Fijian Language Translation for Te Tiriti O Waitangi (Maori) & Treaty of Waitangi (English) On Track for Treaty Times 30 Project.

Fijian Language Society undertook the task to translate the New Zealand Treaty of Waitangi into the Fijian Language.


Today, Treaty Times 30 expects to receive minimum of three versions to qualify for the inclusion of the Fijian Language Version.


A few individuals who spoke the Fijian Language fluently, have volunteered their time to translate both the English and Maori versions.


The process of finalising these 30 Languages hence 'Treaty Times 30' is the task of Executives from the New Zealand Interpreting & Translation Society. When all the submissions are received from the target 30 different languages, then those that submitted as in the case of the Fijian Language Translators, they would be invited to screen the various Fijian Language versions sent in.


The best will then be chosen. Should the Fijian Language Review Panelists agree on the best version, then that one gets accepted. Alternatively, if the team finds none can be deemed the top then they will work in collaborations to come up with a refined Fijian Language version.


Ultimately, the aim is to collect these 30 different languages of the Treaty of Waitangi and publish them into a book. This book will then be gifted at a special event in September, 2016 to the New Zealand Peoples.


Here's an excerpt of a comment in the Treaty Times 30 website;

The project has received the support of major organisations such as Archives New Zealand, the Office of Ethnic Communities and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

‘The translations of the Treaty of Waitangi in the many languages of our country will add significantly to people’s understanding of New Zealand’s founding agreement,’ Treaty expert Dame Claudia Orange says. ‘The planned publication is an effective way to mark the organisation’s milestone and its long-standing work.’

We are quite excited to be part of this project. Many of the different languages that started before us in early January, 2016 have already completed theirs and are already working in the collaborations phase.


For the Fijian Language Team, we are fortunate to have been given a grace period to complete ours, hence our due date is today, 5pm, Friday 6th May, 2016.


We wish to take this opportunity to thank the Fijian Language Team and also the staff at Treaty Times 30 who have guided us through this process in the last few weeks.


Vinaka Vakalevu & Nga Mihi.


Daunivakavakadewa - Admin Team


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