Transcript
The sevu sevu or kava ceremony at Victoria University of Wellington is a fitting start to a week of celebrating the Fijian language around New Zealand. There are around 150 Fijians studying at the university, the second largest Pasifika group after Samoans. The theme for Fijian language week this year is Noqu Vosa Me'u bulataka - My language learn it, speak it, live it. The message is particularly apt for young Fijians, studying, living and born in New Zealand. Of the three Fijian youths who took part in the sevu sevu only one speaks Fijian fluently. However, Jamie Madhavan, Kolinio Bower and Viliame Rawalai all agree that Fiji language week means something to them as young Fijians.
Jamie Madhavan: "Yeah I don't really speak any Fijian but this is just a good opportunity for people like myself to learn. And yeah it is just nice that the country now is embracing the culture for the last I think four years."
Kolinio Bower: "And for me born here in New Zealand it is good to just catch up with all the Fijian community and just to socialise with them and also partake in the ceremony."
Viliame Rawalai: "Yeah I think it depends on the person. Because I'm from Fiji originally so like for me it is a way of connecting back to home."
Nearly 14,500 people in New Zealand identify as Fijian according to the 2013 Census. And Fijians make up nearly 5 percent of the New Zealand Pacific population. But it was to young Fijians in particular that Pastor Sikeli Cawanikawai was speaking when he made this challenge.
Pastor Sikeli Cawanikawai: "How can we sing our language in this strange land. Or how do we maintain our language, our culture, our traditions in this strange land?"
One answer to this challenge is research. The director of Samoan and Pacific Studies at Victoria, Teresia Teaiwa, says there is a need for young Fijian academics to conduct studies into Fijian issues in their own language.
Teresia Teaiwa: "Because a lot of the time when people have developed scholarly expertise on Fiji, they have been very reliant on English on English sources and English texts. And that cuts out a whole multiplicity of sources that give you different perspectives on what has happened in the past and what is happening now in Fiji."
But Fijian post-graduate student Maciu Vucago says possibly even more important than anything academic is simply encouraging Fijian families to speak to their children in Fijian at home.
Maciu Vucago: "I mean I am a father of three young kids and the kids don't speak Fijian anymore. But they understand the instructions given to them in Fijian but they just can't converse back, not in full sentences. It is not easy trying to protect and grow a foreign language from a New Zealand point of view."
Fijian student Motea Cawanikawai says young Fijians need to speak their language outside their homes.
Motea Cawanikawai: "I don't think it is spoken enough. Because I have seen the New Zealand born Fijians here and they understand but they don't speak it as much. But I know that they are learning a lot and especially with this, when we have this on we have workshops where we have to learn and just put into yeah put into practice Fijians speaking Fijian."
And another student Salote Cama says it's also important to speak Fijian consistently and in all contexts to avoid negative perceptions of the language.
Salote Cama: "Because sometimes languages are only spoken when someone is really angry. And so the people associate the language with something negative. It is important to speak that language at home in all the contexts. In happiness in sadness. In just every day pass the bread conversations."
Teresia Teaiwa says while New Zealand is way ahead of many western countries in recognising the minority languages there are still high levels of intolerance. She says this is particularly evident in the mangling of Maori and Pacific Island names in the media and the way this is accepted across the country.
Teresia Teaiwa: "It's an arrogance that says 'I don't need to learn'. And the bottom line is if you are real professional, you will try to get someone's name right. And if we do that for Europeans, why can't we extend the same courtesy to people who are of other heritages."
The Ministry for Pacific Peoples says Pacific Language Weeks have grown significantly since Samoan Language Week was first celebrated in 2007. Niuean and Tokelauan are to be celebrated in the next two weeks.
