Celebrate Gasav Ne Fäeag Rotuạm Ta, Rotuma Language Week 10 – 16 May
10 May 2026
Rotuma Language Week marks the launch of the 2026 Pacific Language Weeks series.
The launch of the 2026 Pacific Language Weeks programme gets underway with Rotuma Language Week, marking almost 20 years since the series was introduced.
Stats NZ data indicates that while Pacific languages remain widely spoken among first generation migrants, language retention drops significantly among New Zealand born Pacific peoples, making Pacific Language Weeks a vital intervention for strengthening everyday language use and cultural continuity
Rotuma Language Week celebrates the strengthening of language, culture and knowledge systems, guided by this year’s theme:
“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.
At Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, Rotuma Language Week is marked by recognition of the vital role language plays in sustaining identity, belonging and intergenerational knowledge.
Central to this kaupapa is Dr Ofa Dewes MNZM, a senior research fellow at the University and a leading Pacific academic whose work reflects a deep commitment to Pacific languages, communities and futures.
Born and raised in Suva, Fiji, she is part-Rotuman, Tongan and Tuvaluan, with affiliation to Ngāti Porou. She was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2023 for services to health and the Pacific community.
Research director at The Cause Collective, Dr Dewes is also a member of the Maurice Wilkins Centre's Research Leadership Forum.
Widely respected for advancing Pacific leadership across research, health and science, Dr Dewes was instrumental in shaping the Maurice Wilkins Centre’s inaugural Pacific Strategy that launched on 27 February. She says the move places Pacific values, knowledge systems and community relationships at the heart of biomedical research.
Rotuma Language Week aligns closely with Dr Dewes’ advocacy for Pacific-led approaches across academia and research, where Indigenous knowledge systems are recognised as essential, not supplementary.
“For Pacific peoples, language is more than communication - it carries knowledge, values, and responsibility,” Dr Dewes says.
“When we nurture our languages, we strengthen our ability to care for our people, our environments, and future generations.”
For Pacific peoples, language is more than communication - it carries knowledge, values, and responsibility.
Her work reflects the spirit of this year’s theme: treasuring cultural inheritance, nurturing emerging leaders, and ensuring Pacific knowledge continues to thrive in contemporary spaces.
As one of Aotearoa’s leading universities, Waipapa Taumata Rau continues to support Pacific Language Weeks as a way of affirming cultural identity, strengthening community connections, and recognising the diverse knowledge systems that enrich Aotearoa New Zealand.
Rotuma Language Week is a reminder that the survival of language depends on everyday acts - speaking, sharing stories, teaching our children, and creating spaces where Rotuman culture is valued and visible.
🌴 Rotuma fun facts
• Rotuman is a Polynesian language, closely related to Sāmoan and Tongan, not to iTaukei (Fijian), which is a Melanesian language.
• Rotuman culture developed through Polynesian voyaging networks, with strong historical ties to Sāmoa, Tonga, and other Polynesian islands rather than Fiji.
• Social systems, kinship structures, ceremonies, and values in Rotuma align more closely with Polynesian models than Melanesian Fijian ones.
• Rotuma maintained its own governance systems, chiefly structures and spiritual practices long before colonial contact.
• Rotuma is a remote island, located about 500 kilometres north of Fiji, which allowed its language and culture to develop independently.
• Rotuma became part of Fiji through British colonial administration in 1881, not through Indigenous Fijian settlement or cultural absorption.