Cultures losing their way

By ALEXIS GRANT

Overseas-born teenagers and people in their early 20s are less likely to speak their non-English first language than their older counterparts, according to a Statistics New Zealand report released yesterday.

That puts some ethnic languages at risk and jeopardises other aspects of certain cultures, one member of the agency research group said.

"There's this active communication lost in many instances between the younger generation and the grandparent, which means there are other aspects of the culture that maybe aren't being passed on," said Deb Potter, a social statistician.

Using data from the 2001 Census, the group compiled information about the ability of 15 ethnic groups in New Zealand to speak their first languages.

Niuean is the language most at-risk, according to the study.

More than a quarter of Niueans can speak their native language, but only 13 per cent under age 25 have the ability to do so.

The loss of language can be particularly detrimental to Pacific Island cultures, since the population of those ethnic groups is often higher in New Zealand than it is in the countries of origin, Ms Potter said.

"If the language isn't being retained here and people are going back to the Pacific nations [speaking English], there's a cultural component there that's going to have an impact," she said.

Roger Barnard, chairman of the department of general and applied linguistics at Waikato University, said younger people were more likely to lose their native language once they learned English at school. Languages were often lost by the third generation or sooner, he said. The report said religious people were more likely to retain their native language than people who did not practise a religion.

Plain talking

Nearly 90 per cent of Samoans born overseas speak Samoan.

Only 17 per cent of Cook Island Maori have retained their native language.