Finland is widely respected as one of the most advanced nations in the world.
Its contribution to civilisation in a range of technologies and in new thinking on education commands global respect.
But it has a problem, specifically that its language is viewed as one of the most difficult of all to learn.
Recently, Helsinki’s mayor came up with an innovative idea. Eager to attract brain activities to the city from abroad she proposed Finland place legal documents and what have you, in the accepted universal language, English, on an equal footing with Finnish.
Here in New Zealand the government is going overboard to resurrect a redundant language, spoken by at best maybe 2% of the population and outside of New Zealand, by no-one. It’s madness. Thank God most of my children are opting to live abroad as I fear for our future with this sort of maori wonderful nonsense being forced down everyone’s throats.
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And soon full immersion schools , who are they expecting to communicate with or longer term be employed by.
What a sad joke for the future of Maori.
Why the hell do our gullible population put up with this useless crap, we would probably be better off learning mandarin.
Because they behave like sheep
Technology, particularly industrial automation, creates more wealth but at the same time results in a growing ‘underclass’ comprising those who lack the education to participate and benefit. Perhaps Maori ‘wonderfulness’ may have a positive effect in creating self respect and confidence among Maori as a positive step towards being net contributors to our society. Both Sweden and Finland have attempted to structure societies where growth and social stability is based on, basically, the elimination of disadvantaged minorities and the vision of a society where all belong to a single middle class. What do you think, Sir Bob?
In Denmark 5 years ago our ex-exchange student’s wife was planning to go back to university after having their 3 children. She did have a major objection to a new requirement which was that all courses were to be given only in English and not their native language. She was of course, as with most Europeans, fluent in English.
Damn right Sir Robert Jones
There’s a backlash coming. A very public totem pole got cut down a few months ago round our way..
The general public are tolerate for only a period, and with the housing ponzi scheme coming to an end that period is coming to an end.
The same lot that have put this useless stuff into overdrive and now trying to distract us with an extended election cycle. Why not a referendum on limiting the term of MP’s to two terms. That would solve way more problems.
Where are these journalists to ask the hard questions? The only conclusion I can draw is the current chaos suits those who are really in charge.
Thanks Sir Robt, Accurate and succinct.
Appraisal of the figures, perhaps 2% of approx five million,in a world of approx eight billion,
reveals the utter disconnect between the forced Maori language adoption agenda of the comrades,
and the actuality of the world in which we all live.
To almost anyone who has lived outside of the Hobbit Kingdom this appears fairly close to madness
I remember reading years ago, about the world famous Finnish rally drivers, that they and their navigators all communicate in English because saying something in English always takes significantly fewer syllables than Finnish requires, and time is often of the essence when communicating pace notes at 160 km/h.
Always amazed me that Maori is the only language that “must” be pronounced correctly. All other languages don’t matter.
I am pushing back. If anyone welcomes me with Kiora, my response is “salutations” and I now sign off emails with “Live long and prosper” which I find far more relevant.
It’s just another language. Its syntax & grammar are totally unlike European languages, so those of us who learned one or more European languages (eg at school) get a bit taken aback when discovering they are far more like English than Māori is.
But it’s an interesting language. It’s a good mental exercise to try & start learning it. It’s quite bizarre in some ways that we all speak English, which is a foreign language, but so many – especially Pākehā, monolingual older – Kiwis don’t want to learn the native language of New Zealand, country they call home.
Bilingual is how NZ is going to end up, imo. Young Pâkehā kids are reportedly showing
strong interest in learning te reo Māori as well as English. The problem is the shortage of teachers. That will solve iself in time, I believe.
English is internationally widely spoken, it’s an international language, whereas te reo Māori isn’t. And probably isn’t ever going to be. So English looks likely to remain the lingua franca of NZ for even fluent Māori-speakers, if they don’t want to have to rely on translators.
Communication breaks down with multiple languages in a country. People can be united only under a common language.
I try to expand my vocabulary in languages other than English. That is why I try to add to my vocabulary, words and phrases in Italian, Spanish and French. These languages will serve me far better in my travels around the world than Te Reo.
The great thing about the English language is how well it is spoken in Europe. I think persons in Scandinavia speak it better than many in New Zealand.
I wish TVNZ would pick a language in regard to greetings and place names.
Convoluted double greetings / intros. Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.
Jesus, just pick one. I prefer efficiency. I don’t need place names repeated. If they’re so determined to woke it up, fine. I’ll start paying more attention to Maori place names and commit them to memory. But it’s an exercise in placating … who, exactly?
The poor presenters get themselves tied up to boot.