Niueans pin survival of language on youth

AUCKLAND – The tight-knit Niuean community in New Zealand is hopeful a resurgence of interest in their language from youth will keep their culture alive.

This week is Niuean language week in New Zealand which has been themed Niue People, Niue Families, Use Vagahau Niue and features church services, book readings, cultural exhibitions and feasts.

Auckland community leader and teacher Nora Douglas told Radio New Zealand’s Dateline Pacific that with a dwindling population on Niue it is even more important for the overseas community to keep speaking Niuean.

She says for that reason Niuean language week if very important.

“It means a lot to me because we have the whole week to celebrate and to make alive and to spread the news and to have the whole community of New Zealand involved in the celebrations of our language.”

DATELINE PACIFIC: In terms of young Niueans are you finding that they are still speaking the Niuean language, or that’s something that’s being worked on?

“You can say that in the last few years we even saw a lot of Niueans speaking our own language for lots of reasons of course, but lately, our Niuean young people are really coming out, really hungry for our language.

“And this is a very, very, very emotional time for us because we’ve been trying to do that for a very long time and to have our young people come on board is really, really exciting.

“For example we’ve had our Niuean youth network going at the moment really well and they’ve been singing songs, recording them, putting them on YouTube and they’ve been doing lots of other little communications within themselves and in their groups, just to make sure the language is alive out there now.

DATELINE PACIFIC: What do you think has triggered this resurgence in interest, from particularly the young Niueans in New Zealand?

“I have a feeling that its always been in their hearts but I think its been really hard to come out. I think as more of us adults are getting into it, encouraging and nurturing, I think that’s what’s bringing them on board.

“And also acknowledging their attempts to use our language and rather than laughing at them kind of thing, and I think that there is a very good positive for our young people to come out and they have actually asked us to be very, very supportive and we have.”

DATELINE PACIFIC: How important is it, for a group as small but also tight knit as Niueans to be able to maintain the language, how important is it?

“This is very, very important. Sure it’s only a very small population back on the island where now the language is spoken which means that it’s hard to keep it going where there’s less people and there’s about 23,000 to 24,000 of us in New Zealand and overseas and we need to have that language maintained otherwise we’ve lost our culture, we’ve lost our identity.”

DATELINE PACIFIC: So you’re optimistic about the future of the Niuean language?

“I am now, I feel very, very confident that our language will survive, especially with our young people on board. Before I never heard a lot of people talking the language but now it’s coming out everywhere I go, and that is so, so good to hear.”

DATELINE PACIFIC: Having these language weeks, that’s obviously helped as well?

“That is a very, very big help to us. We are so, so grateful for the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs for their support and for their encouragement and for everything they have given us and they have supported, helped us, to get our languages going and we are very grateful to them.”