A Taranaki linguist’s book on the Māori language has reached audiences around the world.
Since its release last year, Keri Opai’s latest book Tikanga: An introduction to Te Ao Māori has sold more than 10,000 copies globally.
The guide provides insights into how the Māori world operates, with Opai keen to keep it as user-friendly as possible.
“There’s plenty of academic works out there, but nobody reads them. They’re sitting on a shelf gathering dust,” said Opai.
He said that the inspiration for the book was to answer questions about the Māori language that were always asked of him.
“I concentrated on the why of a lot of things.”
The guide recently received interest from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office, with a representative asking for permission to use the book’s information.
Opai is well-known for his previous work Te Reo Hāpai, a glossary of Māori words for the health sector. For this project, he created 200 new words and concepts in Te Reo Māori. Included in this list was a word for autism, takiwātanga, which has the meaning “my/his/her own time and space”.
He is often thanked by people for the words he has created, which have allowed them to better express their personal experiences.
“That’s the reward, it’s helping people and making them see things differently.”
