Cook Islands Māori Language Week

The 2025 theme for Cook Islands Māori Language Week is 'Ātui'tui’ia au ki te raurau a tōku matakeinanga – “Connect me to the offerings of my people'. 

Cook Islands Māori is related to – but different from – the Māori language spoken in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The languages of the Cook Islands

• Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language belonging to the same language family as New Zealand Māori, Hawaiian and Tahitian.
  
  
• Pukapuka of the Cook Islands is a Western Polynesian language belonging to the same language family as the languages of Samoa, Tuvalu, and Tokelau.
  
  
• Palmerston Island has its own distinctive mixture of Cook Islands Māori and English.
  
  
• English is an official language of the Cook Islands.

–Information from The Ministry for Pacific Peoples

Learn some phrases in te reo Māori Kūki 'Airani 

Check out more resources on the official Cook Islands Māori Language Week webpage.

You can also follow the Cook Islands Māori Language Week Facebook page.