Every year since 1975 New Zealand has marked Māori Language Week - Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. This is a time to celebrate te reo Māori (the Māori language) and to use more Maori phrases in everyday life In 2012 Māori Language Week is from 23–29 July, the theme is 'Arohatia te reo' – cherish the language'.
100 Maori words for everyday usage. We have included individual sound files of spoken versions of all these words – just click on the word and it will be spoken!
Maori women have been the backbone of kohanga reo (language 'nurseries' where pre-schoolers were immersed in the language) since the first opened in 1982. By July 2000 there were a total of 11,519 children attending 611 kohanga reo.
During the 1980 Maori Language Week a march was held to demand that the Maori language have equal status with English. Another seven years passed before it became an official language of New Zealand.
Piripi Walker (right) and Tama Te Huki in the studio of the Wellington Maori language radio station, Te Upoko o Te Ika, on its first day of broadcast in 1987.
Waitangi Tribunal members Chief Judge Edward Durie (left) and Paul Temm QC visit a kohanga reo at Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt, in 1985. Kohanga reo or language 'nurseries' immersed infants in a Maori language environment; the first of these opened in 1982.
The Maori Language Act came into force, meaning that te reo Māori could now be used in some legal proceedings. The Act also established the Maori Language Commission.
