Tūi Tūi Tuituiā

Ngā reo − Languages

Language plays an important part in race relations, both in affirming identity and in fostering understanding of different cultures.

Aotearoa’s ethnic mix reflected in languages

In 2013, there were more than 160 languages spoken in Aotearoa New Zealand.⁴⁰ The Census shows that English is still by far our most widely spoken language (96.1 per cent), followed by te reo Māori (3.7 per cent) and Samoan (2.2 per cent). Hindi officially overtook French to become our fourth most spoken language with 66,300 people (1.7%) speaking Hindi. There are now 52,263 speakers of Northern Chinese languages (such as Mandarin), which is an increase of almost 11,000 since the 2006 Census. Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines, has had the greatest increase in the number of speakers in Aotearoa New Zealand. There are now 29,016 Tagalog speakers, up from 12,483 in 2006.

North and South Islands officially named

After being officially nameless for more than a century, the names of the North and South Islands were made official this year. Following public consultation, the NZ Geographic Board formally assigned official alternative Māori names to the two islands; Te Ika a Maui and Te Wai Pounamu.

Language services celebrate ten years

Two important language services marked their 10th anniversary this year.

CAB Language Link celebrated a decade of providing Citizens Advice Bureau services in more than 25 languages across a range of issues including immigration, employment, housing and education. It also introduced three new languages to its services: Filipino, Sinhala and Tamil.

Language Line, the telephone interpreting service operated by the Office of Ethnic Affairs, marked 10 years of providing free interpreting services on behalf of over 90 public agencies including Inland Revenue, Immigration New Zealand, Housing New Zealand Corporation, and the Ministry of Justice. The service provides interpreters in 44 languages to help people access a vast range of services, from arranging an appointment to registering a birth. Language Line responded to over 48,000 requests during the 2012−2013 financial year, an increase of more than 10,000 from the previous year. The 10 most frequently requested languages were Mandarin, Samoan, Korean, Cantonese, Tongan, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese and Portuguese.

2013 – action on languages

Language Weeks held throughout 2013 provided opportunities for celebration and learning. Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori and NZ Sign Language Week provided an opportunity to promote two of Aotearoa New Zealand’s official languages, with events taking place around the country. For the first time, Fiji and Tuvalu celebrated their own Pacific language weeks, alongside action-packed language weeks for Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Tokelau and Niue.

The 2013 Māori Language Awards in Gisborne recognised efforts by individuals, groups and companies to use te reo Maori. The BNZ, New Zealand Fire Service and Thames South School were the winners of the private, government and education categories.

The future of Asian languages in New Zealand schools and business was debated at a forum called Is English enough in the Asian Century? hosted by The Asia New Zealand Foundation.

Several important language resources were launched during the year including Languages in Aotearoa New Zealand by The Royal Society of New Zealand which included research on the role languages play in our national, social and personal development and explored the case for creating a national languages policy.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s first bi-lingual dictionary of Māori legal terms was launched by Victoria University in Wellington. The Pacific Languages Compendium – a web-based directory of government resources written in Pacific languages – was published by the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs.

The Ministry of Business, Employment and Innovation translated its guide to employment rights into Tagalog, in view of the growing number of Filipino migrant workers in New Zealand. The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management released guidance for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and for people with disabilities to assist these groups during emergencies and disasters.

The Human Rights Commission launched A New Era in the Right to Sign, presenting the findings of a year-long inquiry into issues surrounding the use of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) since it was made an official language in 2006. Other NZSL developments included a new guide to the criminal justice system distributed by the National Foundation for the Deaf, as well as the addition of te reo Māori vocabulary in the Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language.

UN urges support for te reo Māori and Pacific languages

In its 2013 report, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) raised concerns about the erosion of Māori language and called on the Government to provide opportunities for all New Zealanders to develop the ability to communicate competently in both English and te reo Māori. Concerns about the future of Māori language were also raised during New Zealand’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), with members of the Human Rights Council  urging the New Zealand Government to expedite the development of a new strategy for protecting and promoting te reo Māori. In December, the Government announced plans to consult on proposals for a new Māori Language Strategy. The Minister of Māori Affairs will report back to Cabinet in 2014 with a final proposal.
CERD and the UPR also recommended that the New Zealand Government should take specific measures to foster the retention and use of Pacific languages and community languages, by ensuring adequate resources are allocated for specific language programmes.
Recent comments by the Government have left some people feeling concerned about the level of national commitment to retaining and promoting minority languages. For example, when responding to an inquiry on Pacific languages in early childhood education the Government said that whilst it would protect the right of Pacific peoples to promote their own languages, it believed it had no legal obligation to take action itself to preserve Pacific languages.⁴¹