Australian born Tāne Karamaina couldn’t be prouder of his Australian heritage, and he credits both sides of his whakapapa for his love of words and his job as a translator at Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.
“Dad was a fluent te reo speaker and from a young age had impressed on me the importance of learning te reo, so while I had a typical Aussie upbringing, I also grew up enjoying kapa haka, speaking te reo and going to all the whānau gatherings. My mum owned a second-hand bookshop when I was little; she loved words, was surrounded by books, and had a deep curiosity for language and she was a huge influence,” he says.
Tāne eventually moved to Aotearoa where he took the opportunity to finesse his language skills via an arts degree at the University of Auckland. And it was that te reo prowess which led him to being recommended for a translator role in the NPM funded research project: Te Ahunga atu ki ngā Ōhanga Oranga Māori: Towards Māori Economies of Wellbeing, led by Professor Chellie Spiller.
Tāne was tasked with creating a Māori dictionary of business/financial and wellbeing kupu that would complement the wider research project. It was a huge task, involving months of extensive research to create the carefully curated papakupu. The choice of a name: He Rauhī Kupu, reflects the essence of this work— gathering, collecting, and cherishing words that hold deep meaning in Māori contexts,” says Tāne.
With over 790 entries, and approximately 80 new kupu, the project has meant months of sourcing existing words from an array of dictionaries, websites, organisations, and Māori television channels. Kupu were then cross-checked, categorized and recorded. Working as a translator, Tāne is well used to this activity, however he believes a project of this magnitude has emphasized the necessity for one authoritative Māori dictionary.
“Because our Māori kupu are spread high and low, people really need to have access to all those different sources if they want to be well informed,” he says. The research also highlighted the issue of how new technology is forcing organisations to create new Māori words. While this is a good thing, they are often doing so in isolation from each other, and the new words are not being recorded into a centralised system. This means there are multiple translations for the same word.
Tāne believes not having one centralized Māori language dictionary means learning the language can be more of a challenge than it needs to be. “As a translator who has all of this wonderful training and the time to find these words – if I am frustrated, then what hope does a second-language learner who is just starting their journey, or nanny down at the marae who wants to learn a new word or two to keep up with Gen Z.”
Tāne says he was very mindful of the importance of not becoming a te reo gatekeeper while creating the dictionary. In the instances where he found a variety of different translations for the same word, he has listed them all in the dictionary, with each entry cross referencing each other. “This enables people to make up their own minds and to have the choice for the words they want to use,” he says.
The research team hopes that He Rauhī Kupu will continue to grow as a living resource, strengthening the connection between language, culture, and everyday life. “One of the reasons I am deeply proud of this research is because it reveals the work of other translators who have put their hearts and energy into creating new Māori words. This mahi honours them because it brings their work into the light,” says Tāne.
Encouraging other people to value te reo has been a motivator for Tāne and he hopes He Rauhī Kupu will make learning new words easier and more enjoyable for others who are still learning. “For me, speaking te reo is like I’m swimming in a wide beautiful ocean under a vivid blue sky with the sun shining down on me. It is glorious. I hope through this research and the creation of He Rauhī Kupu will be a way for others to dip their toes in the water and eventually start swimming with confidence, relishing the language in the same way I do.”