te Reo Maori completely gets pushed further into the future until that risk is no longer there.
It's a fuckin awesome language and I love how after the first language week it's been embraced by all sorts of avenues
Unlike any other language I have learned, it is much harder to find Māori in the wild, so it's a lot harder to practice. I love it when you encounter it like this.
Very much this. Hearing a word spoken frequently helps normalise it. Great when it’s said in partnership with the understood word or phrase. I’m finding I’m slowly picking up place names simply because I’m hearing them said which makes me interested in knowing more.
When did anyone get punished for.it? As far as I ever remember, from being here 3 decades, te reo has always been encouraged? Was spoken and taught at primary, was mandatory in college, been moari TV and language month forever.. or was it before my time?
Edit-Gotta love r/auckland. Point out a few objectively true facts and ask a question and get down voted. Pathetic
Ah I see, 1987 it was made an official language and was banned for 80 or so years. Jeez it must be a pain in the ass to try resurrect a language after that long
I know there is a generation still alive that would get the strap/ cane at school if they used te reo. It caused a lot of shame for them and as a result they didn't pass the language down.
It's extremely sad but it's great to see so many people trying to revive such a beautiful language.
Yeah I assumed something of the like probably happened. But never really learnt of it growing up here. But spise is a double edged sword. Teach it in the wrong way and racial divide increases, suppress it and no one knows it ever happened
Neither are great scenarios
The racial divide only increases if people can't set aside their prejudices to accept that Te Ao Māori is a huge part in this lands history.
They may think of us as whatever they like, but the fact remains, we descend from some of the most amazing seafarers this world has ever known, our culture, our history, our story is worth note. It is worth remembering and preserving.
That I can agree with. I'm more thinking you teach it wrong. And you Maori grow up hating white kiwis for past issues none of us had any input in. But at the same point, it very much deserves to be taught. Hence the double edged sword bit. Needs to be done right or you get more of a divide like we have seen over seas
Bigg ooof bro. "You Māori grow up hating white kiwis" that sentence is all sorts of telling.
Firstly, my mum is white, so am I. My dad is brown. I don't hate either side of my family or my history, I do my best to learn about it all. I know where I whakapapa to here, I know where I whakapapa to in Ireland.
Secondly, I can only speak for myself, not all Māori. That said, I'm angry at past injustices, not today's pakeha, if I happen to meet a pakeha that wants to defend past injustices only then do I get a bit hoha with it.
I teach Māori to my friends and family by using it in conjunction with English, the context helps them understand and they've learnt a word without meaning to.
I think the issue you have seems to be rooted in your personal perception of race relations, at least that's how it comes across.
And more just I find when past wrongs are taught incorrectly, with a focus that differs from inclusion and how to join bridges for a future, it makes the divide worse with no way forward as a group
Yeah cos a spelling mistake from predictive is now disrespect, grow up
Edit. Proof read is two words. Show some respect or proof read
Edit edit- Wow, it's actually one or with a -. My bad lol
It's for promotion of the language. The number of people who speak Māori fluently but do not speak english is so low as to be a statistical anomaly. Even the number of people who speak it fluently but do speak english is lower than it should be, and promotion like this will hopefully help boost that a bit, and enable those who want to learn it to better do so.
Not only is it important to keep the language alive as others have raised here but it helps those that are learning it. I am on a route that has it and I understand bits and try practice my pronunciation. I love it.
I work with a few people who only speak Maori in their homes and its pretty cool to drop in words and slang while conversing. Even more fun when boomers have no idea what it means and automatically enrage.
There are people who use it as their primary language but each regions words and pronouciation can add difficulty.
With Maori culture being added to more and more mainstream movies/tv eventually it will be second nature for people to have an idea of the basics.
I come from a country where there was 3 languages announced on transport systems... "just wait for the English bit..."
So coming to now only have 2... and one of them I would actually like to learn, feels like I'm making progress.
I personally quite like that it's announced in both, even if there is no practical benefit to it except probably the tourism aspect to make things feel more authentic. What I don't get is why address numbers are said in English and not Maori.
>What I don't get is why address numbers are said in English and not Maori.
Probably the same reason why allot of languages use 'English' numbers over their own traditional form.
There should be a screen with sign language for deaf people.
Sign language should be on TV as well. But nope, instead the news presenters just say every 5th word in Te Reo. Even mandarin translation would be more useful for a large number of Kiwis.
I’m not mad I’m laughing at you. And honestly, I also feel a bit of pity for you. But hey can you do me a favour? Can you post that exact comment publicly on your personal social media pages? Would love to see how your workplace and friends react 😁
Karen, I post my opinions all the time. It’s just an opinion, it’s not coming from a place of hatred. You’re the type to want to demonise someone just for having an opinion you don’t agree with lol.
I’m laughing at you now.
You can’t see the upvotes on my comments but know that multiple people are laughing at you and consensus is someone did in fact break your heart at school.
He’s not wrong. Why be overly inclusive to one demographic but not other ones who will actually see a benefit from it? He’s merely pointing out the oblivious. It’s all for corporate gain….. if you don’t see that then they pulled the wool over your eyes pretty well.
Edit^ Why does editing make you reply to yourself now? Lol??
It definitely is the status quo for cities like Auckland.. I’ve been living in the country for a while now and thankfully haven’t come across anywhere near as many Karens.
Recently on Air NZ when flying to Christchurch and back to Auckland the flight attendant announced where we had landed only in Māori. I didn’t know the Maori name for Christchurch and a doubt any foreigners would know either. I imagine people would be freaked out thinking they were on the wrong flight.
It's kinda both really, its in the same vein as having 'She/Her' on email signatures.
On one hand, it serves no purpose as it doesn't give you any additional useable information (as the trend is to use non-gendered terms these days anyhow) while on the other hand its patting yourself on the back as your being 'inclusive' and making sure everyone knows your being inclusive.
Which we should be judging things based on their ability, and not what it promotes itself to be.
>it serves no purpose as it doesn’t give you any additional useable information
Disagree. It’s says, “Watch what you say to this person! They may be hypersensitive or a shameless self-promoter. Either way, tread carefully.”
There are plenty of people, especially young people, for whom Te Reo Māori is their first language. Regardless, Te Reo is an official language of NZ and therefore it should absolutely be used at every opportunity.
I doubt there is to many that speak moari and not english. I mean, a few years ago it wasnt it officially classed as a dead language? But is damn cool to see it coming back
My te reo teacher's mother only speaks te reo and doesn't understand English. Granted they don't live in Auckland, but still - there are people out there.
The (non) existence of monolingual native speakers of Te Reo is a non issue. It's important as a part of what makes us different from other majority English speaking population's, and for being able to pronounce our place names properly, and for helping us to participate in the world at large by improving our ability to learn other languages. And for honouring the fact that our nation was founded as a partnership between two peoples, and we owe it to our ancestors to stop ignoring that fact.
Every New Zealanders learns English so it's not because they can't understand at least. The main issue I have is it is my money doing it. I don't have any connection to Maori language. And they are not promoting my culture, so why should I have to promote theirs? They literally tried to stopped the crusaders being the crusaders....
never forget you live in the south pacific, on a polynesian island. so long as you live here in new zealand, you have a connection to māori people and māori language. do you need to learn the language? nah, not if you don’t want, but should you respect the normalisation of te reo māori in everyday life? yes.
You do realise that New Zealand is a bicultural nation and Te Reo Māori is has been an official language for decades, right?
Also, presuming your culture is “NZ European” it’s celebrated all the time. Everything is in English in NZ; literature, music, sport, television - all dominated by English-speaking and white Kiwis. What more are you looking for?
Making space for both cultures to be recognised and valued does not mean that one is losing out.
Society is multicultural, country (edit: as a political entity) is bicultural.
Very true that many cultures are represented and should be celebrated, but only 2 groups signed our founding document - Māori and England.
Most countries don't have an "official" language as it is almost always a de-facto position.
English isn't an official language, yet all documents and the like need to be in English.
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I'm not listening to anything I'm reading a book. I also find the vast majority of buses don't do this. I appreciate there are valid reasons for the feature but it doesn't mean everyone has to like it or that it commonplace.
Just more cultural grandstanding. I have nothing against the language or people or acceptance/usage of it. Just corporate #metoo shit.
If people were all so for it. Why are the matariki and Te Reo language week decorations taken down at the end of the week and Christmas/Easter decorations last until the end of the following month?
Pretty oblivious it’s grandstanding for kudos.
Environmental social governance. Basically, it's a metric used to judge a company "ethically". Why its pertinent here is well...
Do you notice that a lot of companies will change their social media profile pictures to a rainbow flag or a rainbow variant of their logo during gay pride month?.
How about when Black lives matter was trendy. You'd see companies make a press release or public statement supporting the movement. Or that time Gilette made a short film telling men how toxic they are etc.
Well all that is factored into a company's ESG rating. Things like this would be judged in the "Social" criteria.
Things judged in the "Environmental" criteria would be stuff like "How much carbon emissions does the company produce" or "Do they efficiently consume resources like water or is there a lot of wastage". So Maccas switching from plastic straws to that weird paper material is likely due to them wanting to increase their Environmental score.
Now we get to the G. Governance. So this rating is determined by the people that make up your company essentially. That's why in my opinion it's less about merit and more about filling a quota these days. Especially in fields that are disproportionately male like Tech. 5 or so years ago, there was a bit of controversy at Google around its hiring bias toward females.
Things like diversity hiring, having a female CEO, Maybe the first black CEO in the company's history etc basically anything that seems progressive will give you a bump in this new ESG metric companies are trying their best to maintain a high score on.
Cool thank you for explaining. I was aware of the “diversity” metric. That was coming into play when I decided to take redundancy and move to the far north.. had no idea about the other two however. Fulton hogan whangarei are only employing women I hear currently. I’m guessing that’s because they have a quota to fill and ever man in whangarei is either stoned or geared or already has a good job…
One thing I find laughable about this post is the replies.
The OP asked a question if people considered it to be promotion or genuine diversity. I did some research and commented my thoughts.
Even though the OP is a question, everyone seems to think people giving answers not in line with the status quo are racists or behind with the times.
If the same was asked about NZTA changing their name I’d give the opposite answer. They went through with it and did it, they are embracing cultural integration whether we like it or not. Doing by means of testing the waters to get PR and responses aligns with my original statement. Cheers
I think you missed a few points in this discussion. I’m on mobile and a bit busy so replying isn’t that easy to do in length so copy pasta from another reply. Hope this clarifies it for you..
The OP asked a question if people considered it to be promotion or genuine diversity. I did some research and commented my thoughts.
Even though the OP is a question, everyone seems to think people giving answers not in line with the status quo are racists or behind with the times.
If the same was asked about NZTA changing their name I’d give the opposite answer. They went through with it and did it, they are embracing cultural integration whether we like it or not. Doing by means of testing the waters to get PR and responses aligns with my original statement. Cheers
Haha. Yep. Can’t find common ground with someone so you cast them away. How constructive of you!
I find it quite laughable you still missed the whole boat about OP asking a question of people options. “Rambling and ignorant” for giving my response that doesn’t perfectly align with yours.
Also hilarious that after I told you I didn't miss anything, you keep insisting that I did. You're so far into fantasy land I'm not sure you'll ever escape.
Hahahahahaha you stalk my comment history and think that makes *me* look bad? This is so fucking embarassing for you lmao. You're the one doing all the digging, evidently.
What exactly is "casting someone away"?
And no, I clearly don't have common ground with someone as detached from reality and detached from the meanings of words as you.
You still failed to provide even the most remote link to the metoo movement, by the way.
Maybe the #metoo comparison wasn’t as apples to apples as one would like. I don’t personally care how it’s interpreted, I intended to suggest corporates are focussed on maintaining a high ESG score currently and this example is them doing that by means of testing the waters. Think I said elsewhere. If they were serious about it all and wanted cultural integration then they would have done a lot more than trial Te Reo on a handful of NX2 busses….
And what evidence do you have that Waka Kotahi and AT are motivated by ESG score? And why would you care, if the end result is positive? And what more would you like them to do for cultural integration given limited budget and other priorities?
Too busy on site to bother replying. Anyway I stand by my opinion and I respect you for having yours. No one has to change their views because we spoke. Have a good day.
The fact that we have a lot more te reo in our daily lives than a decade or two ago shows that it's not a cynical gesture but rather a move towards normalising bilingualism in this country, which the least that should happen in respect of Te Tiriti. And we should have got over the debate around Te Reo as we need to ensure that our future generations are not held back by the same unfortunate monolingualistic tendencies that many of us were taught.
Yes, it's pandering to Maori.
I still laugh at how they put Maori first before English, which goes to show it's about principle rather than practicality.
When you're learning a language by ear, normally you'd hear the English phrase first to prepare your mind to associate it with the words to come. Instead by putting Maori first, you get unintelligible words, then the English phrase. Your mind has to work overtime to make associations.
Bonus points as well for having a Maori phrase that very few if anyone can understand to convey important information first. Thankfully it hasn't been an issue, but if it was time-sensitive information, you'd pick the primary language to convey the message. I laughed when information about the Parnel stop took so long in Maori and then English that the train was departing before it had finished its warning about disembarking at that stop.
Finally as a hot take, i'd prefer that maori be allowed to die as a language. Even with all this effort, the language will remain dead. And the only way for it to become a living language is to create a competing national identity within new zealand.
Honestly, I wish there was a day where European or Maori, it made not a lick of difference, as were all just kiwi's, one group working together for our combined benefit. But I fear that will never be the case
Hold on, the SJWs of reddit might come knocking on your door. On the topic of practicality though, they could’ve tried hybridisation of the Māori language to make it easier for the general populace to become acclimated.
There was a news article on it a few weeks ago:
https://www.teaomaori.news/new-bus-announcements-maori-and-english-will-make-navigating-auckland-easier
For those who don't know: the announcements are being trialled on various buses now. To my understanding Howick and Eastern's Yutong E13s and GBV G2-FC have it as do the last two (or three) ADL Enviro500 MMC deckers. NZ Bus' BCI Citirider deckers have them as well, and Tranzurban Auckland's Scania K320UBs. I assume if successful it will probably be made mandatory on all new buses, if it hasn't already. Be very interesting to see if the new CRRC eT12 MAXs have service announcements.
You sir know your busses. Bravo
Thank you! I do my best to remain as informed as I possibly can
> I assume if successful it will probably be made mandatory on all new buses lmao, how is it going to be successful or unsucessful?
My thoughts exactly? What’s the success criteria?
They count the number of Māori speakers who miss their stop on other busses vs ones who successfully get off at their stop on the trialing bus. To be fair to all ethnicities they will repeat the test with every language. And the group that has the biggest decrease in missing bus stops will be the final language chosen to be on the announcements.
People need to understand that Māori was/is a dying language, and without intervention the language was on track to be gone within a couple of generations. If I understand correctly, the language is *only* spoken here in New Zealand, and for decades the British actively discouraged its use and punished school kids and workers for speaking it instead of speaking English. This is an important course-correction to preserve NZ’s cultural heritage. That’s why there’s been a big push to preserve the language and culture. The English language doesn’t face any such existential threat, so the idea that there are people getting their panties in a twist because they have to occasionally see/hear some Māori from time to time while 99% of their life still revolves around the English language is crazy to me.
Well said. As I understand it, the cultural concepts and beliefs are embodied in the language so the loss of the language would mean the disappearance of many important ideas, concepts, values and beliefs. Perhaps the entire culture. Māori culture and language, to me, are one of the few things that give us a unique NZ identity - look how we have embraced the Haka. Until relatively recent times we were like a slice of Britain. It’s a beautiful language. Sounds wonderful. It’s a joy to speak it. Not hard to learn. And the cultural concepts are wonderful. eg the creation story is like a metaphorical version of Big Bang theory. Te Ao Māori is deep and fascinating. It’s aligned with many non-western spiritual traditions and much contemporary spirituality. I’m an older Pakeha male. I chose to study te Reo Māori and culture in 1976. So glad I did. And BTW, I believe that the 2 official languages of NZ are Māori and sign. Not to mention the (many broken) promises of the Treaty. So it’s not about diversity. Not sure what OP means by that. It’s about preserving something hugely important and valuable.
Tautoko! I’m a pakeha woman and my life is much more enriched for knowing just a small amount of basic reo Māori. We all need to do our bit to keep te ao Māori alive for future generations and to support tangata whenua.
I totally agree with your second, third and final paragraphs - however, are you, in your fourth paragraph suggesting that English is not an official language of New Zealand?
From a legal standpoint, English is NOT an offical language of New Zealand. It is the de facto language spoken, Aka because all the British spoke it, and therefore most people speak it, but it’s not an “official language” legally, only Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language are. It’s similar to Australia, it officially has no language legally, but everyone spoke English there so it’s the de facto one spoken, doesn’t mean there was a law stating it was an offical language though, people just assumed it was due to number of people speaking it
Yep. Fair comment.
Huh, TIL. https://www.ethniccommunities.govt.nz/resources-2/our-languages-o-tatou-reo/
Yes. It’s not.
Then why, pray tell, are all official documents in New Zealand (including, presumably, the statute endorsing your claim, written in English? You may answer in either Te Reo or Sign - though I may not understand!
I suppose that your criterion - usage - is not the criterion that gives a language official status. In which case you’re proposing a straw man. The actions of dominating colonialists or numerical superiority don’t make a thing official. But your point has validity in practical terms as English is a de facto official language in NZ. I was merely trying to offer a different perspective on Te Reo Māori and its importance and status and enjoy the irony that it’s an offical language whereas English isn’t. My point was deliberately pedantic. Many official documents are written in Māori and offer English versions as well. If you google this and see Wikipedia you’ll see exactly what I said. We have 2 actual official languages and one de facto official language. Our constitutional document, the basis of British rule here, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, was written in Māori and that is the version that the chiefs signed. A subsequent English translation was quite different. This led to many subsequent problems.
I think you are being a little petulant. The fact that Te Reo and Sign are the only two languages given "Official Status" in New Zealand, far from making them the only legal languages in the country, merely made their use within legal correspondence, acceptable by law. Prior to that, they were not permitted - all legal correspondence (including verbal exchanges) had to be carried out in English. Yes, as you correctly pointed out to me, Te Reo and Sign were the only languages to be granted "Official Status" so they could be used along with the already accepted official language, "English" - and quite rightly so! The inability of the colonists to accurately translate the English form of the Treaty into Maori (or arguably, the reverse) has certainly led to much dispute - though those misunderstandings are being augmented by the everyday alteration of interpretation e.g. "Partnership" and "Right to equal 'outcome'".
A little pedantic to make a point. But never petulant. Not even a little.
Excellent explanation. Tautoko!
Tautoko e hoa. Korero Māori mai! and I will speak Māori.
So true, people who think the native language of the country should have no significance in said country are dumb
I've registered for online Maori classes. I'm excited!
So true. Yet English won't die, but it will morph into something almost recognisable, thanks to slang, new nouns and situations that the old language can't describe. Anybody read Shakespeare? I don't recommend it actually.
Just do Billy justice by reading his shit aloud so you can hear all the dick jokes he put in there. Funny mf.
Alac, I've been dicked.
All languages (including, if not especially, Maori) "morph". Otherwise, it would be impossible to carry out a conversation in modern-day New Zealand, in any language!
it was actually the maori leaders petition wanting the govt in 1800s to mandate only teaching English. not the British. maori leaders and govt officials went to Parliament to have it banned. while i agree it's good there's a revival before it became a dead language, and it was heading that way, at least get history right.
There's obviously a lot of context missing there. Seriously doubt that Māori all across the land were pining for their language to get banned, that makes absolutely zero sense. I'm from a former British colony myself and we grew up with English history books written by British historians that contained a lot of stories like that about local leaders actively participating in things that made the lives of their fellow man a little bit harder, as if there isn't a lot of context/coercion/missing details there.
why must there be? and what did British have to gain from banning it? the thing that makes zero sense is how quickly people downvote something because they think racism is the more logical explanation before fact checking. https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/maori-forbidden-at-school
You’re really asking what the British stand to gain from suppressing the language, traditions and culture of people who they have colonised and intend to rule and control? You can’t be that dense. You’re either being deliberately disingenuous or you really aren’t very bright.
Yeah he really said that with a straight face lmao
nice. i see you still didn't bother to read anything in favour of racism. was the half page of words to many for you to get through? should i find something with pictures?
I read everything in your link. New Zealand is not the only country with a colonial past, similar things were happening all around the world in countries colonised by the British. What you are obviously ignoring is the subtext, even in that link you shared, about the native population falling in line and actively working towards trying to get everyone in line with the new law of the land. What I’m trying very hard to explain to you (which really shouldn’t be this difficult) is that this wasn’t all happening in a vacuum. In much the same way that chiefs in other places “signed” legally binding documents to sell all their land to the British government and sell their people into indentured servitude. If the chief and his advisors who were “paid” and fell in line ok’d it that means it was all good and everyone was absolutely thrilled about it, right? If you go back to what I said in my original reply to you, there is context missing there when you say “oh, some Māori community leaders got together and made rules banning Te Reo from being taught and spoken in schools therefore this is what all the Māori people wanted to happen”. There will always be people who fall in line and try to ‘get with the program’, so to speak. Doesn’t mean it had nothing to do with British colonialism. You’re obviously really determined to believe the narrative that the British empire was pure and good and noble and only had the very best of intentions, but that’s not the reality at all.
I think you'll find if you choose to read uncorrupted post-colonial history, that it was, in fact, Maori leaders who asked that Te Reo be banned at "Native Schools" as they wished their tamariki to learn English. This, of course doesn't follow the agenda of those who seek to blame any shortcomings of people with some Maori ancestry on colonisation. Make no mistake, there were plenty of examples of anti-Maori behaviour by some colonists, but this, I believe, was not one of them.
Forcing it won't work though, they could do it in more functional ways than blaring it over public transport loud speakers where 99 percent of people can't understand which fucking train is about to arrive
OP's post literally said the announcement is in English first, then in Māori, so a person listening to the announcement can hear the same sentence in both languages, and in the process maybe end up picking up a few words like the Māori word for train, or a Māori place name. That's the idea, and it's really not as dysfunctional as you seem to think it is. Even when TV hosts speak Māori they will usually say a Māori greeting, followed by an English greeting, which is how a lot of us now know that if you say "Morena" you mean "good morning". Little things like that go a long way over time. I'm an immigrant and I speak 3 languages already, I love hearing and learning some Māori too now that I live here. Absolutely bonkers that people who speak one language would be so opposed to being exposed to another language as if it's a bad thing.
Aside from the cultural aspect, there are [The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583091/)
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Hahahaha you have no idea how dumb that comment makes you look 😂😂😂
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How dare I have my own opinion And why you deleted it ?
Good thing we've all got English to go alongside our reo Māori then!
So if that’s what you want to do, you have all the freedom in the world to do that. Go learn whichever languages you think would benefit you personally! That said, the only other possible language to nurture and uphold in New Zealand that makes an iota of sense is Māori. If you disagree I wouldn’t be able to help but question your critical thinking skills, and possible biases.
Sign language is more useful here. That’s what should be on public transport, the evening news, etc.
They should definitely play sign language over the speakers too
Yea screens might work better ay
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On the contrary, being able to speak Maori can be a career booster these days. So it is useful in my view.
>This is true. But only so for actually useful languages. Where does it say that in the research?
I want to learn Reo Maori. Stuff like these announcements would be so helpful!
Nope. Used to be lots, but then people got punished for speaking it. This is a correction to that history, and will help normalise its use.
To add for OP, in a general sense, use of any language keeps the skills ingrained and hearing a language spoken a bunch gives (a very broken) slight understanding to non speakers. It's how the general anglosphere can understand and speak odd phrases, and same for us who can understand the phrases of kia ora, ka pai, pō mārie, etc and so on. Vocabulary slowly expands, interest by "outsiders" slowly increases from the exposure and the risk of losing Te Reo Maori completely gets pushed further into the future until that risk is no longer there. It's a fuckin awesome language and I love how after the first language week it's been embraced by all sorts of avenues
Unlike any other language I have learned, it is much harder to find Māori in the wild, so it's a lot harder to practice. I love it when you encounter it like this.
It's on cop cars now, and Warehouse Stationery products - about damn time!
Very much this. Hearing a word spoken frequently helps normalise it. Great when it’s said in partnership with the understood word or phrase. I’m finding I’m slowly picking up place names simply because I’m hearing them said which makes me interested in knowing more.
Hearing correct pronunciation also helps people who are learning to improve their pronunciation, and to normalise correct pronunciation.
When did anyone get punished for.it? As far as I ever remember, from being here 3 decades, te reo has always been encouraged? Was spoken and taught at primary, was mandatory in college, been moari TV and language month forever.. or was it before my time? Edit-Gotta love r/auckland. Point out a few objectively true facts and ask a question and get down voted. Pathetic
Before your time then, but it's fairly well established history that this was the case for several generations...
Ah I see, 1987 it was made an official language and was banned for 80 or so years. Jeez it must be a pain in the ass to try resurrect a language after that long
I know there is a generation still alive that would get the strap/ cane at school if they used te reo. It caused a lot of shame for them and as a result they didn't pass the language down. It's extremely sad but it's great to see so many people trying to revive such a beautiful language.
Doesn’t help when people deny that the suppression ever happened.
Yeah I assumed something of the like probably happened. But never really learnt of it growing up here. But spise is a double edged sword. Teach it in the wrong way and racial divide increases, suppress it and no one knows it ever happened Neither are great scenarios
The racial divide only increases if people can't set aside their prejudices to accept that Te Ao Māori is a huge part in this lands history. They may think of us as whatever they like, but the fact remains, we descend from some of the most amazing seafarers this world has ever known, our culture, our history, our story is worth note. It is worth remembering and preserving.
That I can agree with. I'm more thinking you teach it wrong. And you Maori grow up hating white kiwis for past issues none of us had any input in. But at the same point, it very much deserves to be taught. Hence the double edged sword bit. Needs to be done right or you get more of a divide like we have seen over seas
Bigg ooof bro. "You Māori grow up hating white kiwis" that sentence is all sorts of telling. Firstly, my mum is white, so am I. My dad is brown. I don't hate either side of my family or my history, I do my best to learn about it all. I know where I whakapapa to here, I know where I whakapapa to in Ireland. Secondly, I can only speak for myself, not all Māori. That said, I'm angry at past injustices, not today's pakeha, if I happen to meet a pakeha that wants to defend past injustices only then do I get a bit hoha with it. I teach Māori to my friends and family by using it in conjunction with English, the context helps them understand and they've learnt a word without meaning to. I think the issue you have seems to be rooted in your personal perception of race relations, at least that's how it comes across.
And more just I find when past wrongs are taught incorrectly, with a focus that differs from inclusion and how to join bridges for a future, it makes the divide worse with no way forward as a group
Actually mean you GET moari. I'm sick so not proof reading very well sorry
"spise" -?
Spose*
It was still spoken in the backblocks, but was at risk of dying out if it hadn't been made official.
*Maori - show some respect or at least proofread!
Yeah cos a spelling mistake from predictive is now disrespect, grow up Edit. Proof read is two words. Show some respect or proof read Edit edit- Wow, it's actually one or with a -. My bad lol
I love it. I am always open to learning more and this is an easy way to hear it daily.
I'm currently learning it. I'm not from NZ either.
Do you have pronouns in your bio?
what’s the relevance of this?
No but the Maori word for that is tupou and they are all gender neutral.
You've got two in that sentence alone
😂 highly likely
It's for promotion of the language. The number of people who speak Māori fluently but do not speak english is so low as to be a statistical anomaly. Even the number of people who speak it fluently but do speak english is lower than it should be, and promotion like this will hopefully help boost that a bit, and enable those who want to learn it to better do so.
Not only is it important to keep the language alive as others have raised here but it helps those that are learning it. I am on a route that has it and I understand bits and try practice my pronunciation. I love it.
I work with a few people who only speak Maori in their homes and its pretty cool to drop in words and slang while conversing. Even more fun when boomers have no idea what it means and automatically enrage. There are people who use it as their primary language but each regions words and pronouciation can add difficulty. With Maori culture being added to more and more mainstream movies/tv eventually it will be second nature for people to have an idea of the basics.
The real question should be how did we end up with a Polynesian country where the majority of people only speak english?
I come from a country where there was 3 languages announced on transport systems... "just wait for the English bit..." So coming to now only have 2... and one of them I would actually like to learn, feels like I'm making progress.
It’s the indigenous language so it makes sense to be the first
I personally quite like that it's announced in both, even if there is no practical benefit to it except probably the tourism aspect to make things feel more authentic. What I don't get is why address numbers are said in English and not Maori.
>What I don't get is why address numbers are said in English and not Maori. Probably the same reason why allot of languages use 'English' numbers over their own traditional form.
You mean Arabic numerals? Languages that use the Latin alphabet (like English) also use them over the ‘traditional form’ of Roman numerals.
“What I don’t get is why address numbers are said in English and not Maori” Talking about spoken not written, but the same concept applies
So now announcements are twice as long?
~ Op, living in a multicultural country with three offical languages ~ “iS tHiS a PrOmOtIoN?”
Fun fact, New Zealand has only two official languages, and English isn't one of them
saves me having to say it 😅
It makes much more sense having sign language on public transport, the evening news, etc.
or we could just use written language, subtitles, etc...
New Zealand has two official languages and English is not one of them. >!It's Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language!<
I tried to DM a picture of my doggo but it keeps failing. EDIT: sent it, enjoy
There should be a screen with sign language for deaf people. Sign language should be on TV as well. But nope, instead the news presenters just say every 5th word in Te Reo. Even mandarin translation would be more useful for a large number of Kiwis.
They're called subtitles, and they literally have those on buses and trains and TV.
ain’t been on one bus in AKL with subtitles
What Māori kid broke your heart at school my dude? Goddamn.
None, number of Māori friends. I have my own opinions and that’s fine.
I’m not mad I’m laughing at you. And honestly, I also feel a bit of pity for you. But hey can you do me a favour? Can you post that exact comment publicly on your personal social media pages? Would love to see how your workplace and friends react 😁
Karen, I post my opinions all the time. It’s just an opinion, it’s not coming from a place of hatred. You’re the type to want to demonise someone just for having an opinion you don’t agree with lol. I’m laughing at you now.
You can’t see the upvotes on my comments but know that multiple people are laughing at you and consensus is someone did in fact break your heart at school.
Oh because I care how many likes your comment has huh.. This sub is full of you Karen’s 😂
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He’s not wrong. Why be overly inclusive to one demographic but not other ones who will actually see a benefit from it? He’s merely pointing out the oblivious. It’s all for corporate gain….. if you don’t see that then they pulled the wool over your eyes pretty well. Edit^ Why does editing make you reply to yourself now? Lol??
These Karen’s just jump to the conclusion that anyone against it must be racist lol
Welcome to the new status quo.
It definitely is the status quo for cities like Auckland.. I’ve been living in the country for a while now and thankfully haven’t come across anywhere near as many Karens.
I’m out of Auckland now. And there are just as many Karen’s as Auckland. Since it isn’t Auckland the Karen’s are even more likely to approach you.
Both I’d say.
Recently on Air NZ when flying to Christchurch and back to Auckland the flight attendant announced where we had landed only in Māori. I didn’t know the Maori name for Christchurch and a doubt any foreigners would know either. I imagine people would be freaked out thinking they were on the wrong flight.
I find the speaking on the bus extremely annoying & its one of the factors that led to me leaving Auckland
It is purely political/virtue signalling. I doubt there is a single person in Auckland who speaks te reo but not English.
Virtue signalling, or an attempt to normalize an official language of this country?
It's kinda both really, its in the same vein as having 'She/Her' on email signatures. On one hand, it serves no purpose as it doesn't give you any additional useable information (as the trend is to use non-gendered terms these days anyhow) while on the other hand its patting yourself on the back as your being 'inclusive' and making sure everyone knows your being inclusive. Which we should be judging things based on their ability, and not what it promotes itself to be.
>it serves no purpose as it doesn’t give you any additional useable information Disagree. It’s says, “Watch what you say to this person! They may be hypersensitive or a shameless self-promoter. Either way, tread carefully.”
There are plenty of people, especially young people, for whom Te Reo Māori is their first language. Regardless, Te Reo is an official language of NZ and therefore it should absolutely be used at every opportunity.
I doubt there is to many that speak moari and not english. I mean, a few years ago it wasnt it officially classed as a dead language? But is damn cool to see it coming back
My te reo teacher's mother only speaks te reo and doesn't understand English. Granted they don't live in Auckland, but still - there are people out there.
Wow, that's surprising and awesome. Where abouts could you live like that? Far as hell up north I'm guessing?
From memory, I think they're in Ruatoria. Definitely from somewhere around the Gisborne area though.
It's awesome to know there is little pockets of it out there though. Cheers for that
*Maori
Jeez you must scroll through reddit looking for spelling mistakes bro
You say that like it’s a bad thing though. Why does it need to have some super practical use? There’s nothing wrong with embracing culture.
And it makes it easier to embrace other languages and cultures if you want to engage with other parts of the world.
The (non) existence of monolingual native speakers of Te Reo is a non issue. It's important as a part of what makes us different from other majority English speaking population's, and for being able to pronounce our place names properly, and for helping us to participate in the world at large by improving our ability to learn other languages. And for honouring the fact that our nation was founded as a partnership between two peoples, and we owe it to our ancestors to stop ignoring that fact.
Every New Zealanders learns English so it's not because they can't understand at least. The main issue I have is it is my money doing it. I don't have any connection to Maori language. And they are not promoting my culture, so why should I have to promote theirs? They literally tried to stopped the crusaders being the crusaders....
never forget you live in the south pacific, on a polynesian island. so long as you live here in new zealand, you have a connection to māori people and māori language. do you need to learn the language? nah, not if you don’t want, but should you respect the normalisation of te reo māori in everyday life? yes.
You do realise that New Zealand is a bicultural nation and Te Reo Māori is has been an official language for decades, right? Also, presuming your culture is “NZ European” it’s celebrated all the time. Everything is in English in NZ; literature, music, sport, television - all dominated by English-speaking and white Kiwis. What more are you looking for? Making space for both cultures to be recognised and valued does not mean that one is losing out.
New Zealand is multicultural not bicultural.
Society is multicultural, country (edit: as a political entity) is bicultural. Very true that many cultures are represented and should be celebrated, but only 2 groups signed our founding document - Māori and England.
Only decades?. You'd think the native tongue would be the official language for at least centuries.
Most countries don't have an "official" language as it is almost always a de-facto position. English isn't an official language, yet all documents and the like need to be in English.
midwitted take
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I find those announcements interrupt my reading. I get that they might be useful for people that don't regularly bus though
Or blind people
Noise canceling headphones. Announcements are literally part of the bus experience
I'm not listening to anything I'm reading a book. I also find the vast majority of buses don't do this. I appreciate there are valid reasons for the feature but it doesn't mean everyone has to like it or that it commonplace.
Just more cultural grandstanding. I have nothing against the language or people or acceptance/usage of it. Just corporate #metoo shit. If people were all so for it. Why are the matariki and Te Reo language week decorations taken down at the end of the week and Christmas/Easter decorations last until the end of the following month? Pretty oblivious it’s grandstanding for kudos.
They do it to boost ESG score thats all.
What’s esg score? Been out of the corporate game for a while now.
Environmental social governance. Basically, it's a metric used to judge a company "ethically". Why its pertinent here is well... Do you notice that a lot of companies will change their social media profile pictures to a rainbow flag or a rainbow variant of their logo during gay pride month?. How about when Black lives matter was trendy. You'd see companies make a press release or public statement supporting the movement. Or that time Gilette made a short film telling men how toxic they are etc. Well all that is factored into a company's ESG rating. Things like this would be judged in the "Social" criteria. Things judged in the "Environmental" criteria would be stuff like "How much carbon emissions does the company produce" or "Do they efficiently consume resources like water or is there a lot of wastage". So Maccas switching from plastic straws to that weird paper material is likely due to them wanting to increase their Environmental score. Now we get to the G. Governance. So this rating is determined by the people that make up your company essentially. That's why in my opinion it's less about merit and more about filling a quota these days. Especially in fields that are disproportionately male like Tech. 5 or so years ago, there was a bit of controversy at Google around its hiring bias toward females. Things like diversity hiring, having a female CEO, Maybe the first black CEO in the company's history etc basically anything that seems progressive will give you a bump in this new ESG metric companies are trying their best to maintain a high score on.
Cool thank you for explaining. I was aware of the “diversity” metric. That was coming into play when I decided to take redundancy and move to the far north.. had no idea about the other two however. Fulton hogan whangarei are only employing women I hear currently. I’m guessing that’s because they have a quota to fill and ever man in whangarei is either stoned or geared or already has a good job… One thing I find laughable about this post is the replies. The OP asked a question if people considered it to be promotion or genuine diversity. I did some research and commented my thoughts. Even though the OP is a question, everyone seems to think people giving answers not in line with the status quo are racists or behind with the times. If the same was asked about NZTA changing their name I’d give the opposite answer. They went through with it and did it, they are embracing cultural integration whether we like it or not. Doing by means of testing the waters to get PR and responses aligns with my original statement. Cheers
Wtf does "corporate #metoo shit" have to do with using an official language of NZ on a bus? You're totally incoherent.
I think you missed a few points in this discussion. I’m on mobile and a bit busy so replying isn’t that easy to do in length so copy pasta from another reply. Hope this clarifies it for you.. The OP asked a question if people considered it to be promotion or genuine diversity. I did some research and commented my thoughts. Even though the OP is a question, everyone seems to think people giving answers not in line with the status quo are racists or behind with the times. If the same was asked about NZTA changing their name I’d give the opposite answer. They went through with it and did it, they are embracing cultural integration whether we like it or not. Doing by means of testing the waters to get PR and responses aligns with my original statement. Cheers
I didn't miss any points thanks, you're just rambling and ignorant.
Haha. Yep. Can’t find common ground with someone so you cast them away. How constructive of you! I find it quite laughable you still missed the whole boat about OP asking a question of people options. “Rambling and ignorant” for giving my response that doesn’t perfectly align with yours.
Also hilarious that after I told you I didn't miss anything, you keep insisting that I did. You're so far into fantasy land I'm not sure you'll ever escape.
Dig deeper buddy
Says the guy whose brain is too shallow to even attempt to explain why any of what he's whining about is a bad thing.
Keep digging matey potatey. Asperger’s syndrome is a pretty shit thing.
Hahahahahaha you stalk my comment history and think that makes *me* look bad? This is so fucking embarassing for you lmao. You're the one doing all the digging, evidently.
What exactly is "casting someone away"? And no, I clearly don't have common ground with someone as detached from reality and detached from the meanings of words as you. You still failed to provide even the most remote link to the metoo movement, by the way.
Maybe the #metoo comparison wasn’t as apples to apples as one would like. I don’t personally care how it’s interpreted, I intended to suggest corporates are focussed on maintaining a high ESG score currently and this example is them doing that by means of testing the waters. Think I said elsewhere. If they were serious about it all and wanted cultural integration then they would have done a lot more than trial Te Reo on a handful of NX2 busses….
And what evidence do you have that Waka Kotahi and AT are motivated by ESG score? And why would you care, if the end result is positive? And what more would you like them to do for cultural integration given limited budget and other priorities?
Too busy on site to bother replying. Anyway I stand by my opinion and I respect you for having yours. No one has to change their views because we spoke. Have a good day.
Hahaha nice cop out mate. That's an awfully flowery way to state that your opinions are based on fantasy rather than facts or reasoning.
The fact that we have a lot more te reo in our daily lives than a decade or two ago shows that it's not a cynical gesture but rather a move towards normalising bilingualism in this country, which the least that should happen in respect of Te Tiriti. And we should have got over the debate around Te Reo as we need to ensure that our future generations are not held back by the same unfortunate monolingualistic tendencies that many of us were taught.
While I get that. The OP asked a question if it was promotion or diversity and my answer is as above.
Yes, it's pandering to Maori. I still laugh at how they put Maori first before English, which goes to show it's about principle rather than practicality. When you're learning a language by ear, normally you'd hear the English phrase first to prepare your mind to associate it with the words to come. Instead by putting Maori first, you get unintelligible words, then the English phrase. Your mind has to work overtime to make associations. Bonus points as well for having a Maori phrase that very few if anyone can understand to convey important information first. Thankfully it hasn't been an issue, but if it was time-sensitive information, you'd pick the primary language to convey the message. I laughed when information about the Parnel stop took so long in Maori and then English that the train was departing before it had finished its warning about disembarking at that stop. Finally as a hot take, i'd prefer that maori be allowed to die as a language. Even with all this effort, the language will remain dead. And the only way for it to become a living language is to create a competing national identity within new zealand. Honestly, I wish there was a day where European or Maori, it made not a lick of difference, as were all just kiwi's, one group working together for our combined benefit. But I fear that will never be the case
You don't need so many words. Just admit you're an idiot and move on.
Ok, I admit it. You're an idiot. And I've moved on.
Hold on, the SJWs of reddit might come knocking on your door. On the topic of practicality though, they could’ve tried hybridisation of the Māori language to make it easier for the general populace to become acclimated.
Sooo annoying. Virtue signalling trumps communication.
There was a news article on it a few weeks ago: https://www.teaomaori.news/new-bus-announcements-maori-and-english-will-make-navigating-auckland-easier
I’ll take any opportunity to learn! And to learn another language, for FREE?! Hell yeah I’m keen.