Hon Te Ururoa Flavell

Minister for Māori Development

9 November 2016

Guide to make Māori language more visible

The Government has released a new guide to put the Māori language in the public eye.

“We must normalise te reo Māori and generating more bilingual signage in public places is one way of achieving that,” says Māori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell said.

“We want to see bilingual signage in all government and local government offices throughout the country, so I’m encouraging leaders within that sector to embrace this guide and start their te reo Māori journey.

“Every day, the public visit their offices so they have the eyes and ears of many on them.”

Māori-English Bilingual Signage Guide [hyperlink to guide online] was informed by the experiences of countries, including Ireland, where bilingual signage is also part of language revitalisation to encourage good practice.

Through the new Māori Language Act and the development of the Māihi Karauna, the government is committed to enhancing the support for te reo Māori revitalisation by all government agencies as a normal part of the way they do business.

“One way in which we will achieve this is to ensure te reo Māori is more visible to the communities we work in,” says Mr Flavell.

Mr Flavell leaves for Ireland and Wales tonight to see first-hand what groups there are doing to revitalise their indigenous languages.

Ministerial engagements in Ireland include visiting schools, businesses, the local city council in the City of Galway which has been driving efforts to revitalise the Gaelic language in corporate settings. In Wales, Mr Flavell will meet with the First Minister of Wales, Rt Hon Carwyn Jones.

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