Google Maori Launches Worldwide

To celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Maori 2008, a group of dedicated volunteers has worked together to translate the Google homepage and search interface into the Maori language. It is therefore our honour to launch this valuable online language resource to the Maori community, and to the world.

"The Google in Maori project has been a labour of love and reflects the passion we have to providing digital platforms for Maori communities. We also wanted to encourage Maori to consider work within the IT sector, especially rangatahi (young people)" said Potaua Biasiny-Tule, Managing Director of TangataWhenua.com, who helped to spear-head the project.

"Our goal was to bring together a committed team of language practitioners and leading Maori IT specialists to create a Maori language tool that could be used freely and that would be relevant to the digital world."

The team volunteered to translate the homepage as part of the Google in Your Language programme, an initiative started by Google in 2001 that allows anyone to sign up as a volunteer to translate Google products into languages they currently are not available in. The programme has been a success because it helps pull from the knowledge and wisdom of many, and allows people to help create web tools in their own languages.

"At Google, our broader mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," Ashley Gorringe, Marketing Manager for Google in Australia and New Zealand said. "An important part of realising this mission is working to make sure that people have access to information no matter where they are in the world, or what language they speak."

"The translation of the Google homepage into Maori represents the culmination of a tremendous effort on the part of the Maori language volunteers, and has provided a wonderful new way for Maori speakers the world over to connect with information and the global community online."
The call for Maori translators to work on the project began in 2001 when Craig Neville Manning, Google's Head of Engineering in New York, began coordinating with Dr. Te Taka Keegan. By 2006 over 68% of the translations had been completed, and the New Zealand Māori Internet Society put out the call for more volunteers. In June 2007, Potaua and Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule begin facilitating the translations and contacted Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori seeking their assistance. Wiha Te Raki Hawea Stevens then began work translating the full list of messages, and in April 2008 Dr Te Taka Keegan and Wareko Te Angina began the final work of verifying the translations and checking them for consistency.
During this time more than 1,600 terms and phrases, totalling 8,500 words, have been translated, allowing for the Google homepage, search interface and search preferences to be viewed in te reo Maori.

"When we started, there was a collective desire to see Maori listed amongst the more than one hundred language options for the Google homepage and today, we have achieved that" said Mr Biasiny-Tule.

"It has been no easy feat, but with the support of Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori (Maori Language Commission) and leaders like Wiha Te Raki Hawea Stevens, Ara Tai Rakena, Wareko Te Angina and Dr Te Taka Keegan, this project is of the highest possible standard and is now ready for launch."

The announcement was made at a launch event at Te Wananga o Aotearoa's Taiwere Campus in Rotorua. Speakers at the launch included Huhana Rokx, chief executive of Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori, Ashley Gorringe, Marketing Manager for Google in Australia and New Zealand, Dr Te Taka Keegan from Waikato University and Hawea Vercoe, principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rotoiti.

This stage of the Google Maori project was co-ordinated by husband and wife team Potaua & Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule, who have been active in developing online Maori communications since 2002.

"It is imperative to find resources that resonate with the next generation of language users. The key is to find innovative ways to attract them, thereby ensuring language sustainability," stated Mrs. Biasiny-Tule. "Our hope is that Google in Maori is a profound step in the journey towards the long term survival of te reo Maori."

Screenshots of the Google in Maori page and interface are available here: http://picasaweb.google.com/press.centre.australianz/GoogleInMaori?authkey=yd...

For more information on Te Wiki o te Reo Maori 2008 please visit this website: http://www.korero.maori.nz

For more information on the Google in Your Language program and Google's language initiatives, please visit this blog post: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/hitting-40-languages.html

For more information please contact:

Potaua Biasiny-Tule -- Executive Director
 07 345 8139
 021 250 3521
 potaua@tangatawhenua.com
 http://www.tangatawhenua.com

David Griswold -- Google Inc.
+61 2 9374 4329
press-australia-nz@google.com

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• maori
• google
• te
• reo
• rangatiratanga
• potaua
• biasiny
• tangatawhenua.com
• rangikainga
• zealand

[loachflava]

i want them to make a sign language version

[mixedpapii]

Aloha kanaka Maori, We Hawaiians are tryin to do the same thing, Hopefully we Polynesian will progress in this day and age.

Kia Kaha.

[akira543]

@2nguyen2

Wtf? Some scheiße you wrote there.

[529Panda925Party]

@2nguyen2 Your AN IDIOT, just stay out of nz instead of traveling through it

[krumpcez]

Wow that is a big step for our language. Nice

[nicolejana6]

@2nguyen2 Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about, therefore your comment is obsolete. Even suggesting the idea of German becoming the second language of Aotearoa is completely irrelevant and just plain retarded.

You obviously have no knowledge of Aotearoa, and therefore should keep your comments to yourself. (Or you can keep posting, that way I can keep making fun of you. )

[nicolejana6]

I mean "already"

[nicolejana6]

OMG seriously why dont these news anchors learn how to pronounce maori words correctly eady......it makes me cringe when I hear a new zealander pronounce maori words wrong. come on get with it your supposed to be a kiwi!

[missmaniapoto18]

@2nguyen2 LOL what are you on about? Maybe we should just go to any other country and decide thats what we want rofl. It is what it is, whether you like it or not. You don't hear people speaking Maori? Funny, I hear it everyday. Perhaps you should start by saying some yourself. You care about New Zealand so much, try using Aotearoa instead =] Love always.

[boofay]

Wow, you've set the example for the rest of the Polynesian triangle...........your language stitches together all the other aspects of the Maori way of life

[9572jam]

@2nguyen2 you are a simple minded person with simple minded perceptions, you belong back in your home land (Ma) yeah thats right your language if you infact know what it means is well known to maori. Be positive and be proud to know that native language all over the world is coming to the forefront of society.. home and abroad

[2nguyen2]

I never hear the Maori launguage when i am travelling trough NZ.

But i hear a lot of German being spoken.

Promoting the Maori language is a waste of tax-payers money.

The subsidies are just to show how political-correct the elite of NZ society is.

And the Maori and all New Zealanders would be better of with lower taxes.

Who do you think paid for this Google-Maori ??

Make German the second language of NZ that would be a boost for life in NZ.