Marvel universe shares its superheroes to boost te reo Māori and engage young readers

Friday, 26 November 2021

Te reo Māori speakers and learners can now read all about the epic battles between Marvel's Avengers and X-Men in the reo Māori translated comic Te Pakanga a Ngāti Rānaki me te Ranga-Tipua.

The action-packed adventures of the Marvel universe are now accessible to te reo Māori readers in a newly released translation of the comic book, Avengers vs X-Men.

Released by Kotahi Rau Pukapuka Trust, two of the most popular superhero teams go to war in a space-haring epic adventure in the first pop-culture comic to be translated into te reo Māori, Te Pakanga a Ngāti Rānaki me te Ranga-Tipua.

Readers will follow Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Magneto and more in a story that changes them all forever.

Trust chief executive Pānia Papa (Tainui) said it was the fifth popular book the trust has translated into te reo Māori.

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Te Pakanga a Ngāti Rānaki me te Ranga-Tipua, Avengers vs X-Men, is the fifth book to be translated into te reo Māori by the Kotahi Rau Pukapuka Trust.

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The trust’s focus was to boost the revitalisation of te reo Māori, so using one of the world’s largest comic and cinematic stories was a no-brainer to bring reo Māori into the homes of Māori and Pākehā across Aotearoa, she said.

Using the well-known comic was a strategy to not only appeal to the masses, but to young people who were less likely to engage in books, Papa said.

“We wanted to find a way to bring [young people] into the fold and interested,” she said.

“Visibility is a huge thing. We’re seeing now te reo Māori in our supermarkets, it’s on TV, there’s heaps more te reo Māori on our news, that’s all going to make te reo Māori normalised.”

It took translator Te Korou Whangataua six months to translate and create words for the Avengers vs Marvel comic.

Established in 2019, the trust’s goal was to release 100 books in te reo Māori to build a library to reflect one of New Zealand’s official languages and help Māori see themselves in modern day literature.

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“I think that’s the immeasurable element,” Papa said.

“With every word, every title, it’s soon going to build up. Increasing the status does a lot for normalisation. If they see value they’re more likely to use it and more likely to pass it down.”

Other titles released by the trust include Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Oh, The Places You’ll Go. Papa hopes to release 10 more in 2022.

Hori-Te-Ariki Mataki, kaihautū of Ariki Creative in Christchurch, said combining pop-culture with te reo Māori was a good step towards engaging rangatahi in their indigenous language.

In March, Mataki released his own book about a new atua, Waihiko, the god of electricity, to help inspire rangatahi to think beyond themselves and see their worldview reflected in literature.

“It’s like a reimagining of a hero’s journey. They all follow the narrative of a simple person from a simple village and face a big challenge, then they overcome it.”

Growing up on comic books, he took inspiration from the hero narratives as well as traditional Māori pūrākau, legends, to create Waihiko.

“I just liked the artwork and the story of someone gaining the ability to overcome a problem.”

Mataki said it was important for young people to have resources they see as “cool” to help them engage in te reo Māori.

“I think the pop culture side of this is just cool, and when things are cool, they just trend.”