Scotty and Stacey Morrison celebrate Māori Language Week every day. Photo / Tony Nyberg
Every day is Māori Language Week for Scotty and Stacey Morrison and their whānau.
But the Māori broadcasting couple who have been te reo ambassadors in mainstream and Māori media, were latecomers to the language.
Unlike their children, Hawaiki, 18, Kurawaka, 17, and Maiana, 12, who went through the kura kaupapa system, where Māori is their first language, their parents only started learning te reo in their late teens and early 20s.
“We’re both Māori and Pākehā too and have felt our reo learning has honoured this intertwinement, knowing we can speak to and from both worlds,” Stacey said.
“Our children have had a very different experience to us, as we couldn’t understand or speak Māori until we were in our late teens and 20s, whereas te reo Māori has been their first language from birth.
“Scotty started [his te reo journey] at university around 19 years old, admitting that Māori was a subject that fell on a Thursday, which appealed so he could have Friday off.
“But he had incredible mentors who soon became his Māori language heroes.
“Teachers such as Sir Tīmoti Kāretu, Wharehuia Milroy and Sir Pou Temara are some we will forever treasure. Tahu Pōtiki, of Ngāi Tahu, and Hana O’Reagan as well but really, all of our many kaiako [teachers] and those who have taught our tamariki [children] will forever be heroes to us.”
Stacey’s reo journey was initially forced upon her.
“For Stacey it was an awkward process of being a young TV presenter who found herself on shows like Marae and Mai Time as well as Mai FM without the Māori language skills that she quickly found she needed,” Scotty said.
“So began the years of night classes, wānanga [workshops and live-ins] courses and study, from about 22 years old. Stacey had been an exchange student in Japan so had some language learning experience and realised how much a language can open up its culture to you.”
Scotty, who is also an author, said this week is a chance to celebrate our language as one people.
Te reo is one of three official New Zealand languages.
“1975 gave us not only our first Māori Language Week as an opportunity for all New Zealanders to celebrate te reo Māori, but also the hīkoi led by Dame Whina Cooper, whose words have been ringing in our minds especially as Stacey has just translated a new children’s book, Mother of the Nation / Te Whaea o te motu, about Dame Whina,” Scotty said.
“As she said: ‘Take care of our children. Take care of what they hear. Take care of what they see. For how the children grow, so will the shape of Aotearoa’. We think about that in the context of te reo Māori and how far we’ve come, that our children hearing te reo Māori, seeing te reo Māori being supported and celebrated does shape Aotearoa as a country that treasures its official languages and takes care of them.
“This week is specifically about opening up opportunities for all New Zealanders to engage with te reo Māori, recommit to make the Māori language part of your lives, even if it’s just your street name, suburb or place name of your area!
Scotty said te reo should bring us together as a nation, not divide us.
“Valuing the wide-ranging benefits of being bilingual, seeing that bilingualism has so many cognitive, problem-solving, multi-tasking and memory benefits,” he said.
“Those benefits are generally appreciated when it comes to other, widely-spoken languages, but sometimes minimised when it comes to te reo Māori.
The Morrisons agree that the more people are exposed to te reo, the easier it becomes to engage.
“Bringing te reo Māori into our everyday lives – using the Māori language we know, albeit it small; build confidence in our pronunciation and making it a language of our homes and whānau,“ Stacey said.
“To achieve that we need varied learning opportunities, visibility and engagement, value placed on te reo Māori – even if it’s playing waiata Māori, singing along during the anthem, these are all small acts that we emphasise during Te Wiki o Te Teo Māori as a way to ensure the language stays strong and vital."
Stacey’s advice to those on the reo journey is go for it.
“Kia kaha koe! Go for it!
“It’s kind of like going to the gym, you don’t turn up on day two to discover you have huge new [reo Māori] muscles; consistency gets the best results and ideally we get to the point where we really miss it if we don’t do it! Enjoy every little win, feel good about new kupu [words] you’ve learnt and remember you don’t have to be an expert in Māori language to be a champion for te reo Māori.”
Joseph Los’e is an award-winning journalist and joined NZME in 2022 as the Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and before NZME worked for urban Māori organisation Whānau Waipareira.