Those who lead give sight to those who follow; those who follow give life to those who lead. This whakatauki also speaks to the importance of working together. It acknowledges and values the importance of both the leader and the followers, for both are essential and co-dependent.
Last night, we were watching the programme ‘The Project’ channel three, and there was a clip about a Māori whanau (family) with their tamariki (Plural as in children) and te tamaiti (singular as in a child) to speak Te Reo Māori in the home. The large cities did not have enough service or kura (schools). This story clip made me think about Māori Turi Tangata (Māori Deaf people) in Aotearoa.
Ko tōku reo tōku ohooho, ko tōku reo tōku māpihi maurea. My language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul.
Māori Turi Tangata (Māori Deaf people) use their first language – Māori Sign Language concepts, which use most of our NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language) into Māori Te Reo. “Deaf signs express concepts through visual elements rather than originating in spoken words, so NZSL signs can be translated into either English or te reo Māori.”
One thing is to speak in Māori Te Reo; they cannot say correctly because of sounds. Māori Turi Tangata cannot hear the sound correctly, let alone follow the lip reading. They will ‘mouth’ the words as they sign where a trilingual interpreter is available.
Look at the poster and try to learn our sign language when ordering coffee.
One weekend, I took Jacek for his social outing as part of my job, and we went to see the new building at the University of Waikato. I studied for a BA in History along with Linguistics and Anthropology. The new facility is called The Pā: māu, māku, mā tātou katoa. The previous small building and the marae – Te Kohinga Mārama were no longer there.
He mea nui kia tiakina o tatou reo, kaua ki te mate i nga reo mo nga whakatipuranga o muri. It is crucial to preserve our languages rather than dying languages for future generations.
Life in Eureka 