Venu Menon
Wellington, August 4,2023
The Language Week celebrations by the Cook Islands community in New Zealand is set to conclude on August 5.
This upcoming milestone forms part of the 2023 Pacific Language Week series announced by the New Zealand government recently and aimed at highlighting the need to revitalise and sustain languages for future generations.
This year’s theme for the Language Week celebration by the Cook Islands community is: “Connect me to the traditions and culture of my homeland.”
The communities of Rotuman, Samoa and Kiribati have conducted their respective language week celebrations in New Zealand , with the communities of Tonga, Tuvalu, Fiji, Niue and Tokelau set to celebrate their own language weeks in the coming months.
“Pacific languages are a cornerstone of our health, wellbeing and identity as Pacific peoples. When our languages are spoken, heard and celebrated, our communities thrive,” Minister for Pacific Peoples Barbara Edmonds said.
Last year, the participation in the Language Week celebrations increased with over 1.6 million people reached in Aotearoa and abroad, the minister noted.
She said over $400,000 was invested into supporting 50 community initiatives.
The Pacific Language Week series aligns with the Pacific Languages Strategy launched in 2022, and feeds into the UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages which recognises the right to preserve, sustain, revitalise and promote heritage languages.
UNESCO found that at least 40% of the 7,000 languages used worldwide were in danger of being lost.
“Through our commitment to supporting language weeks, we are raising awareness and driving sustainable initiatives to ensure they continue for our future generations,” Edmonds said.
She noted that during the pandemic and recent extreme weather events, languages “played a huge role in keeping out Pacific communities connected.”
The Pacific Languages Strategy 2022-2032 builds on the early foundation laid by pioneers, drawn from teachers and community leaders, who feared the Pacific languages were in decline in New Zealand.
“Together, Maori and Pacific are like braided rivers, flowing towards Te-Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa which binds our special relationship as peoples of the vast blue Pacific Ocean with shared whakapapa, customs, values, spiritual beliefs, languages, and cultures,” said then Minister for Pacific Peoples Autipo William Sio while inaugurating the Pacific Languages Strategy last year.
He said Aotearoa New Zealand was unique in that “we are a Pacific nation, and home to one of the largest Pacific populations in the world.”
This came with a responsibility to protect and promote the languages of our Pacific communities, Sio added.
Language Week celebrations originated in Samoa in 2007 with Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa, founded by Fa’alapotopotoga mo le A’oa’oina o le Gagana Samoa i Aotearoa (FAGASA).
In 2009, the Human Rights Commission joined hands with the Pacific communities and the concept of Pacific Language Weeks came into being.
Since 2010, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples has supported the Pacific Language Week celebrations by the Pacific communities with the long-term goal of maintaining and promoting indigenous languages across New Zealand.
While each Pacific language is allotted a week, the celebrations are year-long and marked by language learning initiatives led by Pacific communities across New Zealand.
“If our children are to be proud to call Aotearoa home, then Aotearoa must value their languages, cultures and identities,” Sio said, echoing Pacific community sentiment.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
