Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week: Tuvaluan becomes fluent in Te Reo Māori

Fale Penivao with his children from left, Kaitu, Temaia, Kataaua and Elisapeta who he sometimes converses with in Te Reo Māori at home. Photo / Imran Ali

Fale Penivao comes from a tiny South Pacific island with less than 12,000 people and took the initiative to learn Te Reo Māori to better understand the language and culture of New Zealand's indigenous people.

Now an almost fluent Te Reo speaker, the Whangārei father of six is urging non-te reo speaking Māori to learn so the language can grow.

According to the 2018 census stats, Māori comprised nearly 36 per cent or 64,458 of Northland's population of 179,076 but Penivao said most of them could not even speak their language.

Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa said, back in July, that New Zealanders are getting better at speaking Te Reo Māori and are more supportive of its use in day-to-day life.

New data from the 2021 General Social Survey (GSS), collected between April and August 2021, showed the ability of New Zealanders, aged 15 and over, to speak Te Reo Māori in day-to-day conversation has improved.

Since 2018, the proportion of people able to speak more than a few words or phrases of te reo Māori rose from 24 per cent to 30 per cent.

The proportion of people able to speak te reo Māori at least fairly well also increased, from 6.1 per cent in 2018 to 7.9 per cent in 2021 – this is the first time a significant increase in this level of te reo Māori proficiency has been observed from GSS data.

Apart from te reo, Penivao can speak his native Tuvaluan, Fijian and English fluently.

When he moved to New Zealand about 19 years ago, he could barely speak English and in the 12 years he's lived in Whangārei he realised the importance of learning te reo to better gel into the New Zealand society.

So he enrolled into Te Wananga o Aotearoa and studied te reo up to level 4 for three years.

"As a caregiver, I was keen to learn te reo because some clients we see are Māori. I found it very interesting and easy to learn because Te Reo was very similar to the Tuvaluan language.

"My kids learnt te reo in school and they also take part in the kapa haka. We sometimes speak in te reo at home. When I attend tangi, my work colleagues who are Māori can't speak te reo fluently so they ask me to speak at the marae.

"I'd urge Māori in Northland to learn te reo, keep the language alive and to pass it through to future generations. It's an honour for me to speak te reo in the land of Aotearoa," he said.

While Māori were not allowed to speak their language during the early days, Penivao said there were no such impediments these days.

Apart from learning te reo, he also learnt other aspects of Māori culture and tradition such as waiata and marae protocols.

"If I was busy at work, I would have continued learning te reo as far as I could go. Once I speak te reo, I feel part of the Māori whānau and that's the case with any community where you are fluent in their language," Penivao said.

He learnt the Fijian language while attending high school in Fiji.