The Māori-English Bilingual Signage: A guide for best practice is a resource produced by Te Puni Kōkiri and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori to increase and improve bilingual signage throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
Last updated: Rātū, 12 Hōngongoi, 2022 | Tuesday, 12 July 2022
What's on this page?
The guide is packed full of good tips on how organisations can engage with Māori communities and support te reo Māori to be more visible through signage.
Māori-English Bilingual Signage: A guide for best practice
This guide is part of the Government’s strategy to help revitalise our taonga, te reo Māori. It includes background information on how and why the guide was developed as well as a quick reference overview and tips to help an organisation develop a Bilingual Signage Action Plan.
- Download a copy of the full guide (high res): Māori-English Bilingual Signs [PDF, 8MB]
- Download a copy of the full guide (low res): Māori-English Bilingual Signs [PDF, 1.2MB]
The guide was the result of a Cabinet directive and released by the Minister for Māori Development on 9 November 2016.
Media Release: Guide to make Māori language more visible
Principles of Bilingual Signage
There are four key principles to follow to develop high quality bilingual signage.
- Responsive and accessible services
- Visibility of language
- Equality of language
- Quality of language
Design Tips
Several simple DOs and DON’Ts will help organisations meet the four key principles of good quality bilingual signage.
Download our A3 poster of Design Tips for bilingual signs [PDF, 136KB].
Watch the video
Tap along to this classic bilingual song from the Quin Tikis and see how easy it is for anyone to follow bilingual signs.
Thanks to Rim D. Paul and Stebbing Recording Centre / Zodiac Records for the use of this bilingual song Poi Poi Twist.
Take our quiz
This quick and fun quiz will show you how easy it is to follow bilingual signs – even if you don’t speak, or are just learning, te reo Māori.
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