Post by Kiwi Frontline on Dec 31, 2016 7:19:55 GMT 12
Hawke's Bay Today 31/12/16
USE ENGLISH AND MAORI IN RIGHT CONTEXT
What does the word “taonga” mean?
I’m referring to the article in (December 27) Hawke’s Bay Today.
We are an English-speaking country, foreign visitors to New Zealand won’t understand what the word “taonga” means.
It would be etiquette for reporters to have respect for readers of our daily newspapers by speaking in our English language so everyone understands what is being said.
Maori is a minority language, use it where appropriate.
Also it is arrogant to use Maori language preceding English which should be spoken or printed first then followed by the Maori meaning.
People need to learn to use both languages in the right context.
J S
Waipukurau
Waikato Times 31/12/16
TRIPS ON TAXPAYER
I’ve been following the amazing Waikato Times story on the school trips, and in particular the $695,511 spent on a fact finding mission to Hawaii by the whole school and some parents, of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Ruamata in Rotorua. Not only amazed but totally gobsmacked that NZ taxpayers are funding these soire´ es, or as principal Cathy Dewes so nonchalantly puts it, ‘‘We’ve retraced the footsteps of our ancestors’’. ‘‘We went back to the place where our canoe left from and came to Aotearoa from.’’
There are two issues here, worthy of further discussion/investigation. (Apart from the obvious bad grammar in the statement.)
One. How on earth has this school managed to secure such large amounts of taxpayer dollars almost totally unnoticed, and with the proverbial blind eye being turned?
Two. After all these years of being brainwashed by iwi and indeed a learned professor in Auckland that Maori are indigenous to New Zealand, here we have a school principal totally negating these claims.
Note to myself. Get the kids enrolled at this school, might get a free trip to Europe!
W P
Ohinewai
USE ENGLISH AND MAORI IN RIGHT CONTEXT
What does the word “taonga” mean?
I’m referring to the article in (December 27) Hawke’s Bay Today.
We are an English-speaking country, foreign visitors to New Zealand won’t understand what the word “taonga” means.
It would be etiquette for reporters to have respect for readers of our daily newspapers by speaking in our English language so everyone understands what is being said.
Maori is a minority language, use it where appropriate.
Also it is arrogant to use Maori language preceding English which should be spoken or printed first then followed by the Maori meaning.
People need to learn to use both languages in the right context.
J S
Waipukurau
Waikato Times 31/12/16
TRIPS ON TAXPAYER
I’ve been following the amazing Waikato Times story on the school trips, and in particular the $695,511 spent on a fact finding mission to Hawaii by the whole school and some parents, of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Ruamata in Rotorua. Not only amazed but totally gobsmacked that NZ taxpayers are funding these soire´ es, or as principal Cathy Dewes so nonchalantly puts it, ‘‘We’ve retraced the footsteps of our ancestors’’. ‘‘We went back to the place where our canoe left from and came to Aotearoa from.’’
There are two issues here, worthy of further discussion/investigation. (Apart from the obvious bad grammar in the statement.)
One. How on earth has this school managed to secure such large amounts of taxpayer dollars almost totally unnoticed, and with the proverbial blind eye being turned?
Two. After all these years of being brainwashed by iwi and indeed a learned professor in Auckland that Maori are indigenous to New Zealand, here we have a school principal totally negating these claims.
Note to myself. Get the kids enrolled at this school, might get a free trip to Europe!
W P
Ohinewai