(Picture caption: Embrace Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga - Tonga Language Week this year! Visit the MPP website for more information and language resources.)
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio is urging Tongans everywhere to embrace Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga - Tonga Language Week 2022, to help stop the decline in its use by the New Zealand born Tongan population.
The Ministry for Pacific Peoples had been working closely with Tongan community groups around New Zealand to select the theme, Ke Tu‘uloa ‘a e lea faka-Tonga ‘i Aotearoa, which means, Sustaining the Tongan language in Aotearoa.
It has been so great to see the groups collectively decide to put a spin on the Pacific Language Weeks’ overarching theme of sustainability, the Minister says.
“The word Tu’uloa in the Tonga Language Week theme this year means to continuously grow, nurture, and sustain a valued idea, practice, event, or memory in an enduring way.
“Rather than forcing everyone to stick to the theme, organisers thought it would be more relevant to give ownership and responsibility to the community if they could interpret and articulate what Tu’uloa means to them.
“For example, a youth group might create the mantra Tu’uloa - ‘e mo’ui ‘a e lea ‘i he kaha’ú ‘o makatu’unga ‘i he to’utupu ‘o e lolotongá, which translates to, Sustainability – language will survive in the future based on the youth of today,” Minister Sio says.
Statistics NZ report Tongans to be the fastest-growing Pacific ethnic group in New Zealand in recent years, with their numbers increasing more than threefold between 1986 and 2006.
According to the 2018 Census, New Zealand had a Tongan population of 82,389 that year, but only 12 percent of Tongans under 15 spoke the language in New Zealand - a decline of nine percent since 2006.
In the recent Leo Moana o Aotearoa survey, 72 percent of Tongans selected listening and speaking to family members in your household as an enabler, and during consultation on the draft Pacific Languages Strategy in 2021, the Tongan community shared some of their insights on how we might strengthen and maintain lea faka-Tonga in Aotearoa.
“Encouraging grassroots initiatives to teach the language through various cultural values, learning lea faka-Tonga at home first, and total immersion are some of the ways Tongans believe would support them to reclaim their language,” Minister Sio says.
“This is why the Government is also investing through the Ministry of Education in the implementation of Pacific bilingual language education throughout the education system as part of the Pacific Education Plan.
“During Tonga Language Week, (from September 4-10), many of the online and in-person initiatives planned will focus on youth and the passing of cultural knowledge from the elders to young people, through activities such as music, cooking, wellbeing, dance, arts and craft, storytelling and oratory – we want you to get involved.”
Visit the MPP website for more information and language resources.