Taking te reo to the street

An initiative to encourage Kaitaia's main street shoppers learn te reo Maori was launched on Monday, the first day of Te Wiki o te Reo Maori (Maori Language Week).

Te Whare Wananga o Awanui a Rangi kaiako Wayne te Tai, Te Oranga youth worker Paulette Lewis, Te Rarawa kaumatua Dixon Motu and his wife Morehu spent the morning handing out posters to more than 20 businesses that were supporting Te Wiki o te Reo Maori by various means.

Some had window displays, others were serving Maori kai, while some had set up displays of Maori-themed products.

Along with posters signifying that they are supporting the initiative, the businesses are also showing phrases and product names/descriptions in both English and Maori.

Mr Te Tai said the initiative was well and truly overdue.

"We live in a Maori community and there's nothing really through the CBD that indicates that Maori are part of the community," he said.

"We want to normalise the language. Many of the businesses' customers are Maori, and it is one of the official languages of this country."

Mr Motu said all five Te Hiku iwi were strongly supportive.

"We have been talking about doing something like this for a while, and it is time to put the words up there," he said.

"We think we are a multi-cultural town, and we need to see all the languages, Dalmatian, everything."

Paper Plus is one of the businesses involved, employee Vanessa Matijevich, who was responsible for the window and in-store displays, saying she was very happy to be a part of it.

"I think anything that can promote te reo is great," she said.

"My children are part-Maori, and I try to speak to them in te reo as much as possible."

Page 3 - Stories in te reo too