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Maori Language Week 2011

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori Functions

Who we are

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori is an autonomous Crown entity, established in 1987, with a purpose to support Maori language revitalisation efforts, promote the language, certificate interpreters and translators and provide advice to the Minister of Maori affairs and the wider state sector on language issues as required. 

 

What we do

The operational functions of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori are divided into six distinct working groups, with each group dedicated to specific focus areas to ensure appropriate, effective and well co-ordinated activity that positively impacts on Maori language revitalisation.  The organisation as a whole is made up of 18 dedicated staff members, which equates to approximately 3-4 employees per team.

 

Te Matapuna

To be a ‘normal’ means of everyday communication a language must continue to develop and keep pace with peoples everyday language needs otherwise it will quickly become obsolete.  Equally the integrity of language needs to be maintained to ensure that its links to the culture and people from which it was derived are upheld.

Te Matapuna has considerable expertise and provides linguistic and culturally appropriate advice about the Maori language – particularly use (proficiency testing, translations, quality assurance etc), and new words/terms.  In addition, Te Matapuna has the skills and resources to research information needed to produce high quality tools and resources to support correct Maori language use and acquisition.

Te Matapuna also oversees implementation of the organisation’s function to ‘certify Maori language competency in translation and interpretation’.

Key responsibilities include:

• providing external advice nationally and internationally to individuals, organisations, iwi, hapu, whanau, private businesses and public sector agencies
• managing proficiency examinations, Maori language translator and interpreter licensing
• consolidating and co-ordination of Maori language glossaries and lexicon development
• working with key sector agencies, iwi and Maori language communities
    Te Reo Hapori

A core principle of home and community development is that initiatives which are designed, controlled and run by communities tend to be more successful than initiatives developed independently of communities and later imposed on them.  In this context the role of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori is to support, but not lead, community initiatives. 

 

Te Reo Hapori is the funding arm of the organisation that facilitates funding and monitoring of home and community-based Maori language initiatives.

Key responsibilities include:

• developing, co-ordinating and maintaining effective relationships with iwi, hapu and other Maori language communities to support language initiatives that promote increased and improved Maori language acquisition and use in homes and communities
• facilitating all MTR funding of Maori language revitalisation activities for homes and communities in accordance with the Protocols Agreement developed for the fund and rules that govern government procurement best practise
• co-ordinating regional networks of community-based Maori language providers to instigate best-practice sharing and collaborative interactions that impact positively on increased and improved Maori language use 
 

Te Hapai O

Te Hapai O is literally as the name intends, the ‘back office’ or corporate services that support the everyday functionality of Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori.

 

Key responsibilities include:

• management of all financial and contracting processes
• human resource management support and administration
• management of ICT hardware and ICT support services; and
• administrative support and oversight

    Te Tumu Whanake

Improving the state of the Maori language can be achieved through promoting voluntary changes (e.g. promoting to parents the benefits of teaching Maori to their children) or through changing policies and regulations (e.g. developing policies and regulations regarding the teaching of Maori in schools).

 

Te Tumu Whanake is the strategic policy driver of the organisation, responsible for leading policy development across the public sector through advice, policies and guidelines.  Policy advice can be informed by the publication of research and perspectives on the Maori language, and therefore utilising a key legislative function of the organisation “to publish information relating to the use of the Maori language” is a further responsibility of this team.

 

Other key responsibilities include:

• leading and co-ordinating a whole government approach to Maori language policy development, implementation and monitoring
• leading the development of strategy, planning and reporting (including all ministerial processes) 
 

Te Tihi

Using ‘communications’ as a means of raising awareness of the issues pertinent to Maori language revitalisation and regeneration, and promoting appropriate messages that will help influence the use Maori language in their everyday lives is a critical function of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori. 

 

Te Tihi is the organisation’s communications arm and is responsible for enacting the intention of the Maori Language Act 1987 that te reo Maori be promoted as a living language and ordinary means of communication. 

 

Key responsibilities include:

• developing and co-ordinating annual National promotional events and related activities specifically targeted at improving and increasing the status, awareness, attitude, acquisition, proficiency and use of the Maori language
• developing appropriate and effective strategic relationships with key sector stakeholders and community groups to promote and support the use of Maori language in homes and communities
• developing, implementing and co-ordinating the dissemination and digital broadcasting of a wide range focused language resources and targeted initiatives that encourage acquisition and use of the Maori language 
 

Te Tira Whakahaere

Te Tira Whakahaere is the Office of the Chief Executive, and is responsible for the overall operational management of the board’s strategic direction and plan. 

 

 Key responsibilities include:

• leading, building and maintaining appropriate and effective governance level relationships with key Maori language stakeholders that positively impact on Maori language revitalisation
• guiding internal leadership to give effect to robust and positive Maori language revitalisation decision making
• leading and giving full effect to the Maori language Act 1987
• responding to media and promotional opportunities that arise; and
• managing and minimizing and any potential risks to the reputation of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori 
 

Why we do what we do

The government became statutorily obliged to establish a type of watchdog organisation for the language as a consequence of Maori litigation and the lodging of the Treaty of Waitangi Maori Language claim in 1985.  Central to that claim is the assertion that if the language was left to die - and research at the time seemed to corroborate that language loss would be inevitable without state intervention - assimilation of the Maori culture and people would be complete, as predicted by Dr Issac Featherston, a surgeon and politician in his well known 1846 quote: 

 

“A barbarous and coloured race must inevitably die out by mere contact with the civilised white: our business therefore, and all we can do is to smooth the pillow of the dying Maori race”.

 

That the language holds significant cultural value for Maori and the wider nation too, is more widely acknowledged now.  Certainly the challenge ahead is to present the language as an important contributor to the nation’s economy, and as a means of providing a more distinctive indigenous dynamic to New Zealand’s presence in the wider global market place.  The whole area of gains accrued to the nation from investment in language is largely unexplored, and as such presents a number of opportunities for further examination.