Me ako te Pākehā ki te kōrero i te reo Māori?
Nā te Pākehā tonu i kī tuatahi mai ki ahau kāre i te tika kia haere ia ki tētahi akoranga reo Māori utukore, kei whakakīa e ia te tūranga o tētehi ākonga Māori. E whakaae ana ahau kia āhei te tauiwi ki te uru atu ki ngā akoranga reo Māori. E tautoko ana ahau kia whakaarotauhia ngā kaitono Māori ka tono atu ki ngā whare wānanga me ngā kura? Ae mārika. Ki a au nei, me āta whakarite te pūnaha tuku tono i ngā tauiwi kia mōhio ai rātou ka kore tā rātou tono e whakamanahia kia kapi rā anō te wā tuku tono me te tiro ki ngā tono ā ngā Māori. Ka tūmanako tonu ahau ko te momo Pākehā e pīrangi ana ki tō mātou reo, e mārama pū ana hoki ko mātou kē ka whai wāhi atu i te tuatahi. Heoi, tē mōhio ahau mēnā ka taea te whakakake i tēnei mea te whiwhi painga kirimā. Pēnei i ngā mea māhaki, he kūare noa nō rātou, ēhara nō te wairua kino. E mārama ana ahau ki ētahi Māori e hiahia ana kia puritia te reo ki te Māori anake. Nā mātou tonu tēnei taonga, he mea tiaki i te tokomaha i ngana ki te whakatāmate i a ia. I wepua te reo i a mātou, i whakaitihia te reo i a mātou kia kaua e kōrerohia. Nō mātou e tamariki ana, i kīa, “he reo koretake”, ā, “e kore e taea e koe te whai mahi i tērā”. Nā tētāhi tangata ērā kupu ōrite i kōrero mai ki a au, tōna rua marama ki muri.
Eaoia, e hiahia ana ahau kia noho ngātahi ki Aotearoa, ki ngā tauiwi e mārama ana ki te reo Māori, ā, mā tēnā ka mārama ake rātou ki a tātou. Kua whakaaetia e tātou kia ngātahi te haere i tēnei ara hoe kōnukenuke. Nā runga i tēnā, mēnā he Pākehā kōrero Māori koe, tatari mai kia tohua koe e tētahi atu tangata i mua i tō kōrero Māori ki a ia, te kōrero mō te reo Māori rānei i te reo Pākehā. Kaua e whakapae kei tētahi kuia, kaumātua rānei te reo, ahakoa kātahi anō pea koe ka rongo ia rātou e tuku ana i tētahi tauparapara ātaahua rawa. Kei patua rātou e te whakamā i tō hīkakatanga.
Kia mau ki te hinengaro, e kore a muri e hokia. He moemoeā noa iho mā ētahi te noho wehe i te whānau kia kotahi, e rua rānei ngā wā i te wiki, waihoki ko ngā noho hei ngā rangi whakatā me ngā aromatawai. Mō te whakawātea i a koe anō mō tētahi tau ki te ako? Korekore rawa atu. Mēnā he Pākehā koe, ā, kua whai wāhi koe ki ēnei kowhiringa, tēnā, āta whakaarohia tō angitu me rātou kāre i waimarie.
Ēhia te roa kia ako te tamaiti e ono tau te pakeke, i te reo Pākehā? E ono tau. Ka pēhea te tamaiti e 10 tau te pakeke? E 10 tau. Mā te kōrero ki a rātou i te ao i te pō. Tērā pea kāre e tino hāngai ki te akonga pakeke, ēngari, ka taea e ngā tamariki e ono tau te pakeke, te kōrero mō ā rātou mahi i te kura, ko wai mā ō rātou hoa, he aha ngā kai pai ki a rātou me ā rātou tino pūmanawa. Heoi, hei tauira, kāre e taea e rātou te tuhi i tētehi tuhingaroa mō ngā matatini o te ako i tētahi reo. He akoranga mutunga kore tēnei mea te matatautanga ki te reo. He whenua reo kotahi tēnei whenua. Hei tāku, kua ngaro i a tātou te tino tikanga o tēnei āhuatanga, ā, ko te hua ko te noho kūare ki te nui o te rawakore o te Māori.
Chur,
Mason
Should Pākehā learn and speak te reo Māori?
It was a Pākehā friend who first told me that it wasn’t appropriate for her to go to any free te reo Māori night classes because she might be taking the place of a Māori learner.
I do think tauiwi should be welcome in te reo Māori classes. Do I think kura and universities should prioritise Māori applicants? Absolutely. I think the application process should explicitly prepare tauiwi for the fact that their acceptance is only final once the applications have closed and preference has been given to Māori. I would like to think that the sort of Pākehā person who has a desire to learn our reo would also implicitly understand that we should have priority. But I’m not sure you can assume anything of white privilege. Even in the kindest people, it’s there as a blindness rather than anything malicious.
There are some Māori who only want te reo for Māori, and I totally get it. It is our taonga, protected by the few from the many who sought to destroy it. Beaten and humiliated out of us. “A useless language,” we were told as a child that “won’t get you a job”. An acquaintance repeated that very line not two months ago.
But I think I want to live in an Aotearoa where all tauiwi understand te reo Māori, and therefore understand us better. We’ve given each other permission to struggle through this funny old journey together. So, I would say that if you are a reo-speaking Pākehā, wait for an indication that the other person wants to korero Māori with you, or even talk about it in English. Don’t assume that kuia and kaumātua have the language, even if you’ve just heard them deliver a beautiful tauparapara. In your excitement to practise, you may unwittingly bring shame on them.
Remember that time is a privilege. Taking time from whānau once or twice a week, plus assignments, plus weekend noho is something many people can’t even dream of. Taking a year off to learn full time – impossible. If you’re lucky enough to have had that opportunity as a Pākehā, please think long and hard about the gifts you have been given and to whom they’ve been denied.
Guess how long it takes a six-year-old to learn English? Six years. A 10-year-old? 10 years. While having it spoken to them all day, every day. I know it’s not totally analogous to an adult learner, but six-year-olds can tell you what they did at school, who they’re friends with, what they like to eat and all about their favourite hobbies. They speak the language well. But they can’t, for example, write an essay on the complexities of language acquisition. Fluency is a process, not an endpoint. As a monolingual country, I think we’re blind to what that truly means and as a result, blind to exactly how much Māori have lost.
Chur,
Mason