22 November 2008
Push to get te reo right on TV
1 September 2006
By Anika Forsman: Te Waha Nui Online
As New Zealand experiences a revival of it’s indigenous language, speakers of Te Reo Maori are still disheartened to hear its mispronounciation on television. Te Waha Nui investigates how well mainstream media use the language.
Kaore taku reo Maori i te tino pai – loosely translated means “my Maori is not too flash”.
Many non-Maori journalists are struggling to get their te reo right in an industry demanding perfection.
Correct pronunciation of te reo has become a requirement for television news presenters, yet some Maori feel like reaching for their remotes when words are pronounced incorrectly.
AUT University public affairs manager Renata Blair says there have been improvements in Maori pronunciation by mainstream presenters.
“There has been a real push to get it right,” he says. “Presenters like John Campbell, Neil Waka and Mike McRoberts are faces of the nation so need to have a firm grasp of te reo.”
Blair says it is extremely important for broadcasters to get pronunciation of Maori right. A common error made by news readers is getting names wrong. For Maori, names have whakapapa and mana so it is important to say them correctly, he says.
Wena Harawira, a current affairs presenter for Maori Television, is more critical of the mainstream media.
“TVNZ has had 35 years to get te reo right and they still haven’t. TV3 has shown the most noticeable change but both channels are still making too many mistakes.
“It is certainly better than what it was 10 years ago,” she says. “But at the same time there are huge gaps in understanding and professionalism,” she says.
Harawira says the new generation of journalists coming through tend to have a greater knowledge of Maori than their older counterparts.
She adds that those who have five to 10 years experience are letting themselves down professionally by not learning to say things properly.
Harawira also emphasises the importance of correct pronunciation of names.
The Foveaux Straight tragedy saw both television channels mispronounce the family members’ name Topi and the boat Kotuku they were lost on. It was not until reading the newspaper she realised they were Maori.
“There is mana in a name,” she says.
“The Topi family are descendents of a chief and very proud people; it is a matter of respect to say their names right.”
TV3 spokesman John Beaumont says ensuring appropriate te reo Maori is used is something taken seriously by the channel.
“There’s no strict, formal policy in place, but there are certain members of the team that act as a mentor to everyone and monitor key areas of Maori pronunciation,” he says.
Tini Molyneux, a Maori correspondent for TVNZ, says there is a stronger emphasis on using correct te reo and most presenters make an effort to use it as best they can.
“Looking back there is a lot more awareness now for Maori language, there are still the odd words that people will get tongue-tied on – but generally they’re pretty good,” Molyneux says.
However, to ensure a higher standard of te reo is achieved in the future, a benchmark for journalists to learn te reo needs to be established, says Harawira.
“Learning te reo should become a matter of professional standard,” she says.
“It’s no good telling a story but getting it wrong because you don’t have an understanding of what you’re saying.”
