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NZ's official languages: What you need to know (www.rnz.co.nz)

submitted 11 months ago by Dave to c/politics

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What, then, would the proposal change?

"Nothing," says Andrew Geddis, a professor of law at the University of Otago.

Legislation is intended to solve problems, he says. "What is the social problem here that requires a solution? English is already an official language. It can be used in all public settings."

Geddis refers to the policy as "virtue signalling": "There seem to be some people out there who fear English is under threat and is somehow going to be overtaken in New Zealand. This [policy] seems to be a way to try to respond to that fear."

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[–] Dave 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think that misses the point. We are trying to build te reo as a normal part of NZ English. English has tens of thousands of words and few if any people know them all. What do you do when you come across an English word you don't know?

[–] Ilovethebomb 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If I find a word, I look it up. If there's more than a handful, I very quickly lose interest in what they have to say.

[–] Dave 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I can't say I have ever seen more than one te reo word used in a sentence where the sentence was important. If there is a sentence in Māori in an otherwise English text, it's almost certainly not crucial that you understand it and is more than likely a proverb or other reference that adds flair but not information.

Is there an example you can point to? I feel like I probably understand more than the average person so may not notice when someone goes a bit too heavy on the te reo.

[–] Ilovethebomb 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My favourite was when they announced Tamaki Makarau was going into lockdown, and just assumed we all knew where that was, among other Covid related announcements.

Quite important information, about a place that is very rarely referred to by it's Te Reo name, and no effort made to clarify where they were talking about.

Of course, r/newzealand flipped their lid if you pointed any of this out.

[–] Dave 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah that's a good example. I know what they meant so wouldn't have noticed it, but for important information like that they should have been clear and used the common name.