KEY POINTS:
Ko te reo Maori, kapohia! Ko te reo Maori, korerohia! Ko te reo Maori, whakanuia! He reo tuaukiuki, he reo rangatira no oku kaumatua. Tukuna te reo ki nga hihi o rangi tuhaha, ki nga topito e wha o te taiao, tena ra tatou.
That I can preface my korero with a mihi, and also include te reo Maori among my dialogue without the need to translate, is perhaps demonstrative of the gains made by the Maori language in our country.
This week is Maori language week, a time to encourage the use of the reo, and to celebrate the beauty of the unique voice that stands Aotearoa apart in an increasingly homogenous world.
And on the face of it, there is much to celebrate.
We now live in a society where the mangling of Maori words and names has become more the exception than the norm of not so many years ago.
The Maori language is now nurtured through an extensive kohanga reo and kura kaupapa school network, where many of the nation's tamariki of increasingly variant shades, can be immersed in the language of their ancestors.
This ethos has spread to some secondary schools where more Maori centric and te reo immersion-based learning options are available. In tertiary education there has been significant growth in institutions targeting and delivering a kaupapa-based learning environment. There has also been a proliferation of te reo Maori based radio networks, and Maori TV ensures a real application to a bilingual New Zealand.
Last weekend when the All Blacks lined up against Australia for the final match of the Tri-Nations series, it was in Maori that the country's national anthem was first sung. This was followed by a haka - full of passion and intensity. Now "ka mate ka mate" or Kapa o Pango is performed with real feeling, all the players embrace, and thus enhance, the mana of their haka.
In the wider community, Maori names, both first and surnames, have become prevalent, as has correct pronunciation.
Te Kanawa, Weepu, Apiata, Harawira, Tamaki, Witi Ihimaera, Te Heuheu, Shane Jones - well, you get the point - these are names now familiar to many.
Today, Maori and some Pakeha parents are as likely to christen their tamariki with Maori first names - the discomfort of an earlier generation, eager to help "integrate" their kids by adopting Pakeha names, has now passed. John is out, Hone is in.
There would be few in this country oblivious to the meaning of kia ora or kai, watch the response following the urging of kia kaha to your colleague, or in offering aroha to someone in need - oh yes, there has been progress.
We have matured and grown as a country, the sense of hopelessness that drove a generation of Maori parents to ban the use of te reo Maori by their children has ended. As has the years when teachers reached for their strap if it was not the mother tongue their brown students were uttering.
Gone is the mindset that saw many Maori parents of past generations insisting their children embrace only te reo Pakeha in the hope it would allow an escape from the poverty and sense of hopelessness that shrouded their world.
Yes, there has been significant progress, and yet the survival of the Maori language remains far from assured.
At the last census, the percentage of Maori able to hold a conversation in te reo declined.
In 2001 almost 25 per cent of all Maori could hold a conversation in te reo Maori. By 2006 this percentage had dropped to 23.7 per cent, or 131,613 people.
Despite the progress since protest marches to protect the language in the 1970s, still just over 3 per cent of New Zealanders are able to converse in te reo Maori.
Today, just one in six Maori under the age of 15 can converse in te reo Maori, compared with almost half of those aged over 65.
In the 15 to 64-year-olds group just one in four can hold a conversation in te reo Maori.
This year tourism is the theme of Maori language week.
The wider community is urged to use popular Maori words and phrases to share the uniqueness of te reo Maori with our many international visitors.
The theme, while useful for the tourism sector, does little to boost fluency in te reo Maori.
It is only through fluency and continuous use that the language, the glue that binds the Maori culture, can survive and grow. It is fluency that allows for its health in classrooms, on the marae, in the workplace, on TV and radio, or in parliament. It is fluency that ensures a vibrant language and not just a token gesture when greeting visitors.
This must be where encouragement is directed - and not just during Maori language week.
More must be down to encourage non-te reo speaking Maori to become re-acquainted with their language, and for the wider community also to return to the classroom or the marae and take up the challenge.
Yes, this week is Maori language week and I challenge all in our community - our Pacific, Chinese, Indian, South African or English neighbours - and Maori to embrace Aotearoa's only unique voice.
Kia kaha tatou ki te korero i te reo Maori, i te ao, i te po.
* Bentham Ohia is Pouhere (CEO) of Te Wananga o Aotearoa, which provides no-fee te reo Maori courses throughout New Zealand. See www.twoa.ac.nz
