Plan to add te reo Māori to traffic signs stirs debate and inflames race politics ahead of New Zealand’s general election in October
Minister for justice Kiritapu Allan said the comments were an insult to New Zealanders’ intelligence.. “The rest of the world has embraced bilingualism and multilingualism – which is reflected in their road signs. This is a real insult to New Zealanders and our IQ.”
During colonisation, there were active efforts to wipe out indigenous language in New Zealand, with some children beaten for speaking it at school. More recently, the country has been in the midst of large scale efforts to. The number of New Zealanders who can speak basic Māori words and phrases has been growing, from 24% in 2018 to 30% in 2021, according to Statistics New Zealand. At the 2018 census 4% of New Zealanders were fluent speakers of Māori, up from 3.7% in 2013.
“It focuses the energy away from where we need to be focused on – which is on revitalization, on using the language as a platform for intercultural engagement, as a way of nation building.”
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