A New Zealand schoolboy who filmed an appeal to his fellow citizens to stop mispronouncing Māori words has become an internet hit.
Finnian Galbraith highlights the need to respect the language as a vital part of the country’s heritage. Clutching his script and wearing a burgundy sweater embossed with his school logo, the 15-year-old says New Zealanders should “make an effort to, at the absolute least, pronounce the words of our official language correctly”.
“Don’t you hate it when people pronounce things wrong?” he asks, looking straight into the camera. “Isn’t it just so … annoying? Oh and, of course, people pronouncing your own name wrong. Don’t you just hate that?”
The video, titled “The importance of correctly pronouncing Māori words”, has been viewed more than 70,000 times on YouTube in two days and more than 30,000 times on Facebook.
The teenager says he made the clip in a film-making class at his school in the North Island town of Paraparaumu, to raise awareness of how many people have stopped making the effort to say Māori words and names properly.
The loss of Māori culture is a big issue, says Finnian, a year 11 student at Kāpiti college at Raumati Beach. “Yet, on TV, on the radio – things that people see and hear everyday – so many of us are pronouncing Māori names and words completely wrong,” he says.
Finnian adds that when he tried to correct his peers on their pronunciation, responses varied from “It’s not part of my culture as my granddad is from a different country” to “You don’t know how to pronounce that because you’re white.”
Finnian retorts that “actually there is no ‘Pākehā way’ of saying Māori words” – referring to the Māori term for New Zealanders of European descent.
“Now I’m no expert in this and I don’t claim to be and I know I don’t always get it right, but I give it a go and I’m willing to learn and that is what counts,” he says.
Finnian’s video has received praise on social media. “Such a great speech! Cultural preservation is so important for our country and our economy,” Facebook user Erin Wesley wrote. “All the coolest places in the world have cultures which visitors want to be immersed in when they visit.”
“My name always gets pronounced wrong yet it’s so simple to say,” Tuhawaiki Karekare posted. Another commenter, Ngaia Stevie Herd, wrote: “Well said, young man. I am so impressed with you and your English teacher. Well done. Kia Kaha.”
The Māori language was suppressed for many years after New Zealand was colonised. It was banned in schools and pupils were punished for speaking it.
The language of New Zealand’s indigenous people became an official national language after the 1987 Māori language act, and many Māori words, such as kia ora – meaning hello – found their way into common English usage in the country.
According to recent accounts, there are as many as 1,000 Māori words used regularly by non-native speakers.
