I have lost much of my childhood fluency in te reo Māori – we must fight for its survival | Leigh-Marama McLachlan

New Zealand's national language week will have little or no impact on most Kiwis, but we must protect te reo as a national treasure

I can already feel my heart begin to race when I know I am expected to speak te reo Mori, the Indigenous tongue of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Where I am from, people know me as this confident, fluent speaker of the Mori language. But here I am today, sweaty-palmed at the mere thought of saying a simple greeting and introduction in my mother tongue.

It is a far cry from the old me, who would win back-to-back Mori language speech competitions at a school where we learned everything in total immersion te reo Mori.