Children manage to have fun and play together even if they don't speak the same language, writes Rob Rattenbury.
OPINION
I was chatting to an old mate this morning, a fluent te reo speaker and strong advocate for his language.
We were talking about our grandchildren, as we granddads tend to do with each other when not discussing health or rugby.
Like all grandparents, he was recently indulging his new-found passion, watching his mokopuna playing with other little ones - pre-schoolers in this case.
His grandson was playing with two other little boys, one another little Māori chap - a cousin home from Italy with his family to see Koro and whānau, and the third a wee Pākehā man.
All lovely wee boys playing and chatting away. They had been playing together for a few days off and on and, being very verbal little blokes, somehow were managing to talk in a mixture of Māori, Italian and English, but all understanding each other.
My old friend just sat there stunned. If children can do this, why can’t adults?
We all know little children just don’t see differences unless it is pointed out to them by adults or older children, the beginning of laying down prejudice. Sometimes it is intentional but other times it is done almost by osmosis; children listening to older people talking and watching how they interact with each other.
We all know children are sponges, especially in the first few years of life. Have you ever wondered how a toddler can learn a language, learn to understand words and then say them? Even more, have you ever wondered why a different language is challenging for adults to learn or maybe even accept?
My mate grew up with te reo so it is easy for him. I’ve gone out of my way over time in my adult years to accept it and try to learn some. I’m pretty hopeless but I try. I learned French at school, for only about three years, but I’m far better at that than te reo which I have been chewing at for years. But then I learned French as a child. My mind was still open and my prejudices had not become set.
There is a sadness upon us nowadays. For some reason, a language has become a political hot potato. I know we have recently had an election and a new coalition government has arrived, supported by the majority of voters as is proper in a democracy. Somehow we have allowed a government to exist that wants to put one of our three languages into permanent second place.
It is early days and all governments come into power promising a lot but letting certain matters just slide. I am sincerely hoping this will be the case when it comes to the use of te reo Māori in our wider society.
What modern, fair-thinking, democratic government purposely targets an official language for belittling and diminishing? Especially a language that has, for the past 50 years at least, slowly moved back into the mainstream of our society.
I am sure there are plenty of parliamentarians with grandchildren and children who chat away in both Māori and English, probably without even being aware of it or certainly at least thinking nothing of it. Mine do. Schools and early childcare centres are immersed in te reo nowadays. All the kids learn it, accept it, they think nothing of it.
Why then do adults in our country feel so insecure or maybe even fearful of the language? I sincerely do not believe it is for racist reasons. I suspect much of what is behind this barmy policy is just fear and the fact that it is really hard for most adults to just pick up a new language, to accept that there are other words for things in our day-to-day lives, nice words mostly.
We, none of us, have to learn Māori or speak it, even stutteringly like me. We can accept it though, that’s all.
English will always, well for the foreseeable future, be the dominant language in New Zealand. It is a language of the modern world - 360 million people speak English as their first language but 1.35 billion speak English either as a first or second language on a daily basis.
An interesting aside, just for comparison, Mandarin is the most commonly used first language in the world with 1.18 billion speakers.
So our Government really does not need to worry about te reo dominating our little land at the bottom of the world if that’s the reason for what they want to do. A very silly reason in my opinion.
We all know that our children and grandchildren have this. They will grow up nurturing the Māori language. It is never going to be diminished again. That horse has long bolted.
Remember, many politicians will do or say anything for a tick.