Kia ora.
Hi.
So it's Maori Language Week?
Tohutō!
Sorry, Māori Language Week.
Ka pai. Āe, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.
And is Te Wiki o te Reo Māori an annual campaign, held every year since 1975, led by the Māori Language Commission, or Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, to promote the language across New Zealand?
Āe.
And is this year's theme focused on the idea of support, of being "behind you all the way"?
Ae - "ākina te reo".
With a particular emphasis on that idea in a sporting sense?
Ae, hei tauira: Taumāhekeheke o Te Ao!
Great. What's te reo for "Zika virus"?
Shall we do some colours?
He aha kē?
What is Māori for purple?
Kātahi rā! Ko te whakamāoritanga o "purple" ko tēnei: mārama te kitea, he iti noa ngā kupu Māori e mōhio nei a Toby rāua ko Toby, ka mutu, he tokorua Pākehā heahea noa rāua, he ngutu kau anō i te āhua o tā rāua aro ki Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.
That seems long. Are you sure?
Ehara, ehara!
Excellent. Why did people stop speaking Māori in the first place?
Nā te tāmitanga i eke ai te reo Pākehā hei reo matua, i pēhia ihotia anō ai te reo Māori i ngā kura, i wāhi kē atu anō, ka noho rāhui noa i te nuinga o te wā ki ngā hapori Māori. I heke mārika te whakamahinga o te reo whai muri i te hekenga o ētahi tini uri Māori ki ngā taone noho ai, mai anō i te puku o te rau tau 20.
When did that trend get reversed?
I kitea ake i ngā tau 80 o tērā rau tau he kaupapa reo Māori i kaupare atu i taua ahunga, kia kore anō ai e noho wenerau te waiata i te waiata ā-motu ki te reo Māori, te whakautu rānei i te waea ki te, "Kia ora".
What sort of initiatives?
I tino whāia kia nui ake ai te reo Māori i ngā kura me ngā kura kōhungahunga. I te tau 1985, i whakatau ake Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti, he taonga te reo, ka mutu, he kawenga tō te kāwanatanga ki te tiaki atu. I mana te reo Māori i te ture hei reo matua nō Aotearoa i te tau 1987. I te tau 1987 i whakatūria hoki Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.
How widely is te reo spoken, to everyday conversational level, in New Zealand today?
How has that changed over recent years?
So there's been a slide over the last decade?
E mea ana koe!
How then to turn around the current slide?
E whakapono nei au, ko ngā tamariki tō tātou āpōpō.
Is that a Whitney Houston reference?
Ae.
So is enough being done? Is the government ākina te reo when it comes to education?
Kua heke te rahi o ngā tamariki i te kōhanga reo i tōna 50 percent o ngā tamariki kōhungahunga Māori katoa i te tau 1993 ki tētahi taumata iti iho i te 20 percent i te tau 2014. Ko te nui o ngā ākonga Māori kei ngā kura, e kōrero Māori ana i te 50 percent piki ake rānei o te wā kei rō akomanga rātou, kua heke i te 11 percent ki te 9.5 percent. I tēnei wā, 1353 ngā kura, kāore tonu he paku aha reo Māori e whakaakona ana.
Is it true that, as far as calls for compulsory te reo in primary schools are concerned, education minister Hekia Parata says such an approach is "the real enemy", and that the "importance of learning the language is that the student, the child and their family, want to learn"?
What about Labour?
Shouldn't we focus public money on things that really matter? What does language have to do with, say, the homeless crisis?
Ko te reo te mauri o te ahurea. Nā, hei kōrero hāngai ki tō pātai, he wāhi mātuatua te ahurea Māori ki, hei tauira, Te Puea Marae, ā, koia tonu te pito o tā te hapori aro ake ki te raru mōrearea o te noho kāinga kore.
Is it true to say of te reo that "like any language, it's a series of words and of course if you can understand those words then [you] can understand what they're saying, roughly"?
Nā wai tērā kōrero?
The prime minister.
Haere rā.
Mā te wā.
With thanks to Stephanie Huriana Fong.
* This column is part of a weekly series published every Wednesday, by graphic artist Toby Morris and journalist Toby Manhire.
