Speech: The Maori in Modern New Zealand

Kia ora tatou! / Hello everyone! I’m going to talk about the Maori in modern New Zealand.

For now, the Maori are 14% people in New Zealand, including children of Maori people and Europeans. Most of them live in the North Island and about two-thirds of them live in urban center areas, such as Auckland. Their culture and language have close relationships with lives of New Zealanders.

Many Maori people work in cities and the young generation doesn’t really have connections with traditional Maori culture. But Maori people are still keeping their traditions, like Marae, where they hold a meeting and ceremonies.

Maori language is used by only 25% of Maori people now, and it's one of the national languages in New Zealand. In elementary school, children must learn the language. Not many people can speak it fluently, but everyone knows expressions for greeting and how to count numbers in Maori. There is a Maori TV channel and 20 radio channels.