Benefits of language study could be lost in translation

Researchers believe they could break down cultural barriers by studying differences in the way Maori and Pakeha communicate.

But critics question why taxpayer money should be spent on this when the two cultures are already perfectly capable of relating to each other.

A team at the newly formed New Zealand Institute of Language at Canterbury University has done a pilot study comparing facial expression, gesture and posture by both Maori and Pakeha, and wants government funding for a larger study.

It is hoped the research findings will give greater insight and help combat prejudice.

But former MP and social commentator John Tamihere described it as a "bloody waste of money".

"I can think of 100 different studies ... that would give us better bang for buck on the street. You have to prove to what extent are there communication differences of such significance that we're actually talking past each other. If you can't answer in the negative fully, then you don't fund it."

Mr Tamihere said his fluent Maori-speaking children communicated with Pakeha without a problem.

Comedian Mike King viewed it differently, saying he felt the more people learned about other cultures the better.

"I talk to people all the time, and the more armed I am about the audiences I'm performing in front of, the more joy I can bring them, and the less offence I can cause," he said.

"So isn't it better that we know these things before we go in. So we don't fall into those traps?"

Professor Ranginui Walker said there were classic examples of Maori and Pakeha talking past each other that stretched back as far as the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Research project leader, Dr Jeanette King, said the pilot study involved Maori and Pakeha being observed as they told stories.

"So we're talking about hand gestures, eyebrows, hand nods, body sway - quite a range of different things. We are interested in seeing how language works differently, and having a wider appreciation."

The issue was addressed in the 1978 book Talking Past Each Other: Problems of Cross-Cultural Communication, but there had been no research base to what was being stated, Dr King said.