Now, if you haven't caught up on this, this is what happened yesterday when the Māori Party came face to face with the press gallery. It was the first time since Tākuta Ferris has doubled down and then tripled down for his anti-immigrant comments and then ignored his leader's orders to delete the video.
And then the leaders started, by the looks of things, ignoring media requests for interviews.
So yesterday, when the media finally had a chance to ask Rawiri about it for the first time, he refused to speak English and he would only answer in Māori, because he said it's te reo Māori week.
And Shanan Halbert from the Labour Party didn't like it because he thinks that Rawiri is creating an "exclusive bunch" of Māori. Which is presumably Māori who can speak Māori, and that, by the looks of things, excludes him.
Well, tough bickies.
If Shanan doesn't want to feel left out, he should go and learn Māori like everyone else who's spending their Wednesday nights in Māori language classes.
Look, just for the record, so before you think I'm now on Rawiri's side, I'm not.
I don't like that Rawiri is doing this, because he's obviously weaponizing the language and hiding behind it to avoid answering tough questions, and then is pretending that he's doing it for some noble reason of celebrating Māori language week. That's not what he's doing.
But set aside his childishness, he is entitled to speak Māori exclusively if he wants to. It is a national language and the man is fluent in it.
If this was a multilingual European nation instead of predominantly monolingual New Zealand, this would not be a problem.
I mean, to be fair, Rawiri probably wouldn't be able to do what he's doing because the press gallery would also be multilingual and would be able to understand what he's saying.
But Shanan's complaint is a uniquely New Zealand complaint, isn't it? Which is - don't speak the language because I can't understand it.
Again, tough bickies. It's really weird for me to hear this from a Labour Party MP, by the way.
And I would encourage Shanan to take up some Māori language classes with his free time, which there is a lot of, because he's not doing a lot in opposition.
And maybe if there is a silver lining in Rawiri being this juvenile, it is a gentle reminder to the rest of us that if we also don't want to feel like Shanan - left out - there are classes.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show HERE - where this article was sourced.
17 comments:
Waititi makes more sense when nobody can understand him.
Were there interpreters on hand as there would be in Europe? If not, then he's not answering the question at all. It's te reo weaponisation like this that puts many people off learning Maori language these days.
Just VOID the Maori as an official language legislation/statute and make ENGLISH the only official language in NEW ZEALAND. Not hard eh.
Sounds very much like Heather is a virtue-signaller who sees some use in a Stone-age language that in fact has, and will only have, utility wherever some part-maoris gather to moan about their victimhood and pretend the 21st century never happened. Nowhere on this planet are any of the languages or dialects of the first occupiers of all countries used outside of those countries, thus exemplifying how tragically useless they are for general and widespread communication.
There’s already complaints from certain quarters about Māori language courses being filled with Pakeha learners occupying all the spaces. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Reality is that with any language, if you don’t practice it constantly in the home, the workplace and your social settings, fluency will always decrease. That’s why English dominates. We use it everywhere, everyday and only a smattering of Maori words get peppered in to make those who wish to “save te reo” feel better. Now, if lunacy prevails and our National txt alert system sends out a tsunami warning entirely in Maori language instead of English, during Maori language week, and only those fluent te reo speakers can understand it, what would be the result? Take that thought to its logical conclusion.
It is fine for HdPA and other high IQ high acheivers to recommend learning of te reo.. Bu for us of average and less ability it is an impossible burden on top of keeping up with changing technologies in the workplace and the immense time and effort burden of both partners working. many maori live in a different world with huge state and communal support and now great job security related to their ability with a stone age language govt gauranteed not to be superceded by progress..
The languages of my ancestors, apart from English, itself a hybrid of many influences as are major languages, are Gaelic and Cornish. The latter is being revived by those who want to learn it. Forcing it upon all living in Cornwall would be counter-productive. With Maori words I do take an interest in place and street names and what they mean and how they came about.
The English language includes words such as robot (Czech) and entrepreneur (French, despite GW Bush Jr's humourous gaffe) yet I see the Maori language created waka topatopa for helicopter rather than just include helicopter. Why? And the word Komiti for committee. Why ?
Agreed Heather. Probably was a bit of a virtue signal when it was first made an “official language” but a few years down the road and we realise that things aren’t written into law for funsies. Revoke it or live with it - we need to stop trying to placate people who would subjugate us.
But heather have you seen the maori party policies on te reo? They want te reo as the main language spoken here and english will effectively be banned in all state schools. The funding for schools will be determinded by their proven use of te reo. Have a look at their website
To be fair Waititi actually makes more sense to us non-Maori speakers than when he does use English.
I rarely agree with Heather, but on this occasion she's absolutely correct. It's Waititi's right to speak his national language whenever he wants. We would look askance at Russians who insist Ukrainians speak Russian.
Having said that, it's sometimes necessary to be understood by as wide an audience as possible than to make a statement.
It seems to me very weird that an official spoken language, te reo maori, is only spoken fluently by a very small percentage of people who identify as Maori, and an even smaller percentage of New Zealanders as a whole, whereas the language spoken fluently by 99% of us is apparently NOT an official language? We are living in a clown world - no wonder so much other ridiculous stuff is going on.
Heather, I cannot follow any of the arguments you are making here. In one breathe you are all for Maori Language (ML) and in the next for something else.
“…he would only answer in Māori, because he said it's te reo Māori week”. Does that mean wait until next week or whenever?
“…Which is - don't speak the language because I can't understand it.”
Would I be unkind to Maori in saying that too many of their so-called leaders have major problems with life because they cannot understand the ENGLISH language?
Questions for Heather: (1) Are you fluent in the Maori language? (2) Would all of the problems on the planet be resolved if everyone spoke Maori?
Or perhaps Ukrainian nationalists forcing Russians and a large chunk of their own to speak Ukrainian and wipe a large segment of their joint culture.
Speaking the few limited original thousand Reo words would be authentic but all theses made up words amounting to about 26,000 of Manglish words is just ridiculous.
English has a current working vocabulary of about 160,000 words . Do these academics who invent the reo words really believe they are entitled to make up a further 134, 000 more words using taxpayer money for words for serendipity , phantasmagoria, quantum mechanics and so on. Reo words that sound a bit like the English ones for microwave and weet bix are crazy as it is. Really you couldn't make this up. Straight out out of the Mad Hatters tea party.
Govt departments, councils, business' are all exhorted to operate more effficiently. Yet parliament allows exhibitionist members to fritter parliament time at many thousands of dollars an hour showing off their hobby stone age language proficiency to the bafflement of others.Parliament is managing a 21st century enterprise and use of the universally understood language refined by thousands of years of post stone age development should be mandatory.
Prime purpose of language is COMMUNICATION. English should be only language in this country used in Parliament and Courts, to prevent misunderstandings I wonder what Waititi would say if someone in Parliament replied to his questions in sign language?
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