Closure of UNESCO International Year of Languages

23 February 2009

Media Release

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori hosts closure of UNESCO International Year of Languages

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (The Māori Language Commission) joins with UNESCO today in hosting a concluding lunch for the UNESCO International Year of Languages 2008.

“In the past year, the completion and launch of He Pātaka Kupu was one of the ways Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori celebrated and contributed to the UNESCO International Year of Languages”, says Chief Executive Huhana Rokx.

The Māori Language Commissioner Erima Henare also attended the UNESCO Linguistic Diversity, Globalisation and Development Seminar in New York last year.

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori will continue to celebrate and promote te reo Māori across the year. Māori Language Week will be celebrated from 27 July – 2 August, and the theme is “Te Reo i te Hapori – Māori Language in Communities”.

“The Māori Language Awards will take place 15-16 October and will feature a symposium and exposition of Māori language initiatives from across the country. We hope that this forum will encourage information sharing across organisations and lead to more innovation and development for local led Māori language initiatives”, says Huhana Rokx.

Shortly, the funding round will open for Mā Te Reo. Mā Te Reo is a language fund for communities and organisations and is administered by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. The round opens 30 March and closes 24 April for hard copy applications and 8 May for online applications. Go to www.ma-tereo.co.nz for more information.

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