Voices of praise mark the start of Samoan Language Week

by · RNZ
A service at EFKS church in Waitangirua, Porirua, to mark the start of Samoan Language WeekPhoto: RNZ Pacific

Church services marking the start of Le Vaiaso O le Gagana Samoa - Samoan Language Week - were held across Aotearoa on Sunday.

An annual event, in 2026 Samoa Language Week will run from 31 May to Sunday, 6 June.

This year's theme comes from a Samoan proverb: E afua mai mauga tetele manuia o le nu'u - From the high mountains are the blessings of the village.

"There's a whole narrative on the Ministry's website, discussing what mauga tetele, the high mountains and the blessings," Fa'alogo Vaai, from the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, said.

"It's just not symbolic, I suppose physically, but also the spiritual side of it - and that's all captured in the narrative."

Church services, marking the start of Samoan Language Week, were held across Aotearoa on Sunday.Photo: RNZ Pacific

In the 2023 census 213,069 people identified as Samoan. However, only 48.4 percent - just under half of that number - can hold a conversation in Gagana Samoa.

Vaai said that the closures of Aoga Amata, early education Samoan language nests, were a challenge for the Samoan community in New Zealand.

"They don't have the money nor the labour force to be able to provide so the kids who were part of Aoga Amata previously, and have grown up with Fa'asamoa - the current crop don't have that simply because there is no Aoga Amata."

Vaai believed the strong foundations that once supported Gagana Samoa in New Zealand were no longer there. However, he acknowledged that there was a growing demand amongst secondary and tertiary education students to learn Gagana Samoa. This presented an opportunity to sustain the language.

The Ministry for Pacific Peoples' Leo Moana o Aotearoa project surveys the use of, and attitudes towards Pacific languages in New Zealand. The aim of the project is to gather this information, in order to maintain and revitalise these languages.

The survey revealed some interesting facts about Gagana Samoa in New Zealand:

  • 50 percent of Gagana Samoa speakers learned Gagana Samoa as a first language
  • 94 percent of respondents say using their heritage language is important to their wellbeing
  • 97 percent of respondents believe it is important for our children and future generations to speak our Pacific languages
  • 51 percent speak to children in their households using Pacific languages.