Connecting with te reo

Amanda Clarke’s tūpuna, the Halbert and Matahaere family. From left, Rangi, Hone, Matahaere, Huia, Heni, Thomas and Billy (Wiremu). Billy is her great-grandfather. Picture supplied

Learning te reo Māori helps bring more of an understanding about the culture and people it is from.

This is what te reo Māori student Amanda Clarke, 47, feels about learning the language of Aotearoa New Zealand.

As a full-time worker, with family and other commitments, Amanda didn’t think she would have enough time to learn the language.

But this year she decided to commit to it, even if it meant no social life for a year, or other commitments having to be shuffled around.

Amanda’s whakapapa is through the Halbert whānau — she is affiliated to Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Ngāi Tāmanuhiri.

One of four children, she was born and raised in Gisborne. She went to St Mary’s and Campion College before studying food technology at Massey University.

Early in her career she worked in Auckland, before deciding to travel through South America and ending up in London.

While there, she met her future husband Ander Batarrita. They stayed in London for two years before moving to Spain, Ander’s  home country.

“I had always followed my career, not boys, and I justified moving to Spain by learning the language. I  had always wanted to learn another language,” she said.

They lived in the south of Spain on the Costa del Sol for three years before moving north to the Basque country.

They started their family of two children, who are now aged 14 and 13.

In the south Amanda went to Spanish classes but found when they went north, the Basque people have their own  language. So she learnt bits and pieces of the Basque language.

At the end of 2013 the whānau moved back to New Zealand.

This was when Amanda started noticing the prevalence of te reo Māori being spoken, seen and heard around the place.

“When I arrived back in New Zealand I noticed a huge shift to hearing more te reo Māori everywhere.

“I thought, hang on — I don’t even know the language of my ancestors.

“I came back to my whenua and I didn’t know the language.

She decided to try studying te reo, but the timing wasn’t right with all her mahi going on.

Amanda works at Cedenco as the national regulatory affairs manager, working with local councils and governments on trade waste, and discharges, and also driving sustainability, which she has become passionate about.

But at the beginning of this year she went to Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and signed up. Since then she has been loving learning te reo Māori.

“It has been an awesome year. I’m meeting people I never would have met otherwise and really enjoying the different people in my class. I love Kōkā Irene (Wynyard). Her teaching style is great and makes it easy for us to learn.

“I am always asking questions and looking at patterns in the language.

“I love how ‘kia ora’ is used for hello, but breaking it down, it means ‘I want you to stay well’.

“I also love using ‘ata mārie’. It means ‘have a peaceful morning’ and for me that’s beautiful”

Her whakapapa is helping motivate her to learn the language.

“It’s important to know where you come from,” she said. “It can be lost and I don’t think people appreciate the things they know. They need to pass those stories on so they are not lost.

“Until you learn a language you don’t know anything about the people, because language is identity.

“I am a huge supporter that we should be a fully bilingual country. It would bring more unification to our country.”