The announcement of the Deaf Education Centre in New Zealand officially made on the 24th of July 2020.  In the past, there were more than four Deaf Schools scattered around New Zealand from the 1880s. The oldest and the first Deaf School was van Asch Deaf Education – formerly Sumner School for the Deaf in Christchurch, New Zealand. The actual the two Deaf Education to become one Deaf Education was started in 2019 and worked way up to now as a merger and a National Organisation.

What? Why? Who did that? Many cries out, feeling annoying, shocked, despair, feeling left out, sadness, the logo is green and blue, the logo mean to them, confusing from the wider Deaf community have not been consulting outside two Deaf Education Centre – Kelston Deaf Education of Auckland and van Asch Deaf Education of Christchurch for more than two years. The other comments were what happening to the museum or the history of our Deaf schools. So many questions pour out within the wider Deaf communities around New Zealand. How can any Deaf people/children pronounce the Māori name of this new merger Deaf Education Centre? It is okay for most hearing people to pronounce correctly. It is okay to sign, BUT what does it mean of this sign and how it related to the Deaf children?

What does Ko Tāku Reo mean to you?

Ko Tāku Reo takes inspiration from the whakatauki “Ko taku reo taku ohooho, ko taku reo taku mapihi mauria”, which means “my language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul.”

Ko Tāku Reo is not a direct translation, rather it evolves that whakatauki to say “my language is the plume of my identity.” Ko Taaku Reo

How to pronounce this name? To help people with correct pronunciation here are some vowel sound equivalents in English words. Please see the bold font when learning to correct the pronounce.

KO

KO – sounds like CORE

TĀKU

TĀ – sounds like TAR*

KU – sounds like CUCKOO*

Please note, the macron over the A indicates an elongated vowel sound. Eg, incorrect pronunciation would sound more like TAPAS.

REO

RE – sounds like RED*

O – sounds like OR*

Please note, Rs are rolled in Te Reo Māori

The next thing is the sign name of the Ko Tāku Reo. Check out the sign in my video here.

The sign name communicates the growth and expression of identity and language. It includes a classifier for feathers to represent ‘plume’, located on the shoulder – the same place as signs for PRIDE and MANA and is symbolic of the wearing of a Maori cloak and the importance of the shoulder in Deaf Culture (eg. tapping on the shoulder).

Original whakatauki

Ko taku reo taku ohooho, ko taku reo taku mapihi mauria.

My language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul. Like with many languages, the translation goes beyond the literal meaning. This is evident here. For our organisation, our name is not a direct translation of “My language is the plume of my identity.” Rather, the meaning has been found in the whakatauki and evolved to be specific to us. ko Taaku Reo Deaf Education website

The whole of this situation reminded me back in Washington D.C., New York. Back in 1988 and 2006, the Gallaudet University students protested their right for the Deaf President which called Deaf President Now than a hearing president in 1988 and Unity for Gallaudet Movement which led to removing one of the people who was a provost and her role in the lack of warmth and ASL (American Sign Language) skill in 2006.

more to come..