Google in Maori Launches to Global Audience

To celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Maori 2008, a group of dedicated volunteers has worked together to translate the Google homepage and search interface into the Maori language. Therefore, it is our honour to launch this valuable online language resource to the Maori community, and to the world.

“The Google in Maori project has been a labour of love and reflects the passion we have to providing digital platforms for Maori communities. We also wanted to encourage Maori to consider work within the IT sector, especially rangatahi (young people)” said Potaua Biasiny-Tule, Managing Director of TangataWhenua.com, who helped to spear-head the project.

“Our goal was to bring together a committed team of language practitioners and leading Maori IT specialists to create a Maori language tool that could be used freely and that would be relevant to the digital world.”

The team volunteered to translate the homepage as part of the Google in Your Language programme, an initiative started by Google in 2001 that allows anyone to sign up as a volunteer to translate Google products into languages they currently are not available in. The programme has been a success because it helps pull from the knowledge and wisdom of many, and allows people to help create web tools in their own languages.

“At Google, our broader mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,” Ashley Gorringe, Marketing Manager for Google in Australia and New Zealand said. “An important part of realising this mission is working to make sure that people have access to information no matter where they are in the world, or what language they speak.”

“The translation of the Google homepage into Maori represents the culmination of a tremendous effort on the part of the Maori language volunteers, and has provided a wonderful new way for Maori speakers the world over to connect with information and the global community online.”

The call for Maori translators to work on the project began in 2001 when Craig Neville Manning, Google's Head of Engineering in New York, began coordinating with Dr. Te Taka Keegan. By 2006 over 68% of the translations had been completed, and the New Zealand Maori Internet Society put out the call for more volunteers. In June 2007, Potaua and Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule begin facilitating the translations and contacted Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori seeking their assistance. Wiha Te Raki Hawea Stevens then began work translating the full list of messages, and in April 2008 Dr Te Taka Keegan and Wareko Te Angina began the final work of verifying the translations and checking them for consistency.

During this time more than 1,600 terms and phrases, totalling 8,500 words, have been translated, allowing for the Google homepage, search interface and search preferences to be viewed in te reo Maori.

“When we started, there was a collective desire to see Maori listed amongst the more than one hundred language options for the Google homepage and today, we have achieved that” said Mr Biasiny-Tule.

“It has been no easy feat, but with the support of Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori (Maori Language Commission) and leaders like Wiha Te Raki Hawea Stevens, Ara Tai Rakena, Wareko Te Angina and Dr Te Taka Keegan, this project is of the highest possible standard and is now ready for launch.”

The announcement was made at a launch event at Te Wananga o Aotearoa's Taiwere Campus in Rotorua. Speakers at the launch included Huhana Rokx, chief executive of Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori, Ashley Gorringe, Marketing Manager for Google in Australia and New Zealand, Dr Te Taka Keegan from Waikato University and Hawea Vercoe, principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rotoiti.