Te reo Māori is heard daily at Christchurch eatery, FUSH. The bilingual restaurant in Wigram not only has their menu in both English and Te Reo, they've also decked out their staff with Te Reo-inspired T-shirts to normalise the Māori language during business hours.
Normalising Te Reo has been so successful, the team at FUSH started running Te Reo classes for their community - which led to more than 800 people attend their first class. FUSH owner Anton Matthews says he didn't realise the interest in learning Te Reo was so high.
The FUSH crew has now taken their business and Te Reo on the road, running one-off Te Reo classes throughout the South Island. Anton says they're now mobilising the language.
"In every town and every community, it's the same level of interest and desire for the Māori language. I truly believe, of course the language will survive from those who speak it, and from those who have passed it on to their children, but the language can also survive through those who have the basics of the language."
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Anton knows the students won't become fluent after his two-hour class, but hopes they'll learn the basics - starting with pronunciation.
FUSH will continue to promote and normalise te reo Māori in their restaurant and on the road, giving New Zealanders more opportunities to learn it.
Watch the video.
