Maori Language Interpreters and Translators

Maori Interpreters And Translators

CIT offers Maori interpreters and translators with legal, medical and specialty experience, including criminal and civil matters, employee meetings, engineering, patent cases, labor disputes, immigration and more.

Although based in Los Angeles, CIT offers comprehensive Maori language services including interpretation, translation and transcription, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, worldwide. Our interpreters and translators are native speakers who have been screened, certified, have provided credentials, field tested, and kept up to date with developments in both English and the Maori language through means such as lectures, conferences, and travel. CIT’s Maori language interpreters and translators possess in depth knowledge of the Maori language, as well as of the culture and history of the Maori people, allowing them to provide informed and complete interpretation and translation.

The Maori Language

The Maori language, spoken in the North Island of New Zealand, is spoken by about 125,000 people. Maori, along with English, is an official language of New Zealand. It is believed that about 50,000 people speak Maori very well or fluently and that most Maori speakers are 65 years old or older. Prior to the 19^th century, another language, Moriori, was spoken in the Chatham Islands, which is to the east of New Zealand. At this time, Maori was the only language spoken through the North and South Island of New Zealand. Currently, Moriori no longer exists. There have not been any native speakers recorded since the 1930s. However, the language has been recorded in written form quite elaborately.

One language that is quite similar to Maori is Cook Islands Maori, or Rarotongan. It is spoken in the Cook Islands. Maori is considered to be part of the East Polynesian languages within the Polynesian language group. Linguists are unable to give a concrete answer regarding the number of dialects there currently are in the Maori language. However, it has been agreed upon that there are three major dialect divisions.

These dialect divisions are Eastern North Island, Western North Island and South Island, although South Island has no native Maori speakers. There are not that many differences but the differences that do occur between dialects are those in pronunciation, vocabulary and idiom. If someone were fluent in Maori, they would be able to understand all dialects of the Maori language.

In New Zealand, the Maori language has influenced the English spoken in the country. There are some nature terms, such as for birds and tress that are referred to only by their Maori names. On the flipside, the English language has also highly influenced Maori. There are hundreds of words in the Maori language that have roots in English. The Maori that is spoken specifically by the younger population is more influenced by the English language, specifically in grammatical word order. Other languages that have influenced Maori are French, Hebrew and Latin. Thousands of people speak Maori as a second language to English.

Maori is currently taught at the pre-school level. As a child grows, it is taught more as a subject for Maori immersion education. As of 2017, about 18,000 children learned Maori in school as part of a bilingual immersion program. Maori is written in Roman script.

The first book written in the Maori language dates back to 1815. In 1842, the first Maori newspaper was published. Later, an additional 39 Maori newspapers would appear. The Maori bible had been revised several times up until the middle of the 20^th century. In recent times, only short stories have been published in Maori.