Celebrate Rotuma Language Week
Gasav Ne Fäeag Rotuạm Ta | Rotuma Language Week is being recognised this week as part of Aotearoa’s national campaign to promote and preserve Pacific languages.
AUT, led by the Office of Pacific Advancement, (OPA), are proud supporters of this important campaign, with the OPA team working alongside students to elevate their personal experiences of Pacific culture, practices and language; taonga to be protected and sustained.
The theme of Gasav Ne Fäeag Rotuạm Ta 2026 is "Ȧf'ȧk, putua, a'pumuạ'ȧk ma rak'ȧk 'os fäega ma 'os ag fak Rotuma, la se maoen 'e 'os tore" - treasure, nurture and teach our Rotuman language and culture so it may live on through generations.
Featured in this video are four current AUT students whose cultural backgrounds are linked to Rotuma, an island nation located 650km northwest of Fiji.
The students’ traditional Rotuman clothing pays homage to their ancestry and the video’s backdrop of Southmall, Manurewa, represents an aspect of their lives and that of other Pacific peoples – growing up and living in the diaspora, away from their ancestors.
AUT Bachelor of Engineering student, Anselm Nakaora, was born and grew up in Auckland but had the opportunity to live with family in Rotuma for two years, four years ago.
Anselm says his experience living on the island and going to school there allowed him to quickly pick up the Rotuman language.
“It’s important to me to be able to remember Rotuman as it’s such a big part of my identity. When you’re not speaking it every day, it’s easy to start forgetting the language. What I’m most proud of about being from Rotuma is that it is a very small, unique and still relatively unknown culture. During Rotuma language week I feel really proud to wear my cultural attire during special events where my language is being celebrated through song and dance.”
As AUT Bachelor of Health Science (Paramedicine) student, Samson Konousi, shares his feeling about his Rotuma culture, he says, “Being Rotuman could be a gift because it reminds me no matter where I go, I belong to a resilient and beautiful people, not just in my body, but in my heart.”
To watch each video in AUT’s Pacific language video series as they are launched, watch on the AUT Pacific YouTube channel.
Rotuman greetings and other resources for Gasav Ne Fäeag Rotuạm Ta, including email signatures and printable posters, are available on the website of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.