Kiribati Language Week 2025
This week Wikin te Taetae ni Kiribati | Kiribati Language Weekis being celebrated across Aotearoa.
The 2025 theme for Kiribati Language Week is 'Maiuakinan te katei ri nanon te tangira ma te ikarinerine bon wantongan te mwenga ibukin te rikirake - Living our valued cultural practices through love and respect upholds our dignity and growth for a successful future'.
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.
AUT’s third Pacific language week video for 2025 features AUT Bachelor of Construction student, Orieta Teiaua, and his cousin, AUT Bachelor of Arts student, Teeua Manana, who are proud members of the Auckland Kiribati Society Incorporated Youth, (AKSI).
For Orieta and Teeua, Ōtāhuhu is a place of significance for their community. In a garage at their family home, the Kiribati community once gathered to celebrate their first Independence Day in Aotearoa.
Commenting on her community Teeua says, “Every time I’m around my Kiribati community I feel so happy to represent it but also be in a new space. Going to different environments, and expressing my culture through that, I think that’s what makes me a proud Kiribati.”
Our feature photo and video reflect their heritage and reality — raised in South Auckland, deeply rooted in Kiribati identity, and determined to keep their language and culture alive for generations to come.
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.
Kiritbati greetings and other resources for Wikin te Taetae ni Kiribati, 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.