Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A Maori Dimension

Last week July 21-25th was Maori Language Week in New Zealand. During that week searching and using Google in the Maori language or te reo was launched. Go to www.google.co.nz and try it out.

In the catalogue of the New Zealand School of Export I began using Maori subject headings from the thesaurus Nga Upoko Tukutuku hosted by the National Library of New Zealand. Some of the terms I will find useful are:

tauhokohoko - trade
hua - food produce sold for profit
putea - finance
tapoi - tourism

As the thesaurus is developing and evolving I am sure there will be more terms which can be used to make the ELIScat more useful to Maori. Are there any lists of trade terms in First Nations languages which others are using?

Graeme

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