te reo

365 useful words and phrases in te reo Māori

These words and phrases have been compiled and recorded by Martin Wikaira. See 100 Māori words every New Zealander should know for more words and a pronunciation guide.

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. Approximately 40,000 children have passed through kohanga reo since 1982.

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.

Protecting a taonga: the Māori language claim

'The language is the core of our Māori culture and mana. Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori. (The language is the life force of the mana Māori.) If the language dies, as some predict, what do we have left to us? Then, I ask our own people who are we?' These were the words of distinguished Māori Battalion veteran and Ngāpuhi leader Sir James Hēnare when he spoke, in 1985, before the Waitangi Tribunal as it heard the Māori language claim.

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.