Cook Islands reo gateway to identity

Transcript

A Cook Islands radio host in New Zealand says language is the gateway to identity but many parents do not recognise the value of maintaining their native tongue.  

The fourth annual Cook Islands language week is underway in New Zealand where about 62-thousand (62,000) people identify as Cook Islanders but less than 13 percent of those can speak the language.

Radio Ivanui Wellington has been broadcasting to about six-thousand listeners in Cook Islands Maori for the past 14 years.

One of its host, Dan Kauraka, told Daniela Maoate-Cox preserving the language is a necessity.

DAN KAURAKA: I see our Cook Islands language as the foundation of our identity as well as our culture, without it I don't think we'd be able to identify ourselves as Cook Islanders. The language is our gate to show the world who we are and where we come from.

DANIELA MAOATE-COX: What are some of the challenges faced by Cook Islanders in New Zealand who aren't necessarily in the environment that's nurturing the language?

DK: The challenges are where the environment is not fully a Cook Island environment and on top of that, especially in the home situation, where the Parents are not speaking Cook Islands reo to them at home, so that makes it doubly hard for them to learn the language when the parents are not speaking the reo.

DM-C: Do you think people recognise the value of knowing your native tongue?

DK: Unfortunately not many of our Cook Island parent, who've stayed here and have children and grandchildren now do not recognise the importance of having our reo. It's only much later in life that they realise their children are only speaking the English language that they realise that these children won't be able to speak the reo. Come to think of it, the reo is a gift to you and this is what we should be passing on to our children.

DM-C: It's quite important in Cook Islands culture to know where you're from and where you're family are from, that can be quite difficult if you don't have a grasp of the language, have you come across this at all?

DK: Yeah that's true, that's a common question asked by Cook Islanders to whoever they meet. It's mainly because they want to connect with you, they want to identify where you come from, which island you come from and which family you come from because quite often there is interconnections of families.

DM-C: How much of an effect does Cook Islands language week have on reconnecting Cook Islanders in New Zealand with their language?

DK: It is very important that Cook Islanders get reminded where they're from and their language just to remind Cook Islanders that it is very important to show the world who they are and identify they and their parents come from the Cook Islands and them to be proud of who they are and proud of their language.