KEY POINTS:
Rotorua may well be leading the revitalisation of the Maori language in New Zealand.
Rotorua has three times as many Maori speakers per capita than New Zealand as a whole. Latest Census figures show 12.5 per cent of people in the city speak Te Reo, compared with 4.1 per cent nationally.
Nearly a third of Maori who live in Rotorua, 30.7 per cent, speak Maori, compared with 23.7 per cent of New Zealand's Maori population.
Lead tutor at Te Wananga o Aotearoa's Rotorua campus, Maia Mihaka, reckons that's something to be proud of. She believes there are two reasons for the Rotorua statistic - a resurgence of the language and the fact Rotorua is a tourist town.
"I think we here in Rotorua try to keep up with the tourist demand. The language carries with it Maori identity and the whole Maori culture. We try to portray how our ancestors lived in the old days. Here in Rotorua we are trying to do it truthfully - that means speaking Maori also," she said. Many older people who were forbidden to speak Maori at school now wanted to learn the language, Miss Mihaka said.
"They hear their children and mokopuna speaking Te Reo and they want to jump on the boat so they don't miss out.
"A lot of parents are stepping up now and taking responsibility for learning te reo to help their children learn it too," she said.
Within the Waiariki rohe, which includes Rotorua, Tauranga, Taupo, Whakatane and Kawerau, there were about 1000 students studying te reo at the wananga from level one through to five.
- DAILY POST
