Being a Kiwi you know that the culture that dominated these islands is the Maori culture. Ever since the British arrived it has been of course less and less influential over time. While the culture and language's influence has diminished it's importance to the island nation hasn't.
Maori art and culture can be seen and heard all over New Zealand. As citizens who now inhabit these islands one way to pay respect to the Maori people is to learn their language.
Learning Maori is something that can benefit not only you but everyone in New Zealand, as it is important to learn the native tongue of the islands, at least as best you can.
Apart from that it is always something interesting and fun to learn a foreign language, to be able to talk in a way you never were able to do before.
Learning foreign languages not only is interesting it can be healthy for your brain as well. It can boost different cognitive parts of your thinking skills and so on.
New Zealand over the past decades has done a good job of protecting the Maori culture, their traditions, and their language, it will also be up to all of the citizens of New Zealand to keep the Maori language going and growing with each generation.
It can be a difficult language to learn for some, however with a lot of practice and finding the right people to help you, you can definitely learn Maori.
It may take a long time, however not everyone learns a language at the same rate as others.
So if you are interested in Maori culture and learning the Maori language, you should keep reading to understand the benefits of learning Maori, as well as some tips for learning Maori.
Why the Maori language is important to New Zealand
While this doesn't directly benefit you, we have to acknowledge how important it is for people in New Zealand to learn Maori.
Learning the language is not only about learning the language it is about:
- Learning the history of New Zealand
- Appreciating the culture of the native peoples
- Preserving a language and culture
- Making New Zealand more unique
If we look at other countries that are former colonies and part of the commonwealth around North and South America, you will find that the native culture plays very little to no part in these countries to day.
The same goes for Australia. While many countries like the United States and Australia are also first world democracies nowadays, many parts of the native history are ignored or completely lost.
Part of learning the Maori language also includes learning part of the history of New Zealand as well as appreciating the people who created the language in the first place.
Preserving the language
One benefit of speaking and learning the language is to preserve it. It has been classified as an endangered language due to the low number of people who can speak it and being part of a country that's native language is English.
Over the past two decades however, the language has been revitalized thanks to the efforts of the government of New Zealand as well as the various tribes that still inhabit the island. This effort started in the 1980's and since the early 2000's has seen plenty of success.
Making New Zealand more unique
As I've mentioned earlier countries in North and South America as well as Australia and in other parts of the world haven't kept their native languages in tact.
India and some other African and Asian countries for example have been successful in preserving their native tongues, however they were never as fully dominated by European culture as the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand were.
However in the past decades the government of New Zealand along with the native Maori people have come together to make sure that the culture and language are being preserved and learned and over the past two decades it has worked.
While there is still a ways to go when it comes to the relations between Maori people and the population whose ancestry is European, the consensus says to protect their culture and more and more people should and are learning the language.
Benefits of learning Maori
With the whole of New Zealand being native English speakers you may be wondering why should I learn another language? You are in your right to think that, basically anywhere you go in the world you can get by even a little bit by speaking English. For more structured learning, you might consider Maori courses.
When we speak about the Maori language as a native New Zealander you should make an effort to learn the language up to a decent level. Not only is it interesting as a completely different language to English, it is an important historical and cultural part and foundation of New Zealand.
So what are some of the benefits of not only learning Maori but also other foreign languages?
Well there are benefits you probably haven't even thought about. Of course, there are some of the obvious ones like being able to communicate in a different language as well as learn a new skill but there are some cool reasons apart from those.
- Learn Maori culture
- Better Memory
- Better problem solving abilities
- More creativity
- Become bi or multilingual
While most of the benefits on this list can be of great help to you as a student, learning the Maori culture will be a huge help to New Zealand as we keep the Maori language and culture alive as well as you becoming a more well rounded person.
Benefits of learning foreign languages
There are specific benefits to learning Te Reo Maori, it is a second language you can learn, even if it has little to do with English. While the benefits to the whole of New Zealand are already mentioned in this article, you can read here about how to benefit yourself by learning a second language. Alternatively, if you prefer online learning, consider te reo Maori courses online.
There are a number of ways that applying your energy and studying to make yourself a better problem solver and overall better thinker.
Then there are a number of social benefits that learning a second or third language can give you.
So what are some of the main benefits?
Being able to interact with more people
While the population of Maori speaking people is quite low compared to the overall population in New Zealand, there is still a large number of Maori speakers you can talk with and get to know.
Apart from just making your mind work a bit faster, learning another language including Te Reo Maori can make you a more sociable person. Whichever language you learn you will be able to interact with native speakers of that language and others that know the language who may not speak English or just prefer not to speak in English.
Can lead to job opportunities
In any country, citizens and employees are valuable if they can speak more than one language. Learning Maori in New Zealand could help you be a good fit for an employment opportunity in New Zealand.
Aside from Maori, learning another language such as Spanish, French, Japanese, or another language such as these can help you find a job in New Zealand in a job that has to do with tourism, politics, translating, or teaching.
Cognitive benefits
There are a number of benefits to learning a second language that help your brain develop. Learning a second language helps your ability to multitask, problem solving, and critical thinking skills.
It has been proven in studies that people who are bilingual can switch and complete tasks faster and better than people who are only monolingual.
Connect better with the country the language comes from
Learning a language helps you to understand and appreciate the country from where the language comes from. As Maori is from New Zealand it will help us learn and appreciate our history and the Maori culture even better.
Studying Te Reo Maori with a Tutor
It can be a difficult language to learn, however the benefits of learning make it extremely worth learning the Maori language.
If you are interested in learning Te Reo Maori, the best way would arguably be with a private tutor. With a private tutor you can have one-to-one conversations and have someone there to correct your mistakes and you will be able to learn at an even faster pace.
Using Superprof, you can find a Te Reo Maori instructor that is a professional tutor and has experience, using Superprof you'll be able to learn the Maori language quickly and even have fun doing so!
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