Facebook in te reo Māori

Facebook in te reo Māori

Facebook is now available in the Maori language thanks to a small partnership of language revitalisation experts.

As Facebook no longer recognises minority languages to localise the official platform, the Māori Facebook translation of FacBook is available to install via a script which will work for users of Google Chrome. The script is simply installed via the Google Chrome Store at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cgopigcnpdephndgbdkbiapnepgdbjfd

Facebook closed down localisation support for minority languages, despite the fact that almost 40 minority languages including Māori have opted for the un-official translation system created by Neskie Manuel of Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia and maintained and promoted by Professor Kevin Scannell of St. Louis University in the USA.

As Māori is a prominent enough language, it is believed that Facebook may eventually be willing to offer an "official" localisation said Professor Scannell.

The translation team comprised of Ian Cormack a recognised Māori Language expert who completed the translation and editing work that was begun by Teanau Tuiono and was coordinated by Karaitiana Taiuru. As with any new technology terms, Māori terminology was created to accurately reflect the true meaning of the English word. The full list of words used are available from http://www.taiuru.maori.nz/publicationslib/facebook-maori-language-terms.pdf

The ability to switch between English and Māori involves a few mouse clicks and does not require any specialist knowledge to install.

About Professor Kevin Scannell

A professor of Computer Science at St. Louis University in the USA. His work is primarily on technology for the Irish language, but he also helps many other language groups develop basic resources like spell checkers (including Māori) and software translations. He founded the Indigenous Tweets project in March 2011 to promote the use of indigenous languages in social media, especially on Twitter.

About Ian Cormack

A second-language learner of Maori who learnt to speak Māori while teaching in the Bay of Islands in the 1970’s. Since then he has been involved in the promotion of the Maori language as a teacher, adviser, lecturer, inspector and education review officer. He has had 15 Maori language textbooks and resources published, which are used in schools and by adults learning the language. In the last ten years he has turned his hand to Māori language translation, and he and his wife are joint directors of Taumatua Māori Language Services Limited. Currently much of his work is related to Māori language software localization.

ENDS.

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