Supporting Te Reo

5 February 2001

Apologies for cross-posting

Kia ora, we've received the message below from a number of sources, so are not sure of the original sender's details. If you are the orginator, then apologies for not crediting it to you.

This seems a simple thing to do to assist in promoting the use of Te Reo by government departments on all their forms, publications etc. Other countries with two (or more) official languages cope with bi- or multi-lingual options, about time this country did too.

Kia ora Koutou

Nga mihinui ki a koutou

As you may know, the next national Census is due to be cast this year March 6th. The previous Census saw merely a handful of requests from the Census staff for a bi-lingual form to complete. Unfortunately, this supposed lack of want by Maori to complete bi-lingual forms for the Census sends a signal to Government that Te Reo is not so widely supported by Maori.

As an expectation of that, bi-lingual forms have only been issued to 3 areas around the country as they believe that there will not be the need or desire.

This panui is sent so that you will when the Census people call at your house on Census night, please request a bi-lingual form. It has both Maori and Pakeha on the same form so that you simply complete the form using the English as a guide (for us learners) but fill in the Maori page either in English or Maori it doesn't matter.

Further, please distribute this panui out to all your networks including Pakeha who are supportive of Te Reo.

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