Celebrate Rotuma Language Week 2025
The theme for Rotuma Language Week is Åf'ạkia ma rak'ạkia 'os fäega ma ag fak Rotuma - tēfakhanisit Gagaja nā se ‘äe ma gou - Treasure & Teach Our Rotuman Language and Culture - A Gift given to you and I by God’.
Gasav Ne Fäeag Rotuạm Ta is being celebrated in Aotearoa from 11 – 17 May.
As part of AUT’s celebration of the first Pacific language week of 2025, we feature four current AUT students whose cultural backgrounds are linked to Rotuma.
As well as being Rotuman, Gloria Salabogi, Tamara Fuata, Samson Konousi, and Anselm Nakaora are all proud South Auckland locals. This video speaks to both these realities - for them, and many other Rotumans living in Aotearoa.
Their 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 – born, raised and living in the diaspora, away from the soils of their ancestors.
As he shares his thoughts on his Rotuma culture, AUT’s Bachelor of Health Science (Paramedicine) student, Samson Konousi, 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.”
AUT’s Pacific language week videos and photos are a celebration of the power of culture and language, featuring our Pacific students, staff and alumni who are sharing their experiences and journeys.
This year, Bislama, the national language of Vanuatu will be included for the first time. Bislama joins Rotuma, Samoa, Kiribati, Cook Islands Māori, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Fiji, Niue, Tokelau and Solomon Islands, bringing the total to 12 Pacific language weeks.
Rotuma 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.
To watch each video in the 2025 AUT Pacific language video series as they are launched, watch on the AUT Pacific YouTube channel.