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Sustainability of the language and culture will be the main focus of this year's Rotuman language week.
Listed as one of UNESCO's endangered languages, the Rotuman community in Aotearoa New Zealand is not taking any chances to see their unique language become extinct in generations to come.
A Fijian-dependency island, Rotuma is located 500 kilometres north of Fiji but has its own distinct culture and language. Linguistics considers Rotuman to be one of the most difficult languages to master as it requires the use of metathesis - re-ordering vowels in a word with the preceding consonant.
Alfie Prasad, a member of the Rotuman-cultural committee 'HATA Collective', said that out of the 981 people who identify as Rotuman in Aotearoa, only 20 percent can speak the language.
"For the Rotumans, I think there's about 20 percent of us that still speak the language at different levels of fluency and there's about 80 percent of Rotumans in New Zealand that don't speak the language or understand the cultural practices."
Alfie Prasad, a member of the Rotuman-cultural committee 'HATA Collective', Photo: Supplied
On top of trying to revive the language, Prasad says many Rotuman members in the country did not register their ethnicity in the last census.
"There's a huge number of Rotumans or part Rotumans that are in New Zealand that don't register as Rotumans and I think the number if we were to count, would be close to 2000 Rotumans altogether."
Although the Rotuman population in Aotearoa may be small in numbers, the efforts to promote the language and culture have been monumental.
Last year, New Zealand politician Ingrid Leary delivered a prayer in Parliament entirely in Rotuman - the first time the language was spoken and heard throughout the room.
As the mother of two Rotuman children, Leary said delivering the prayer in Rotuman and advocating for the language serves as a doorway for those that have a desire to reconnect with their culture.
New Zealand politician Ingrid Leary delivered a prayer in Parliament entirely in Rotuman Photo: Pacific Cooperation Foundation
"I was mindful that I'm not Rotuman, so I see it as a doorway for somebody that is Rotuman to be able to speak the language in our special Parliamentary House but to have the honour and privilege of doing so for the first time with the prayer, something so spiritual, was so amazing."
For Ngaire Fuata, a familiar face in the New Zealand music and television scene, reconnecting with her Rotuman heritage came much later on in her life - a decision that led her to produce 'Salat se Rotuma' a documentary that captured her very first visit to the island.
Fuata said being a member of the flagship Pacific current affairs show, 'Tagata Pasifika' sparked her interest to strengthen her identity.
"I was caught up with trying to I guess in some ways assimilate to be a New Zealander, and I think it's always something that I wanted to explore but in particularly working on Tagata Pasifika - I work with all Pacific people and they know who they are - the Samoans, the Cook Islands, and they've got such a strong sense of identity, and I wanted to ensure that I had that too," she said.
Ngaire Fuata, produced 'Salat se Rotuma' a documentary that captured her very first visit to the island Photo: Supplied
Celebrations for this year's Rotuman language week will be held online, and the surge of interest and engagement with the culture gives Alfie Prasad a sense of hope that the 'endangered status' of the language will be a thing of the past.
He calls on all Rotumans whether they are fluent or not to take up the readily available language resources.
"It's never too late to learn the language, it's never too late to reclaim this rich heritage that is being passed down to us."
Rotuman language week concludes on Saturday, May 14.
