Maori Language Week

This week is Maori Language Week, and it presents an interesting challenge to many New Zealand businesses in the public sphere.

Before I get into the guts of this blog, I think I need to present my viewpoint. I am pakeha, but I spent most of my formative years in a "bilingual" unit. Despite being (on paper) a bilingual unit, I cannot speak more than a few words in Maori. I do however have a strong respect for the language, culture and the people.

To me, giving one week a year to Maori Language promotion is a valid use of time and money, and I support businesses that get in behind it. It is after all one of our national languages, but the majority of us cannot speak much more than the odd 'kia ora'. A week is actually the absolute least we can do.

But it seems that there is a right way and a wrong way to do Maori Language Week.

The wrong way involves alienating those who don't speak Maori (i.e. the majority of us). This approach was demonstrated to great effect yesterday by Air New Zealand who used the Maori version of the departure and destination place names on their grabaseat page.

Unfortunately, rather than make me interested in Maori Language, it just made me wonder where Ngomotu, Otautahi, Murihiku and Wakatipu were, and if it was worth paying the $39 to find out.

It was like a mystery weekend - one where you didn't know where you were catching the plane from as well as not knowing where you were going to end up.

The Twitter community piped up and grabaseat soon had the English translations in, but it did make me think.

I guess I assume the main goal of Maori Language Week is to educate people, mainly by expanding their Maori vocabulary, and surely there has got to be a right way to do that.

GeorgeFM are doing it by translating kiwi sayings into Maori after the news, TV3 have been known to incorporate Maori subtitles into the nightly news broadcast. It ensures the language is exposed, and it's probably the best way to get involved, but it does open the question of what exactly is the best way to fully expose, and encourage, Maori language amongst New Zealanders?

I'm not here to offer answers to that question, but I can offer words of warning. Despite their originally misguided (but ultimately honourable) attempt yesterday, rather than sticking with the concept, Air New Zealand have dropped the idea entirely today and now the flights are between Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga again.

To borrow a concept from ben.geek.nz - Air New Zealand are streaking into a fad and rather than taking it seriously, they joined a day late, and didn't follow through.

So why even bother?