Guest Editorial: Māori language (more than a) week?!

Kia ora Massey whānau! Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is upon us and with it comes a wave of wholesome Māori focused content! For Massive, this has been a great opportunity to present Māori with a platform to publish their stories and share a bit of mana on their fellow students.  

I’m sure for most of those reading, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is just another blip in the calendar - no more than a small reminder to post an Instagram story of reo proverbs or bust a cheeky ngā mihi at the bottom of your emails.  

While this is all well and good, we can view Te Wiki o te Reo Māori as more than just a week of reo, but more as a checkpoint, or start on your reo journey.  

This journey may last a month, a year, or even your whole lifetime, but what matters is that we don’t see Te Wiki O Te reo Māori as the only time to speak or incorporate reo into our lives.  

My challenge to you: 

Take your most said phrases in a day, find the reo translation and proudly use this where you can.  

This will normalise the use of reo in your everyday conversations with people who may not be used to hearing our language spoken in a casual setting.  

Using reo in public may be daunting, but if you take a bit of time learning the pronunciation and meaning behind what you are saying, you can be respectful, influential, and helpful all at the same time.  

Be a leader, make the change! 

Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori 

Our language is our culture