Niue Language Week: Community's resilience praised as Covid pushes celebration online

Wednesday, 20 October 2021

Niuean language expert Ioane Aleke Fa'avae leads the takalo, a Niuean war dance, at Ihumātao.

Raising awareness about an endangered language during the Covid-19 pandemic has its challenges, but a language expert says Niueans have shown resilience by taking their celebrations online.

This week marks Niue Language Week, with the theme “Kia tupuolaola e moui he Tagata Niue”, which translates to “May the Niuean people thrive”.

Fa'avae was born in Niue, at Mutalau village, and moved to New Zealand when he was 7.

Ioane Aleke Fa’avae, a 40-year-old Niuean language expert living in Auckland’s Epsom, said he’s been impressed with how the community has banded together to celebrate its language and culture.

“In contrast to the previous years, in this Covid situation, people seem to be more proactive, and more resilient online,” he said.

Organisers of the Niuean vaccination event are using a TikTok challenge to encourage people to get their Covid-19 jabs in south Auckland.

* All Blacks vs Australia: Did Rieko Ioane score a try, or not?

* Super Rugby Aotearoa: It all starts again for Blues' man on a mission Rieko Ioane

Niue is very different from the Cook Islands. It's a place without crowds, sandy beaches, or nightclubs. It’s a place where nature rules (video published July 2021).

“It’s not just the young people engaging, we have people from all age groups, and even people from our Niue clusters in Aotearoa who don’t usually take part in community events who are now actively engaging.

“It’s been great to see.”

Scheduled events include Zoom sessions for children, TikTok challenges, and story telling from older members of the community.

The closing ceremony will be held on the Niue Language Week Facebook page at 5pm on Saturday.

Fa’avae, who was born in the Niue village of Mutalau and moved to New Zealand when he was 7, said being forced online because of Covid-19 had created new ways of thinking for Niuean people.

He said this was important for the progression of the language and the creation of new words.

Words like ‘computer’ and ‘internet’ were now being inter-translated to ‘komipiuta’ and ‘initanete’.

“Our community, some are for it, some are against it, but it’s another way of growing vagahau Niue (the Niuean language).

“We need to look into using new words, because some words are dormant and archaic.”

Fa’avae said there needed to be more bilingual units across all education sectors, from early childhood centres to tertiary level, to help keep the Niuean language and culture alive.

“We need more trained Niue teachers to teach the language because there is very high demand there.

“[Manukau Institute of Technology] is the only tertiary institution that teaches the Niuean language, and there is only a pool of us who can teach vagahau Niue. On top of that, there is a lack of resources, with teaching.”

Fa’avae said his suggestions were not new, and were issues raised every language week.

Progress was being made, but more could be done, he said.

He said growing up, he preserved his language by engaging in a lot of activities in the Niuean community, through singing and dance, then later at tertiary level.

According to the 2018 Census, there are 30,867 people who identify as Niuean living in New Zealand.

“With more Niueans living in Aotearoa than in Niue, revitalising the culture and language is more crucial now than ever,” Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio said.