Language essay competition success for Perse pupil

Benjamin (Year 9) surveyed the status of Maori with his successful entry into a national languages magazine’s essay competition.

Despite the Babel Young Writers’ Competition being aimed at Sixth Form students, Benjamin came third overall with his reflections on the resurgence of New Zealand’s native tongue and the challenges faced by the language in maintaining its prominence.

Having already written a shorter version of his essay for the Perse MFL magazine, Benjamin was encouraged to expand his investigation by Spanish teacher Freddie Kerr-Dineen for the purposes of the Babel competition.

“I was very surprised but thrilled to do so well because the competition was open to Sixth Form students, so it’s a huge achievement,” said Benjamin, who will see his work published in Babel later this year.

A keen linguist, having been regional champion in Level 1 German in last year’s Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators, Benjamin said he had developed an interest in Maori through members of his extended family living in Auckland.

Benjamin explained that the use of Maori had been actively discouraged in New Zealand until the mid-1980s when it was granted official language status. Since then, he said efforts to revive the Maori had even led to a growing number of the indigenous language’s words seeping into everyday English in the country.

However, Benjamin outlined there had been a backlash against the renaissance of Maori with the language increasingly becoming a political football amid debate over indigenous rights outlined in the Treaty of Waitangi, a founding document of New Zealand which has played a major role in the treatment of the Maori population.

He said: “I visit my family in New Zealand every couple of years and although they are not Maori, they talk about it and have some differing views amongst themselves because Maori language and culture are a big part of life in New Zealand.

“Maori has had an amazing comeback, which is marvellous from a linguist’s perspective. It’s broken all the rules linguistically because a minority language has come to greatly influence a majority language.

“However, it only took a little bit of research to see how controversial the different interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi are. The problem with the Maori language is it’s become so politicised, so the question is whether it will continue its current trajectory or not.