Hawke's Bay Today continues its series of stories for Maori Language Week and the theme this year is arohatia te reo, cherish the language. Today, business consultant Shona Jones, Hastings, writes about her journey learning te reo Maori.-->
The other day, I had an email conversation with a work colleague about a short mihi (greeting) written in Te Reo Maori that had been given to me to include in a document I had been working on for EIT.
The mihi was richly worded, framed in a way that suggested to the reader that the document it prefaced was significant and seminal.
My colleague and I were impressed that individual Maori words convey levels of information and meaning which require a paragraph to fully articulate in English. Perhaps this richness in the language also explains the place of oratory in our traditions and a love of story-telling.
I've been a student of the language for years and hope never to stop.
Last year, I made it official again and went back to Rex Kapua's classes at Te Wananga o Aotearoa. Ka pai?
This year it's Monday nights in Erina's class getting up to speed on how to tell my classmates in the past, present, future and conditional tense about Jack and the house he's building. Or how to explain to someone that if they go outside when it's raining, they'll get wet. It's all in the way the sentences are structured.
Structure is everything.
I had been wondering how often I would be called on to convey such critical information to colleagues, family and friends, until something odd happened.
It was in a work meeting. A handful of people in the room and one other Maori who was a fluent te reo speaker and just as articulate in English.
He was making a point in English, drawing on references to the work of others in the field. I needed to tell him something important about the expert he was referring to.
I opened my mouth and, to my surprise, it all came out in Maori. Even better, the man I was talking to seemed to understand what I was telling him.
The others in the room seemed disappointed to have missed out on something that might have been interesting. They waited for someone to explain it to them but the moment passed and the chance was gone.
When I told one of my tutors about this experience, he smiled and said, ``Ae, that's how it happens''.
I'm involved in a lot of different mahi (work) and one is the Mana Whenua project, working with Maori trusts to help them realise their aspirations for their land. It's mainly around governance issues with the trusts and then bringing in sector experts.
It's about talking with people and te reo is important, as well as whakapapa. I have been to meetings which have been conducted in Maori. You have to be prepared for it, to know how to conduct yourself and have a sense of what's going on and how to respond in a way that will resonate.
These days, wanting to speak te reo Maori seems to be driven by a growing unease with the fact that worlds are hidden from view without the language, that being Maori and not being able to speak the language limits the experience of being born in this time and place and being lucky enough to have a dual heritage. Ka pai?-->