Why are licence tests available in Maori?

[Mr. Peanut]

Im probably gonna rub a few peoples fur the wrong way here? Oh well

When was the last time you had a chat with a policeman in maori? Or saw a road sign written in maori?
My point is, a person who can speak maori, is still going to need to understand warning signs in english and what a police officer/road worker/other road user is saying to them, to be a safe road user.

Realistically, how exactly does one fuction within normal society without a simple understanding of english? If New Zealand was a bilingual society I wouldn't have a problem with it, in fact I'd probably be quite proud of my ablility to speak the native tongue.

So why do we have drivers licence tests in maori? For fun?? Is this not a gross waste of resources for P.C. 20th century bullshite?

It seems like an awful lot of bother for someone who has made a choice to speak maori exclusively, without learning basic english?? And thats before you have to find a bilingual tester for thier restricted licence...

[Mr. Peanut]

It just looks like an exercise in PR to me, so bleeding hearts can sleep better at night...

[MSTRS:Me]

It seems like an awful lot of bother for someone who has made a choice to speak maori exclusively, without learning basic english?? And thats before you have to find a bilingual tester for thier restricted licence...

Watch how well they speak/understand English if their benefit gets threatened.
And where should it end?? I took French thru school (last century ) and my dear one took Latin.......

[Mr. Peanut]

Watch how well they speak/understand English if their benefit gets threatened

Don't think I wanna go there, plenty of europeans on the benefit... like half my extended family

[Phurrball]

Like it or not, Te Reo is an official language of this country. Just be thankful that we aren't in Switzerland or suchlike (4 official languages = French, Italian, German and Romansch - the latter probably used by a lesser proportion than Te Reo is in NZ!)

Have a look at Wales for an example of a resurgent culture and language (Yep - even their roadsigns and probably their licence tests too!).

I personally hope we are heading down a similar route to Wales. It is cultural arrogance to assume we can get by in this world with only English. A second language should be compulsory in schools IMHO (Not necessarily Maori - although the natural uptake would be increased under a compulsory second language scenario) Ironically people would become much better at using the much-abused English language should this come to pass, due to actually having to THINK about the mechanics of whichever language they use - not just using it because it's their mothertongue and it's all they know.

Get over it. If nothing else the proportion of Maori is increasing in population terms, and tikanga and the Maori language are hardly likely to fade into insignificance based on this fact alone (Never mind the current renassiance).

My $0.02. Now, back to hugs and smiles and going out for a ride...I would - were my bike not 1500km away

/edit/ Have just noted our age in your profile Mr Peanut. Am I safe in assuming that you do not in fact speak another language? Just curious...get on your bike bruvver and get some life experience learning some words of a non-english language while you're at it.

[Mr. Peanut]

I personally hope we are heading down a similar route to Wales. It is cultural arrogance to assume we can get by in this world with only English. A second language should be compulsory in schools IMHO

But surely that means that people speaking maori exclusively, should be required to learn english, if we are to become a true bilingual country? Does the fact we become bilingual mean we should print everything twice? I think not

[MSTRS:Me]

A second language should be compulsory in schools IMHO (Not necessarily Maori - )

Maori is now, at primary level at least AND it's cross-curricular.

[Phurrball]

But surely that means that people speaking maori exclusively, should be required to learn english, if we are to become a true bilingual country? Does the fact we become bilingual mean we should print everything twice? I think not

Yes to your first point. All should have a basic working knowledge of the official languages of the country. We're getting there. Slowly. Very slowly. The dominant political and social hegemony of the last couple of hundred years have resulted in a massive skew in favour of English - like beatings issued in schools to children 'jabbering' in Maori. Imagine being beaten for speaking your own language! Thank fark we're moving on and are in more enlightened times. And why not have two languages in the case of any official documents? Consider my Swiss case in point. Official docs in four languages. We have it easy!

[Phurrball]

Maori is now, at primary level at least AND it's cross-curricular.

A step in the right direction IMHO. (Oops - is that the sound of fur being rubbed back the other way...)

[Mr. Peanut]

Because the money could be spent on things that actually matter.
I don't think I'd be terribly offended if I was maori and government documents weren't printed in Te Reo... It was never a written language anyway. It's not just the document, its all the people they have to employ to understand and translate it, a huge adminstrative cost.

With the money you saved you could give schools extra funding for comprehensive maori culture lessons... etc etc.

[marty]

or like canada, where everything is printed out in about 6 different languages.

or south auckland.....

[Phurrball]

Because the money could be spent on things that actually matter.
I don't think I'd be terribly offended if I was maori and government documents weren't printed in Te Reo... It was never a written language anyway. It's not just the document, its all the people they have to employ to understand and translate it, a huge adminstrative cost.

With the money you saved you could give schools extra funding for comprehensive maori culture lessons... etc etc.

[Place holder - will rant more later. Must return trailer IRL now.]

Your latter point is a good one. Buuuuuutttt...you can't just pay lip service to official language status.

[Karma]

Well if we're going by the number of people then we'd all have to learn Chinese, with approx 1,223,307,000 people speaking the language.

[onearmedbandit]

Okay maybe in countries like Switzerland speaking languages like French, Itallian, German etc offer some benefit as your business may take you to these countries or you may have to deal with a client or whatever from one of these countries. So can someone explain to me the benefit of learning Maori? Serious question. I would much rather my daughter to learn French, German, Japanesse, Chinese then Maori. Which she is learning and is enjoying.

[James Deuce]

Bigoted rant

Yes let's cement the ignorance of the average urban Kiwi in concrete.

What's the point of teaching Maori? "It was never a written language anyway". Neither were the prototypical languages that resulted in English. A big chunk of our grammar is derived from non-literate peasants, speaking mostly in the vernacular. Maori is a written language NOW, thanks to the efforts of some very clever people over the last 170 years.

Things change. Get over it. Darwin said something along the lines that it isn't the fittest organism that survives, but the one most adaptable to change.

This attitude is typical of the hardheaded descendants of the European colonial wave that resists integrating the best of all cultures that live in NZ. "I don't understand it, and it never did anything for me, so it must be crap."

Within the next 150 years all people born in NZ will have a scrap of Maori DNA, and most likely some Asian DNA as well.

We may as well ban the teaching of history because it never did anything for me, economics too for the same reason. Oh yeah, that algebra and calculus is too hard as well, lets ditch that. Why is physical science SOOOO much more important to the Post-Modern, European/US derived mindset? Why is human culture viewed as a "lesser" science?

Without historians and anthropologists, theologists and philosophers, physicists, chemists, politicians, and soldiers would never have asked themselves the question, "Yes I can destroy this village/town/country/culture/continent, but SHOULD I?"

These little differences are what make us a vital, growing, learning, global culture.

It is important to learn ANY second language as a child because it establishes a mindset that enables you to learn more, to investigate and evaluate the syntax of a language medium, so you can exhange ideas with other people.