Posts by Chris Waugh
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Islander,
he reo wai-u
Love that term! I loathe terms like "native language" and "native speaker" (though I do use them out of pragmatism) because 'native' implies 'birth' and no one (except, perhaps, Laozi, if you believe some of the wilder legends about him) is born speaking. All languages are learnt, and as 'he reo wai-u' and 'mother tongue' imply, mothers are often (usually? certainly not always) the first language teachers.
Of course, there are families like mine in which we're doing our best to ensure our wee one acquires both a mother tongue and a father tongue.
There have been numerous MPs past and present who did not have English as a first language
Oh, of course! And I'm sure many more than most of us realise. I hope I didn't give anybody the impression I thought Raymond Huo was the first - he's just the first to spring to my sino-centric mind (and even then, he's by no means the first MP of Chinese origin).
aue! not a majority of ANZ-born adults
And this must change. There's a role for government here (though I hold out no hope for this current government) in first promoting our two non-English official languages and then encouraging the study of foreign languages. But there are also some pretty shocking attitudes towards language prevalent in our society. The number of people who told me studying French was a waste of time..... And the number of people who say, "Oh, I wish I could...." when all they need to do is go out and avail themselves of the opportunities that are there (or at least were until this current pack of clowns started wildly swinging their blunt, rusty axe around)....
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Mojo M is English and so not a native speaker of NZ Sign Language. She was taught oralism in the UK – ie to lip read and speak. Most NZers were also taught that way until only about 20 years ago (to the extent of being punished for signing).
I was not aware of that, and apologise for any offence.
However, my point is that NZSL is an official language of New Zealand. I can not for the life of me figure out why provisions for interpretation between all three of NZ’s official languages are not already available in Parliament.
As for native languages…. something suggests to me that perhaps not all of the other MPs are native speakers of either English, NZSL or Te Reo.
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Russell Brown,
It puzzles me that some people can't see how far she is already coming to meet the rest of us.
Yep. And just how such a small step she and the Greens are asking us to make to meet her part way.
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to DexterX,
I would extend that to most people going about their daily toil.
Oh, I don't know. I live on the 6th floor of a building that has no ramps or lifts. Nothing stops me getting up and down the stairs. I work in buildings that have ramps to their 1st/Ground floors, but most of which have no lifts, presenting serious challenges to anybody in a wheelchair who needs to get upstairs. I see students with severe challenges to their mobility struggling with an assistant to get up and down those stairs - but they have at least minimal use of their legs. I have no idea what somebody, like one of my primary school teachers, who have no function in their legs whatsoever would be expected to do if they needed to climb any higher than the ground floor.
If I were an MP, the only barrier to me doing my job would be my own painful shyness and complete lack of confidence in public speaking. These are purely personal issues in my head that I could overcome with practice and a bit of encouragement, certainly nothing that would require any special arrangements or extra funding. Seems to me that Mojo Mathers' problem is a complete inability to hear what her fellow MPs are saying, meaning she needs funding for equipment and personnel to allow her to take part in proceedings. Need I point out again that NZSL is an official language of New Zealand, with equal status to English and Te Reo? This is a little bit more than mere differences of degree.
I watched the TV3 news bulletin last night, I was struck by two things:
1: Subtitles appeared only when Mojo Mathers was speaking. What's up with that?
2: She spoke her maiden speech. I was half expecting her to sign it. No, she spoke it. Shit, that is awesome. The one and only time I had to give a speech in Chinese was to a crowd of 30-odd and I was so incredibly nervous I forgot everything I had to say, stammerd, stuttered, trembled, sweated, and just about shat myself. But Mojo Mathers got up in front of 120 MPs, the public gallery, and, via TV and radio, the whole bloody country and spoke in a language she can't hear. I am in awe. -
Capture: Roamin' Holiday, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Ah, thanks, Sofie, reminds me of many a happy moment walking through North East Valley and Opoho.
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Capture: Roamin' Holiday, in reply to Islander,
They are beautiful beautiful birds
Indeed. One thing I loved about Dunedin is seeing so many more kereru than I had been used to.
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Funny how many people in Europe and Asia manage it as a matter of necessity.
Well, yes, but one key is getting them while they're young. My family has a rule - I speak only English (sprinkled with what little of Te Reo I can remember) to our daughter, my wife speaks to her only in Chinese (although with her mother with us nearly full-time, she does a fair bit of code-switching between standard Putonghua and Yanqing dialect), and I know of plenty of other families with similar rules.
Ok, sure, we have an advantage in that our family is naturally bilingual by simple virtue of its composition. It would be nice to see our government putting serious resources into promoting all three of our official languages. I note with horror the many comments on this thread on funding cuts to many educational services that were teaching NZSL. But it would also be nice to see common NZ attitudes to language and languages other than English open up and become more accepting. Most of the world does not actually speak English and NZ is dependent on international trade for it's survival. And besides, we have three official languages. And multilingualism has many benefits (ok, that's about bilingualism, but I see no reason to not assume the same holds true for speaking more than two languages).
Still, I feel must share an article suggesting that the USA may not be as rigidly monolingual as is commonly assumed (could we extend that to ANZ, too? Quite likely, and for similar reasons) and Europeans may not quite be the legendary polyglots we admire, or indeed that multilingualism may not be as widespread as those of us from the "anglo saxon" countries commonly assume.
In any case, multilingualism has immense benefits - including, I would argue from personal experience, for the adult learner, and I encourage anybody who asks, regardless of age or background, to study whatever other languages interest them. Age? When I graduated, one of my French classmates was 69 years old. She double-majored in French and Chinese. Age is no barrier. Just a matter of making the time and putting in the effort (though I understand if other priorities get in the way, of course - adjust that 'time and effort' to suit your own personal circumstances).
And to come back to the original topic, the idea that our country's parliament does not already have the facilities and personnel to provide for interpretation and translation between all three of our official languages is simply offensive.
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Islander,
imagine! Most ANZ folk being trilingual!
Now that would be awesome!
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Could we perhaps start a penny-pinching gone mad meme?
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to dc_red,
I'm working on a different kind of not reflecting well on NZ at the moment, but yes, this is pathetic leadership. This kind of behaviour from Key and Smith is more suited to deciding which minor luxury (licorice allsorts or chocolate... tough call... ) to buy on your weekly grocery shop rather than running a country.
Regarding Key's made up hundreds of millions in lost productivity from Mondayising two public holidays, I did a quick count: In China we get 18 days of public holidays per year - 7 each for National Day and Spring Festival, 1 each for Mid-Autumn Festival, Qingming, Intl Labour Day/May Day and Dragon Boat. What is it for NZ? 11? Interesting comparison, I think.