New Zealand's Tongan community are coming together to promote language sustainability this week, as Uike Lea Faka-Tonga - Tongan Language Week begins. "For our Pacific communities, language is more than just a means of communication. It's an important way to link generations and maintain connections to our ancestral roots," Barbara Edmonds said. "This year's focus is on language sustainability through the theme of 'E tu'uloa 'a e Lea Faka-Tonga 'o ka lea'aki 'i 'api, siasi (lot), mo e nofo-'a-kinga' which means 'the Tongan Language will be sustainable if used at home, church and in the wider community'. "We've heard from our Tongan community that grassroots initiatives, speaking Lea Faka-Tonga at home, and total immersion in culture are important to strengthen and maintain language. "Statistics New Zealand data shows that Tongans are our fastest-growing Pacific population with over 82,000 calling New Z