Te Maru Jiu Jitsu owner Nicholas Te Aute. Photo / George Novak
Te Maru Jiu Jitsu owner Nicholas Te Aute. Photo / George Novak
Some Bay of Plenty businesses owners are working hard to put te reo Māori at the forefront of their work - helping encourage correct pronunciation of place names and normalising the language in a gym setting.
Tech company Arataki Systems was founded five years ago by Tauranga Moana man LeeTimutimu (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Te Rangi, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou).
The family-owned business started out combining storytelling and technology to help connect people with "cultural narratives embedded in New Zealand land".
A major project for the company was the creation of map-based application Arataki Cultural Trails which allows users to unlock stories at parks, reserves, open places of cultural significance.
It started with stories on Mauao, which was the first "virtual trail" made available to app users. Now it shares cultural stories from across the country.
"When we first started we weren't really clear about what problem we were solving," said Timutimu.
"We were just a couple of bros that wanted to build a storytelling app. Over time we realised that what we inadvertently created was an educational tool."
He hoped the app would help "bridge cultural gaps" between communities.
"By sharing those cultural stories with people it helps to inform them, and also creates an opportunity to empathise with some of the challenges that Māori have had in this bicultural society."
While sharing these stories in both English and Māori was on his to-do list, Timutimu said as a small business it was tricky to make the app completely bilingual.
But he said te reo Māori was woven throughout each story, along with every location's original Māori place name. Audio recordings accompanied each written story.
"From sharing the stories of that place, and sharing the name of that place we are sharing new Māori words. That is the way we incorporate te reo Māori into our app," he said.
"Through audible narration, we are sharing how to correctly pronounce those names."
Timutimu said during Te Wiki o te reo Māori it was important to acknowledge earlier generations and "all the work" that has been put into revitalising the language.
"Fifty years ago, it was really just a dream, to be honest. Te reo Māori was not an official language of New Zealand, even though it was a language of the indigenous peoples. We have come so far."
Since creating Arataki Cultural Trails, he said the company had transitioned into an end-to-end technology solutions provider.
It had recently delivered digital literacy courses on marae across the North Island and were in the process of creating a "for Māori, by Maori" internet service provider.
Te Maru Jiu Jitsu owner Nicholas Te Aute. Photo / George Novak
Meanwhile, in Pāpāmoa, Nicholas Te Aute (Tapuika) was working hard at his jiu jitsu gym to create a "safe place" for people to speak te reo Māori.
Every class at Te Maru Jiu Jitsu starts off with karakia, different kupu (words) were used throughout and bilingual signage hangs on the walls.
Te Aute, who grew up in Maketu, started the gym in 2019 after returning home from living in Australia.
"Maru is like a shelter, a safe space, a haven. That's what our gym is. A safe place for people to be able to come in, learn jiu jitsu and speak te reo Māori.
"The way we incorporate te reo Māori is making people feel comfortable to speak their reo. I try to speak as much te reo as possible to the students and the parents when they come into the gym."
He had made a "conscious effort" to put te reo Māori at the forefront of the business so it would be a place the language was "spoken freely".
"Even before I started Te Maru Jiu Jitsu - I was on a te reo Māori journey - and I just wanted to incorporate it within my own life more."
Asked about the impact of regularly speaking te reo Māori in class, Te Aute said it would help contribute towards its revitalisation.
"Some people may not hear any te reo Māori in their day-to-day life because of whatever setting they live in," he said.
"I suppose when they do come into training, if they get to hear a little bit of te reo Māori, it kind of instills in them the language of the country.
