Monday, May 18, 2009

te reo texting here!

Great start with 100 initial maori words added to predictive text on 2 new telecom phones.

"As well as common greetings, the words include days of the week, months of the year, the numbers one to ten, and popular New Zealand place names.

"The initial list is at 100 words, and our goal is to make it bigger," Telecom spokeswoman Rebecca Earl said.

"This is a sort of test run and then we'd love to know how people find it. People can feel free to send us suggestions on words that they think we might have missed."

The list of words was created with help from the Maori Language Commission which indicated what words might be most commonly used in text messages, Ms Earl said.

Chief executive Huhana Rokx said the commission had been delighted to support Telecom with the service.

"This initiative ensures that te reo Maori remains a valid form of texting discourse," Ms Rokx said.

"Our young people who are growing up as bilingual Maori language speakers are also active mobile users and expect the same immediate service that predictive texting offers in the English language."

Good idea and well done Telecom and the Maori Language Commission.

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