Jeremy Tatere MacLeod says Pakeha friends love the language.
Maori language week is always an exciting time where news presenters make a concerted effort to use te reo, television advertisements promote the language whilst social media is exceptionally busy with hash tags and status updates that highlight the need to use the language.
After the euphoria of the week wears off the language is once again relegated to the back benches until Maori language week rolls around the next year.
There has been a call that Maori language week perhaps be extended to an entire month which has met some adverse criticism from certain sections of the community, including the recent controversy surrounding versions of the Prime Minister's response to a high school student when asked this exact question.
Then there are the more vocal critics who see no use in celebrating an "archaic" and "outdated" language which has no place in contemporary New Zealand society.
The Maori language is this nation's native tongue. Experts warn that use of the language is continuing to decline and without urgent action the language will soon become extinct.
There are calls that New Zealanders need to take heed and adopt the indigenous language, use it, speak it, learn it, celebrate it.
I have many Pakeha friends who are passionate about the revitalisation of the language. Some are very fluent in the language, and others are striving to become fluent by regularly attending language courses.
I am always amazed by the hunger of these of my friends who work so tirelessly to master the language, meanwhile, many fellow Māori sit back and casually watch the language's slow demise.
Well-known language advocate Professor Tīmoti Karetu recently warned: "The Maori world has got to realise that if they want the language to survive, then it is the responsibility of every individual Maori person to do something about it."
My challenge is to Maori to make a more concerted effort to saving our dying language. Whilst I appreciate that New Zealand as a nation needs to commit to preserving te reo Maori, we as Maori need to lead by example and speak our language.
Translation
Ko Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori te wa e rangona nuitia ai te reo i te pouaka whakaata, a, e kitea nuitia ai hoki I te ao ipurangi, penei i nga korero i te Pukamata. Ka mutu te wiki, a, ka heke haere ano te hīkaka, na wai ka parea ano te reo ki rahaki, a, hai te wiki o te reo o te tau e tu mai nei tikina mai ano ai.
Kua puta te karanga a etahi kia whakaroatia te wiki o te reo Maori kia kotahi marama ke te roa, he tono tenei kua kaha whakahetia e etahi, tae noa ki te kaupapa nui o te wa e pa ana ki te ahua o te whakautu a te Pirimia ki te akonga kura tuarua i a ia ka patai i te patai nei ki a ia.
Tera ano etahi e tino kaha ke atu te whakatake e ki ke mai ana kare nei he take o te whakanui i tenei reo no tua o onamata, a, kare he wahi ki te reo i tenei ao hurihuri.
Ko te reo Maori te reo taketake o tenei whenua. Kai te whakatupato mai nga matanga kai te heke haere tonu te korerotia o te reo, a, ki te kore tatau e tahuri, ka mate te reo. Kua puta te karanga kia tahuri mai a Aotearoa whanui ki te whakamahi, ki te korero, ki te ako, ki te whakanui i te reo.
He nui oku hoa Pakeha e kaingakau ana ki te whakarauoratanga o te reo Maori.
Tera etahi e tino matatau nei ki te korero, a, ko etahi atu kai te kaha te whai kia pakari ake o ratau reo ma te haere ki nga kaupapa whakapiki reo. Ka nui taku whakamiharo ki enei o oku hoa e tino whakamomori nei kia mau i a ratau te reo, haunga ano etahi Maori e noho noa iho nei, a, e mate tonu nei te reo.
Kua puta te whakatupato a te matanga rongonui nei, a Ahorangi Tīmoti Karetu: "Me oho mai te ao Maori, a, mena kai te hiahia kia ora mai ano ai to reo, ma te whakapau kaha o te katoa e tutuki ai."
Ko taku wero ki te iwi Maori kia tahuri mai ki te whakaora i to tatau reo. E whakaae ana ahau ma Aotearoa whanui e ora ai te reo, heoi, ma tatau, Maori ma, e whakatauira atu ma te korero i to tatau reo.