In my last two pieces on New Zealand English I have written about the change brought about by the use of foreign (particularly American) words and the changes brought on by a push from many quarters to introduce Maori words into English. Although all languages must inevitably change, and this can be due to a variety of influences, I fear that New Zealanders are losing something that makes us unique. What's worse, it is the first language speakers who are precipitating this by taking little active interest in their language. Most people today use bought and brought interchangeably and pronounce bare the same as beer, stare the same as steer and fare or fair the same as fear. Very few people can correctly place an apostrophe or a comma correctly every time. And the inability of even our best and brightest to place the word 'only' in a sentence correctly is quite remarkable. Even Singapore has a 'speak good English' campaign - and this is not even their native language.

This is neither pedantry nor a desire to follow arbitrary rules for their own sake. When I need to read a sentence in a newspaper twice before realising that it makes no sense, as written, and then a third time to second-guess the meaning it not only slows my reading down, but it leaves me uncertain about the intended meaning. When news bulletins relate to how New Zealanders are 'fearing' (not, as intended, faring), and I misunderstand the first 30 seconds, this is the fault of the broadcaster.

Part of the problem seems to be that most people, even those who speak it as a first language, don't really understand English. It is seen as something utilitarian, rather than being elegant on its own terms. The education system does not seem to be helping people value English as a language. English, as taught at schools, is about interpretation of texts. People who want to understand language - as opposed to simply speaking it - must either wait until university and study linguistics, or study a foreign language. I have a far greater appreciation of English from studying Japanese than I do from any English that I did. Growing up with a language and speaking it instinctively means never questioning why a language is structured in a particular way; learning a second language means questioning everything - grammar and spelling in particular - and, in the process, questioning the structure of one's own language.

Those whose languages (or even dialects) are endangered normally show great interest in preserving them. A language is part of a culture, and on its own tells us something about the culture. For example in Japanese there are two different names for each relative: the informal one (for discussing one's own family members) and the honorific (when talking about someone else's); similarly, each verb has informal (when talking to friends or inferiors), formal (used when speaking to strangers) and honorific (when speaking to superiors or customers). This alone is enough to tell us that Japanese society is very hierarchical.

What do the changes in our own language tell us? That New Zealanders who speak English as their first language are disinterested in our own culture? Correcting someone who mispronounces a Maori word in English is normal, but correcting someone who mispronounces an English word is pedantry. We are more concerned with a language other than our own, and this is of concern - as I have noted previously, language is an important part of culture and to be more concerned about another language than our own (as Maori and English, respectively, are for most New Zealanders) shows a real lack of confidence in ourselves.

We are no longer proud to speak English. We are not proud of our ancestry. We view our culture as being a generic non-culture, not something unique and to be proud of. We lack confidence in ourselves. The reason that correcting someone's language is seen as pedantry is that English is not seen as part of our national or cultural identity. Just because everyone speaks English these days, we shouldn't be so keen to dismiss it as part of our cultural heritage. The language is important because the culture is important, and I'm going to stick up for both.