Head of the Maori Development department at Waiariki Institute of Technology Terry Kapua said he was still seeing an interest in people wanting to learn. Numbers taking Maori will increase by up to 200 students next year as new degrees will include a te reo Maori component.
"It's not waning in desire but life is so busy that people don't go as far as they wish they could," Mr Kapua said.
"I think Rotorua can do more to make it part of the biculturalism of the city. Tourists in the CBD should be able to see more bilingual signage and things like that. I don't think it's necessary for them to completely understand but it will show that there's a commitment to the culture.
"Having come from Whakatane, you hear it in the main street but I'm not hearing it in the community here. It's important that iwi and hapu take responsibility for the reo and some of them have which is fantastic."
Keeping the language alive was "very much a priority" for the Ngati Whakaue Education Endowment Trust.
Chairman Malcolm Short said they funded Te Taumata o Ngati Whakaue, who among their many te reo programmes, run the weekly paepae project as well as two kohanga reo in Rotorua.
"We think it's very necessary to support the language. If you look back five, six years ago, the paepae at the marae was lapsing badly, all the kaumatua were dying. This led to the project which was led by the late Mitai Rolleston, Pihopa Kingi and Kingi Biddle," Mr Short said.
He said other initiatives to support te reo were currently before the trust to be considered.
Te Arawa kaumatua Pihopa Kingi believed the state of the language in Rotorua was positive and statistics didn't always show the full picture.
"There are still many young children in kohanga reo, kura kaupapa Maori who are continuing to learn," Mr Kingi said.
"I think people have too great an expectation, they lament figures taken from the last census saying that it has dropped and form their opinion from that. The efforts, the focus and concentration vary from different tribal regions but as far as I'm concerned in Te Arawa - we're doing alright," he said.
"All you need to do is go to Ohinemutu and attend some our tangihanga (funeral), that's the time and place to be able to determine the ability of our people to speak and understand. I am very satisfied that the next generation coming through will be even stronger than what we have at the moment."
Mr Pihopa said he had a wish, that as a bare minimum, Maori words would be pronounced correctly.
"As I get older, I know I haven't got much longer to go, but what I would like is for all of New Zealand to reach the stage where people will be able to speak Maori names, people's names and place names over the phone, or the other side of a desk, without being asked to spell the word. That is my wish and I wonder if I will be here to see that one day."
For Te Wharekura o Ngati Rongomai at Lake Rotoiti, the language is alive and thriving. Principal Tukiterangi Curtis said their school was a 'kura a iwi' and wasn't part of the national kura kaupapa Maori system.
"It's more intricate, it's based totally on our people and the whanau needs," he said.
"We started this school five and half years ago because we identified that all my nephews and nieces needed to be fostered in the Maori language and customs. We set this up to bring whanau back home to the marae and became registered teachers," he said.
"I don't think [te reo Maori] is dying, for us at Ngati Rongomai here our reo is very strong and we're passionate. There is a difference between being passionate and just generally learning. Here we learn it night and day."
