[lg policy] New Zealand: Call For National Languages Policy A Step In Right Direction

Tue Mar 5 16:32:03 UTC 2013

Call For National Languages Policy A Step In Right Direction
Tuesday, 5 March 2013, 11:13 am
Press Release: COMET Auckland

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"

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1303/S00090/call-for-national-languages-policy-a-step-in-right-direction.htm

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal,
and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.
 A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman,
Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************

_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list