A wee rant in the hope that once I excise this it’ll stop derailing my day.
So I blocked someone for sending me a DM asking me to do some Te reo Māori translation for them for some of their writing. I blocked them because they overstepped some boundaries... 1/7

I don’t do unpaid favors for people unless they’re my whanau or a friend. If that person had actually *known* me they would know that I don’t speak Te reo Māori. Moreover, they would know that this is a source of immense pain for me. 2/7

If I *did* speak Te reo Māori offering to pay me in coffee (again someone who knows me knows I don’t drink coffee) and cake is pretty insulting. At least offer me blankets and muskets
Translation is a skill and art in of itself — one that should be valued. 3/7

That I was approached out of urgency (looming deadline) is manipulative. Also — this sort of work shouldn’t be left to the last minute! Again, it is a highly specialized field: respect translators’ work. 4/7

If I (someone you don’t know very well or at ALL) am the only Māori you know to ask, then why the fuck are you writing in that sphere anyway? Why would I want to be associated with a work and a writer that didn’t consider a Māori perspective from the outset? 5/7

So yeah. This expectation that Māori will do a whole lot of cultural advising (also a specialist profession! That doesn’t get paid in coffee and cake!) at the drop of a hat for free is INFURIATING.
Stop it. 6/7

Tldr; pay actual Te reo Māori translators and editors to translate for you, not me. 7/7