First language retention

Note: The data and text for this section is sourced in whole or in part from the following report: Ministry of Social Development (2008), Children and Young People: Indicators of Wellbeing in New Zealand 2008. Wellington: Ministry of Social Development.

Definition

The proportion of young people aged 12 to 24 who can hold an everyday conversation in a ‘first language’ (excluding English) of their ethnic group, for ethnic groups (other than Māori) with an established resident population in New Zealand.(1)

New Zealand Sign Language is not treated as a first language for the purposes of this indicator because of lack of appropriate denominator data (e.g. it is not known how many Deaf people there are in New Zealand). Census 2006 indicates that about 0.8 percent of the population aged 15 to 24 can hold an everyday conversation in New Zealand Sign Language but it is not known what proportion of these users are Deaf.(2)

Relevance

The ability of young people to hold an everyday conversation in the language of their identified ethnic group is one indicator of the extent to which culture and traditions have been retained and passed on to future generations. Language is a central component of cultural identity.

Current level

There is a lot of variation both between different ethnic or language groups, and between New Zealand-born and non-New Zealand-born young people, in terms of first language retention.

In general, young people who were born outside New Zealand are much more likely to retain a first language other than English than those who are born here, and older people are more likely to retain a first language than younger people.

Proportion of young people aged 12 to 24 who have retained their first language, by birthplace and language, 2006

Source: Statistics New Zealand, Census.

Notes

1. The ability to speak the language is defined as being able to hold an everyday conversation in that language. ‘First language’ refers to an indigenous language associated with a given ethnicity as opposed to the language of a person (see methodology report for more information) and excludes Māori and New Zealand Sign Language. Not all measures are provided for all languages, due to small sample sizes in some age groups