Editorial: Celebrate a lovely language

Mark Story

In steamy Shanghai a few years back I inadvertently developed a way to thwart the sales pitches of overbearing street hawkers.

Guessing the country I was from, said peddlers would try every approach: "Hello!" "Bonjour!" "G'day!" "Hallo!" "Hola!"

I responded with "kia ora".

This silenced them. They'd immediately cease haranguing to whisper among themselves; the question of which arcane language had been uttered was apparently more pressing than the sale of another Mao Zedong figurine.

The Maori greeting of course is now a welcome part of our country's furniture.

But it wasn't always so.

I was reminded of this yesterday on reading a press release advising of Professor Paul Moon's imminent public lecture on the predicament of Te Reo Maori in the 1800s - an era he coins "the grim century".

"This was when Te Reo was almost driven to extinction as the various forces of colonisation conspired to eliminate the language completely," he claims.

This week is the 40th incarnation of Maori Language Week.

Accordingly, my daughters this week are being called by their transliterated Maori alternate names, bestowed by their father.

My eldest, Neila, is referred to temporarily as "Nikora", Pyper as "Paikoru" and Lucy "Lumoko".

It's hardly full immersion. But given this year's theme is Whangaia te reo ki nga Matua - "Nurture the Language in Parents", it's a simple but not unspoken participation in a week that celebrates this most dulcet of tongues - the mystery and melody of which momentarily left Shanghai locals speechless.