LOST IN TRANSLATION

A computer was programmed to translate languages and given the English phrase “Out of sight, out of mind” to translate into Russian.  Then its programmer asked it to translate the Russian translation back into English and was surprised when the result came out as “Invisible idiot.” 

I was reminded of that computer recently when a proud “fifth gen NZ’er” (his own words) with no hapū whakapapa emailed me to say he is offended to be called manuhiri in Aotearoa.  When I asked him why, he replied, “I’m not a guest in my own country.” 

He’s right.  He’s not a guest.  He’s manuhiri of the hapū in whose rohe he resides.  His offense is rooted in his ignorance of what that means.

Using the English concept of guest as a translation for the Māori concept of manuhiri is, like the English-to-Russian-English translation above, technically right but culturally wrong.

A guest has very limited rights which do not last beyond a well-defined endpoint, after which the guest is expected and may even be forced to leave. In fact, if they behave badly, a guest can be booted out even before that endpoint.

Manuhiri, on the other hand, can stay in a hapū rohe forever.   Whether they are good mannered or gross mongrels while they are there doesn’t affect their status as manuhiri, only their standing amongst the hapū who manaaki them.

Manuhiri are those who arrive after or marry into the hapū with mana whenua. Māori of other hapū are manuhiri when they are living in an area where they have no whakapapa as mana whenua. Everyone who is not mana whenua is manuhiri.

Manuhiri have very real rights and responsibilities over the resources and assets allocated to them, either via tuku whenua by the hapū or through purchase under the Crown. They can live according to their protocols, laws and cultures. They can trade, transact, exchange, export, import, travel overseas, play, live, die, be buried.  In fact they can do almost anything they want to do.

They do not however have the right to deprive the mana whenua hapū of what rightfully belongs to them.

After I explained all this to the offended ‘fifth gen NZ’er’ he went on to deny he lived in a hapū rohe and reckoned such a world view was archaic and unhelpful.  I was again reminded of the language-translating computer. 

When its programmer gave it another English phrase to translate into Russian then back into English, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” came out as, “The booze is OK, but the meat is rotten.” 

Something is clearly getting lost in translation.