What is Māori language?
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox language |name=Māori |nativename=Māori |states=[[New Zealand]] |region=[[Polynesia]] |speakers=60,000 |date=1991 |speakers2=157,000 New Zealand residents claim they can converse in Māori about everyday things (2006 census)<ref>[http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/Publications/Census/2006%20Census%20reports/QuickStats%20About%20A%20Subject/QuickStats%20About%20Culture%20and%20Identity/quickstats-about-culture-and-identity-tables.ashx Statistics New Zealand:Language spoken (total responses) for the 1996–2006 censuses (Table 16)] {{Webarchive|url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20130309170841/http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/Publications/Census/2006%20Census%20reports/QuickStats%20About%20A%20Subject/QuickStats%20About%20Culture%20and%20Identity/quickstats-about-culture-and-identity-tables.ashx |date=2013-03-09 }}.</ref> |ethnicity=[[Māori people]] |script=[[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Māori alphabet]])<br>[[Māori Braille]] |familycolor=Austronesian |fam2=[[Malayo-Polynesian languages|Malayo-Polynesian]] |fam3=[[Oceanic languages|Oceanic]] |fam4=[[Polynesian languages|Polynesian]] |fam5=[[Eastern Polynesian languages|Eastern Polynesian]] |fam6=[[Tahitic languages|Tahitic]] |fam7=Maori–[[Moriori]] |nation=[[New Zealand]] |agency=[[Māori Language Commission]] |iso1=mi|iso2b=mao|iso2t=mri|iso3=mri |notice=IPA }} {{InterWiki|code=mi}} The '''Māori language''' ({{lang-mi|Te Reo Māori}}, shortened to '''Te Reo''') is the [[language]] of the [[Māori people|Māori]] and an [[official language]] of [[New Zealand]]. It is an [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian language]]. Although it is an official language, not many people speak it fluently. In the 2013 census, about 149,000 people, (3.7% of the population) said that they could have a conversation in Māori about a lot of everyday things. The language can be seen everywhere throughout New Zealand, as many of the placenames are Māori, such as Whangarei, Rotorua, and Timaru. Lots of government or city buildings