A shared tongue: Exploring the deep connections between Cook Islands and Aotearoa Māori

As Cook Islands Language Week concludes, Ātea editor Liam Rātana has shared a personal reflection on how living in Rarotonga transformed his understanding of te reo Māori. Writing for The Spinoff on 8 August 2026, Rātana detailed his nearly three-year journey in the Cook Islands, where he witnessed the daily, natural use of the native tongue in social settings—an experience he described as beautiful and liberating. Rātana recounted a specific Friday night on a Rarotonga beach, where he sat among locals speaking a mix of New Zealand Māori and Cook Islands Māori. He noted that while he had been around te reo in formal settings like pōwhiri and whaikōrero at home in Aotearoa, the experience in the Cook Islands offered a rare glimpse into a world where the language is the default social medium. The fluidity of native speakers, who blended vowels and syllables effortlessly, provided what Rātana called a "true insight" into how the language should be spoken. The observation highlighted a profound contrast between formal, second-language learning and the colloquial, organic speech of a community. Rātana observed that in Rarotonga, the language felt free, with the majority of people preferring their native tongue even in casual, relaxed environments. This environment allowed him to connect with the language as it would have been spoken by ancestors, bridging a cultural gap created by the history of colonisation in New Zealand. While noting the challenges posed by social media and the dominance of English among younger generations in the Pacific, Rātana’s reflection serves as an aspirational call for Aotearoa. He suggests that the goal for te reo Māori revitalisation lies in moving beyond formal restrictions toward a future where the language is once again the natural, colloquial heartbeat of everyday Māori community life.