what language does the new zealand speak?
Esperanto Language English Language Māori language Samoan Language Tongan Language Standard Mandarin Fijian Language
entailment
 English , Māori and New Zealand Sign Language are the official languages , with English predominant . New Zealand English is mostly non @-@ rhotic and sounds similar to Australian English , with a common exception being the centralisation of the short i . The Maori language ( te reo ) has undergone a process of revitalisation and is spoken by 4 @.@ 1 percent of the population . New Zealand has an adult literacy rate of 99 percent and over half of the population aged 15 to 29 hold a tertiary qualification . In the adult population 14 @.@ 2 percent have a bachelor 's degree or higher , 30 @.@ 4 percent have some form of secondary qualification as their highest qualification and 22 @.@ 4 percent have no formal qualification . As of the 2013 census , just under half the population identify as Christians , with Hinduism , Buddhism and Islam being the most significant minority religions . New Zealand has no state religion and just over 40 % of the population do not have a religion . 

entailment
 After the Second World War , Māori were discouraged from speaking their own language ( te reo Māori ) in schools and workplaces and it existed as a community language only in a few remote areas . It has recently undergone a process of revitalisation , being declared one of New Zealand 's official languages in 1987 , and is spoken by 4 @.@ 1 percent of the population . There are now Māori language immersion schools and two Māori Television channels , the only nationwide television channels to have the majority of their prime @-@ time content delivered in Māori . Many places have both their Māori and English names officially recognised . Samoan is the most widely spoken non @-@ official language in New Zealand ( 2 @.@ 3 percent ) , followed by Hindi , Mandarin Chinese , French , and Yue Chinese ( Cantonese ) . New Zealand Sign Language is used by about 28 @,@ 000 people . It was declared one of New Zealand 's official languages in 2006 . 

entailment
 English is the predominant language in New Zealand , spoken by 98 percent of the population . New Zealand English is similar to Australian English and many speakers from the Northern Hemisphere are unable to tell the accents apart . The most prominent differences between the New Zealand English dialect and other English dialects are the shifts in the short front vowels : the short- " i " sound ( as in " kit " ) has centralised towards the schwa sound ( the " a " in " comma " and " about " ) ; the short- " e " sound ( as in " dress " ) has moved towards the short- " i " sound ; and the short- " a " sound ( as in " trap " ) has moved to the short- " e " sound . Hence , the New Zealand pronunciation of words such as " bad " , " dead " , " fish " and " chips " sound like " bed " , " did " , " fush " and " chups " to non @-@ New Zealanders . 

contradiction
 Cook Islands Māori , officially named Māori Kūki ' Āirani , and also known as Rarotongan , is the nation 's official language . There are several mutually intelligible dialects , spoken on the fifteen islands . Rakahanga @-@ Manihiki and Penrhyn are examples . The Cook Islands Maori Dictionary was eventually published in 1995 and included language studies by Dr. Jasper Base of the University of London ( 1957 – 1985 ) , the compilation assistance of Raututi Taringa ( 1957 – 1959 ) , and the works of an Advisory Committee which was established by Dr. Jasper Buse established in 1960 . Pukapukan developed in isolation on the island of Pukapuka and is considered by scholars as a distinct language . 

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 From 1880 Māori MPs in parliament were keen that Māori should be taught in English rather than Māori . At that time missionary schools still taught Māori . This trend was further enforced by the Young Maori Party of the early 20th century which consisted of highly qualified Western educated Māori graduates such as Pomare and Ngata who believed that learning English would help Māori integrate into the modern world . After WW2 Māori , who had previously lived mainly in isolated rural areas migrated into urban areas where there were few Māori speakers . Māori were discouraged from speaking their own language ( te reo Māori ) in schools and work places and it existed as a community language only in a few remote areas . It has recently undergone a process of revitalisation , being declared an official language in 1987 , and is spoken by 4 @.@ 1 percent of the population . There are now Māori language immersion schools and two Māori Television channels , the only nationwide television channels to have the majority of their prime @-@ time content delivered in Māori . Many places have officially been given dual Māori and English names in recent years . Samoan is the most widely spoken non @-@ official language ( 2 @.@ 3 percent ) , followed by French , Hindi , Yue and Northern Chinese . New Zealand Sign Language is used by approximately 28 @,@ 000 people and was made New Zealand 's third official language in 2006 . 
