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Publishing in te reo Maori
Māori Language and Māori Subject Matter in the Context of Book Awards
The publishing of children’s books about Māori subject matter or in Māori language is a
relatively undeveloped area of publishing. The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and
Young Adults can provide a framework for excellence in this developing area. The usual
standards of quality in terms of production should apply. However, there are also other issues
which could be considered. They broadly cover two areas: those relating to Māori children as
readers, and those relating to books in Māori language.
Māori children’s perspective
Award-winning books must be enjoyed by children, including Māori children. Children must
see the books as fun, they must be able to identify with the characters and relate to the
situations and the books must encourage children’s reading. Māori children should be able to
expect to see themselves as modern, positive participants in contemporary society.
Stereotypes should be avoided.
Credibility of Māori subject matter
Children’s books must be convincing and credible. Books about Māori children and their
families must be considered convincing by Māori. This does not mean that a book about
Māori people can only be written by a Māori author, another author could theoretically
conduct thorough research on the subject so that it is convincing. It does, however, imply that
the person making a judgment on its credibility should be Māori.
The Māori market
The Māori population is potentially a large, untapped market for books; modern Māori
parents increasingly want better educational opportunities for their children, and they are
learning that books are the key to this opportunity. Māori will be very interested in books
which reflect their lives, attitudes and values. They are also very interested in books in Māori
language. There is also a significant proportion of the New Zealand population which is
interested in reading books about Māori subject matter.
Encouraging the Māori language
Te Reo Māori is an official language of New Zealand. It is also a language in a precarious
state in terms of the number of fluent speakers and in terms of the ‘confidence’ a minority
language needs to co-exist with a much stronger language such as English, which dominates
the media and society. The number of New Zealanders who are learning the Māori language
continues to grow, and these people are increasingly demanding more books in Māori
language.
Promoting quality Māori language
The number of children’s books in Māori language is slowly increasing. It is important that
this language is grammatically correct and is the idiomatic language used by native speakers
of the language.
Use of translations from English to Māori
It has been considered expedient by many publishers to produce books in Māori by
translating English texts and using the same artwork as English texts. This has three main
problems:
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There can be a mismatch between the illustrations and the Māori text — the text being in
Māori implies that the characters and lifestyle in the illustrations will be Māori, but often
they are not.
The language is often very stilted. Even though the translated text may have been written
by a fluent speaker of Māori, that person may not necessarily have good translation skills.
The cultural concepts which are built into a language and the nuances and connotations of
certain words are often difficult to translate easily into another language.
The grammar and thought process of the original English typically determine a text which
is recognisably Pakeha in character. Text in Māori should have Māori structures as well as
Māori words.
Texts which are written in Māori
Books in which text is written in Māori as opposed to translations should be encouraged.
Although there was a significant amount of publishing of works written in Māori last century,
there are few modern texts which are written in Māori, ie.which are not translations. Texts
written in excellent fluent Māori should be providing models of excellent Māori language as
well as examples of a developing genre. The conventions of print specified by the Māori
Language Commission must apply.
Judging books in Māori
If books which are submitted for the Awards are written in Māori, the judges of the Awards
should judge the books in Māori, rather than rely on judging the English translations.
Appropriate format for books in Māori language
Publishers need to be encouraged to produce more books in Māori, and the audiences must be
encouraged to buy more books in Māori. The production of case-bound books is not
economically viable for the publisher, nor is it what the intended audience necessarily wants
to pay for. Thus a paperback format may be the most appropriate for books in Māori.