Media release: COMET Auckland

10.00am - March 5 2013

Call For National Languages Policy Is A Step In Right Direction

A Language dies every 14 days: Not here, not on our watch

The Royal Society of New Zealand has released a paper on Languages in Aotearoa New Zealand, and key stakeholder COMET Auckland is taking the opportunity to support the paper’s call for a national languages policy.

Susan Warren, Chief Executive of COMET Auckland, a charitable trust and CCO aiming to advance education for Auckland, says the Royal Society’s paper is a valuable step to getting language promotion and preservation on the national agenda.

“Around the world, a language becomes extinct every 14 days. As education and skills advocates, and as Aucklanders, COMET Auckland says: not here, not on our watch. We are heartened to see the Royal Society make such a strong, evidence-based call for action in this area because it is high time there was a more cohesive national approach to looking after languages and ensuring they can thrive.”

“We constantly see the impact that the current lack of language support has on families across Auckland. Our Māori, Pasifika and migrant populations bring a richness of language strengths which could be contributing more to our educational and economic wellbeing as a city. As the Royal Society has highlighted, for monolingual students there may be education benefits across the board when they learn a second language, and there are cognitive improvements for children raised bilingually– in a country that needs increased equality and equity in education, isn’t this worth exploring further?

“From our perspective, language is critically important to the improvement of education and skills. In response to the Royal Society’s paper, we are working with the Human Rights Commission and others to develop an Auckland languages policy, to bring coherence to the many efforts to support language in our city.

“Once the Auckland languages strategy is in full swing, we anticipate that other regions will see the value in taking a formal stance on protecting languages and make moves to develop their own strategies. Of course, if there was to be a national policy, this would provide both the scale and legislation needed to ensure language is a country-wide priority.”

Warren says it is her hope that the Royal Society’s paper will make Government take notice of the importance of languages in Aotearoa, and move to formally adopt a nationwide policy.

“While we are fortunate that more than 160 languages are spoken in New Zealand, and that Auckland is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, the importance of language is not yet being given the priority it needs, so the Royal Society’s paper is certainly a step in the right direction.”

You can read COMET Auckland’s submission to the Royal Society of New Zealand on Languages in Aotearoa HERE, the submission on the Public Inquiry into Pacific Languages in ECE HERE and the submission on the review Ka Hikitia HERE.

He Karanga nui mō te

“Ture Mō Ngā Reo Katoa o te Motu. He Takahitanga ki te Aratika”
Mate noa tētehi reo ia 14 o ngā rā: Kaare i konei: kaare i tā mātou tirohanga

Kua tukuna he pūrongo "Languages in Aotearoa NZ" e "The Royal Society of New Zealand", ā, ka tautoko kaha a COMET Auckland tā rātou karanga mō "Te Ture Mō Ngā Reo Katoa o Aotearoa"

Ko Susan Warren te Tumuaki o COMET Auckland me tō rātou whāinga ki te kokiri mātauranga mō Tāmaki Makaurau te kī nei, he tino pūrongo kia kokiri te whakaaturanga me te tiakitanga o ngā reo katoa ki te motu whānui.

"Huri noa i te ao ka mate tētehi reo ia 14 o ngā rā. Hei kaikokiri o te mātauranga, hei iwi noho o Tāmaki Makaurau, nā COMET Auckland te kī, kaare i tā mātou tirohanga. Ka manawanui atu te kitenga atu i te 'Royal Society' e mau kaha ana i ngā tatauranga kia kokiri ake te take nei, a, kua tae te wā kia whakakotahi ai te kokiri kia tiaki pai ngā reo katoa ka ora pai ai."

"Ka kitea ngā pānga tūkino o te kore tautoko i te reo ki ngā whānau o Tāmaki Makaurau. Ka mauria mai te Māori, ngā iwi o te moana nui a Kiwa, ngā iwi manene i ngā hua o ngō rātou reo, ā ka taunaki pai ai ngā hua o Tāmaki Makaurau.

Kua whakakāngia e te pūrongo he painga mō te hunga e mohiotia ana ki te reo kotahi, kia ako i tētehi reo anō, ā, he pikinga hoki o te hinengaro mā te hunga i tupu ake i ngā reo e rua. inapea he whāinga pai mō tātou?

"Ki tā mātou tirohanga, ko te reo he tino take kia whakapai ake te mātauranga me ngā pūkenga o te tangata. He putanga ake o te pūrongo, e mahingātahi ana mātou me te 'Human Rights Commission', me ngētehi atu kia whanake he ture reo mō Tāmaki, ka tuitui ai te tautokoranga o ngā reo ki Tāmaki Makaurau."

"Ka tutuki te rautaki reo mō Tāmaki Makaurau, ka whai muri ngētehi atu rohe, ka kitea te wariu o te turanga nei kia tiaki i ngā reo, a ka whāia ngō rātou ake rautaki. Mēnā he ture reo mō te motu, ka whakaratohia te whānui, te hohonutanga me te ture ka whakatairanga ake ngā take reo ki ngā tōpito o te motu."

Nā Warren te tūmanako, mā te pūrongo te Kāwanatanga e mau i ngā hua o ngā reo mō Aotearoa, ā, ka whakaturehia.

"Waimarie tātou hakitemea 160 o ngā reo kōrerotia ki Aotearoa, ko Tāmaki Makaurau tētehi o ngā taone ahurea rerenga kē o te ao, kaare anō te take o ngā reo kia eke, nā te pūrongo anō he aronga ki te aratika"

ENDS

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