Indian community calls on government for a Hindi Language Week in NZ
Adding to the diversity in New Zealand and recognition for one of the most spoken languages in the country, the Indian community has urged the NZ government to dedicate and support one week in a year as Hindi Language Week.
Speaking at the 70th India Independence Day celebration in Auckland, Kiwi-Indian community representative Sunny Kaushal said, “Indian population in NZ is the fastest growing ethnic group comprising about 200,000 people, and Hindi is now the third most spoken language in NZ.
“The government should consider the week of August 15 every year as Hindi Language week in NZ [to coincide] with Indian Independence celebrations."
Kaushal also urged the Office of Race Relations Commissioner to support the week the same way it has supported a series of other language weeks in conjunction with community groups and government agencies.
He was speaking in the presence of Minister for Ethnic Communities Hon. Sam Lotu-Iiga, Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy, Labour Leader Andrew Little, a number of other Members of Parliament, community and business leaders and members of the wider community. He has also written to the concerned Ministry for Ethnic Communities as well as Race Relations Commissioner emphasising on the need.
“Similar to the valued Pacific communities, this would [be] a great step towards recognition of a strong Indian community and a significant role that Indians [have] played over the last 108 years in New Zealand,” he said.
“While [an] understanding of the community languages contributes to an inclusive society positively, it also holds high importance for communities [such as] Kiwi-Indians in maintaining their cultural identity, values, and passing it on to next generations."
Kaushal—known to be the first Indian in New Zealand to contest an electorate election on Labour ticket in General Election 2011 for Pakuranga electorate and in 2014 for a List MP—confirmed his plans to advocate for all the top 10 languages in NZ to be given due importance and celebrated as respective languages week.
He also raised concerns about the incorrectly presented data by Statistics New Zealand on the ethnicities and languages including ranking Hindi as fourth in 2013.
“Indian New Zealanders were about four per cent of the total NZ population, but listing just 1.7% of them as speaking Hindi does not sound correct."
According to him, besides mentioning Hindi-speaking population, Statistics NZ has also listed a number of sub-languages and India’s regional languages such as Gujarati, Marathi and Punjabi separately, whereas most of them speak Hindi as a common language.
Adding to the diversity in New Zealand and recognition for one of the most spoken languages in the country, the Indian community has urged the NZ government to dedicate and support one week in a year as Hindi Language Week.
Speaking at the 70th India Independence Day celebration in Auckland,...
Adding to the diversity in New Zealand and recognition for one of the most spoken languages in the country, the Indian community has urged the NZ government to dedicate and support one week in a year as Hindi Language Week.
Speaking at the 70th India Independence Day celebration in Auckland, Kiwi-Indian community representative Sunny Kaushal said, “Indian population in NZ is the fastest growing ethnic group comprising about 200,000 people, and Hindi is now the third most spoken language in NZ.
“The government should consider the week of August 15 every year as Hindi Language week in NZ [to coincide] with Indian Independence celebrations."
Kaushal also urged the Office of Race Relations Commissioner to support the week the same way it has supported a series of other language weeks in conjunction with community groups and government agencies.
He was speaking in the presence of Minister for Ethnic Communities Hon. Sam Lotu-Iiga, Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy, Labour Leader Andrew Little, a number of other Members of Parliament, community and business leaders and members of the wider community. He has also written to the concerned Ministry for Ethnic Communities as well as Race Relations Commissioner emphasising on the need.
“Similar to the valued Pacific communities, this would [be] a great step towards recognition of a strong Indian community and a significant role that Indians [have] played over the last 108 years in New Zealand,” he said.
“While [an] understanding of the community languages contributes to an inclusive society positively, it also holds high importance for communities [such as] Kiwi-Indians in maintaining their cultural identity, values, and passing it on to next generations."
Kaushal—known to be the first Indian in New Zealand to contest an electorate election on Labour ticket in General Election 2011 for Pakuranga electorate and in 2014 for a List MP—confirmed his plans to advocate for all the top 10 languages in NZ to be given due importance and celebrated as respective languages week.
He also raised concerns about the incorrectly presented data by Statistics New Zealand on the ethnicities and languages including ranking Hindi as fourth in 2013.
“Indian New Zealanders were about four per cent of the total NZ population, but listing just 1.7% of them as speaking Hindi does not sound correct."
According to him, besides mentioning Hindi-speaking population, Statistics NZ has also listed a number of sub-languages and India’s regional languages such as Gujarati, Marathi and Punjabi separately, whereas most of them speak Hindi as a common language.
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