He Reo Tuku Iho by Awanui Te Huia

Author:Awanui Te Huia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Victoria University Press
Published: 2023-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Fig. 8: Barriers to learning te reo Māori for those who had not yet begun learning

Some responses included ideas about future fear-based realities, such as not having a community of te reo speakers to engage with: ‘Retaining the reo would be hard because I will need to apply it consistently to be confident to speak it and fear that I may speak it incorrectly.’

Interestingly, a sense of needing to learn one’s own dialect also came up: ‘I want to learn my own dialect of Māori from Ngāti [iwi name] before learning another Māori dialect.’ Although this point was raised only once in the long answers, it relates closely to the idea encapsulated in the whakataukī ‘Hoki ki tō maunga kia purea ai ngā hou o Tāwhirimātea’. Those who are interested in learning may hold views that it is more ‘authentic’ to focus on learning one’s own dialect. However, accessing one’s own dialect is likely to to be difficult for individuals not residing in their own tribal region, thus introducing more barriers to learning.

Speakers who had attempted learning but were not competent

For learners in this group, time and/or money were once again the main barriers to learning te reo (Fig. 9). This included work commitments, followed by whānau and personal commitments. Costs associated with study may have moderately deterred people from continuing to learn. Not having courses available or having their applications declined was not a barrier for this roup of participants.

Whānau are juggling multiple commitments, and language learning on top of everything else that they are managing can betoo difficult. Some responses about lack of time and/or money included:

•‘Not having access and the money to learn.’

•‘I just struggle to prioritise studying it.’

•‘Te wā!’

•‘Finding the time to commit to learning.’

•‘Time. I work every day and get home in time for my second job as a housewife and mother.’

•‘I often work shift work and so having the ability to learn course material at different times (from home) is crucial.’

Participants in this group came with a range of previous learning experiences, and these were reflected in their responses about education-related barriers. The right fit between learners and teachers was important, and when individuals had a poor learning experience, including during compulsory education, this tended to negatively impact their decisions to learn te reo. Some responses about education-related barriers were:

•‘My teacher scolded and made us stand in front of the class if we got anything wrong which was very humiliating, discouraging and obviously has stuck with me up to now.’

•‘I don’t like being told to play games and act in classes, nā te mea ka haere au ki te kōrero noa iho.’

•‘I would prefer to learn Māori in a small familiar group rather than a large university class.’

A more extensive discussion of factors relating to education and te reo Māori is in later chapters.

It’s clear from these responses that having support to overcome the challenges associated with study would help learners. One participant responded: ‘I just struggle to prioritise studying it every day. Classes

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