This year’s theme, ‘Ribanan, karikirakean ao kateimatoan ara katei ma ara taetae ni Tungaru,’ highlights the importance of nurturing, enhancing, and sustaining the Tungaru language and culture. Tungaru, the name given by their ancestors, plays a significant role in shaping their identity and well-being.

“All across our reo Māori stories, we have stories that connect us and remind us that we are from the Pacific.” — Ngahiwi Apanui, chief executive of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission), at the Koloa Pacific Languages Fono in Manukau

Meritiana Spandow: Academic Programmes & Tutors Lead at the Centre for Pacific Languages

“There’s a saying ‘without language, there is no culture. Without culture, the village is in darkness.’ In summary, lest we forget the language of our inheritance. We hold these classes to prevent us from living in darkness.”

“Money cannot buy what we have. Money can’t buy what we know about language and who we are, the thing for me is to keep doing it as much as we can.”​​ Mama Tupou Manapouri – Cook Islands Language Champion.

“There is one language, the language of the Pacific. We are all speaking dialects.” Those were the resonant words of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori Chief Executive, Ngahiwi Apanui.

Dates for Pacific Language Weeks 2023 have been announced!

Hosted by the Centre for Pacific Languages, KOLOA is open to 300 delegates to come to hear, share and dream about the future of Pacific languages in Aotearoa.

“The sound of the conch shell carries over long distances and across several generations. It calls people from across Aotearoa to come together and ensure our languages
are vibrant and thriving.”
Published in August 2022
By the Ministry for Pacific Peoples

A new name for the Centre for Pacific Languages in 2020. Our stunning new logo, which represents 9 Pacific languages (gagana Samoa, lea faka-Tonga, te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani, vagahau Niue, Gagana Tokelau, Faeag Rotuam, vosa Vakaviti, te gana Tuvalu and Te taetae ni Kiribati. In the logo, we also purposely included a symbol of a Māori stylised fern, to represent our Pacific connections with tangata whenua here in Aotearoa NZ.