Sense and sensibilities: Translating picturebooks into te reo Māori
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This is a conference contribution presented at Indigenous Voices in Children’s Literature, hosted by Waikato Picturebook Research Unit (WaiPRU), Te Kura Toi Tangata | School of Education, Waikato University. © The authors.
Abstract
What goes through the mind of an expert translator as they take a European language and transform the text into a Polynesian one? Should it be a literal translation, a poetic translation or full of common slang and uncommon idiom? What is more important here - the translation, the story or the reader? This lecture and workshop walk you through the decision-making behind turning English language picturebooks into the Māori language appropriate for a Māori audience. We dive into Tūhoe translator Kawata Teepa's processes from his first book at HUIA Publishers Ngārimu: te Tohu Toa to the many books with Sacha Cotter and Josh Morgan: Ngā Kī (2014), Te Kaihanga Māpere (2016), Te Pohū (2018) and Ringa Kōreko (2023). What did it take for Kawata to bring these stories to life in te reo rangatira? Are there translation concepts and methods that we can generalise and take away with us for our own creative projects?
Citation
Joseph, D., & Teepa, K. (2026, February 2-5). Sense and sensibilities: Translating picturebooks into te reo Māori [Paper presentation]. Indigenous Voices in Children’s Literature Summer School, Hamilton, New Zealand.