Dwy Iaith, Reo Rua: Dual-Language Picturebooks in Aotearoa New Zealand and Cymru Wales Siwan Rosser, Nicola Daly & Ilid Haf

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Abstract

Research has begun to unpack the complexity and potential impact of picturebooks featuring multiple languages with regard to reflecting, supporting, and growing linguistic diversity in families and educational contexts. Furthermore, studies (Daly, 2019; Smith & Pryor, 2022; Vanderschantz et al., 2022) reveal how the design of dual-language texts involving minority languages can uphold or subvert dominant language ideologies. In order to explore approaches to the function of dual-language picturebooks in bilingual settings and contribute to a critically informed pedagogy, we offer a comparative analysis of the range and variety of dual-language picturebooks in two contexts of linguistic marginalization and recent revitalization: Aotearoa New Zealand and Cymru Wales. Our findings indicate that the way minority languages are positioned in relation to English in dual-language picturebooks can critique or challenge underlying language hierarchies, and critical engagement with these books offers meaningful opportunities to develop critical awareness of language in education.

Keywords: Picturebooks, Wales, New Zealand, Welsh, te reo Māori, language revitalization

Siwan Rosser is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Welsh, Cardiff University, UK. Her main research interests focus on literature for children and young adults in the context of linguistic marginalization. She has published on constructions of the child and childhood in 19th-century Welsh literature, nationhood and identity, and Welsh translations of Roald Dahl.

Nicola Daly is a sociolinguist and Associate Professor in the Department of Education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, where she teaches children’s literature. Her research explores multilingualism, language hierarchies and linguistic landscapes in children’s picturebooks. Her publications include Language, identity and diversity in picturebooks: An Aotearoa New Zealand perspective (2025).

Ilid Haf is a PhD student in the School of Welsh in Cardiff University researching Welsh-English bilingual picturebooks. She has previously worked for BookTrust Cymru and the Books Council of Wales and now, alongside her studies, works in her family’s Welsh language bookshop.

 

Introduction

The decision to produce picturebooks involving more than one language is driven, in part, by commercial interests, as the potential audience of the book is at least doubled. But through their tacit recognition that most of the world is not monolingual, bilingual picturebooks can create a space to explore relationships between languages and cultures which in turn can aid language learning, redressing the balance between dominant and minority languages. The following analysis will demonstrate that a comparative study of dual-language picturebooks involving minority languages offers a unique opportunity to explore language attitudes and ideologies, and how the relative power of languages is perceived and presented. By recognizing, examining, and challenging positions given to minority languages in relation to English in dual-language picturebooks, this paper informs critical language education (Fairclough, 1992; Porto, 2022, p. 28) and demonstrates an understanding of how bilingual books relate to language policy.

In recent years the recognition of the sociolinguistic and educational significance of dual-language picturebooks, as they are known, has gained momentum. Their complexity and potential impact in terms of reflecting, supporting, and growing linguistic diversity in families and educational contexts has begun to be unpacked (e.g., Domke, 2019; Daly et al., 2022; Haf, 2019; Naqvvi et al., 2013; Zaidi, 2020). There is a range of ways in which multiple languages can be used in picturebook texts which are often viewed as being on a continuum (Daly, 2024, p. 37). That continuum extends from books that use mainly one language, with words and phrases from another language woven into the text (known as translingual or interlingual), to books which present the story in two or more separate versions of the books with the same design and illustrations (known as dual- or multi-versions). Somewhere between these two ends of the continuum are bilingual or multilingual picturebooks which present the story fully in two or more languages, with both or all language texts on the same page, facing pages or in separate sections (see Figure 1). These different formats all aim to achieve the same overarching goal of ensuring the stories reflect and support more than one language in family and educational storytelling contexts.

Figure 1. A typology of Multilingual Picturebooks, adapted from Daly (2025, p. 34), design by Hazel Buroughs

The different dual-language picturebook formats also reflect a range of tensions in relation to sociolinguistic contexts. The main tension arises from the widespread notion in monolingual dominant societies that languages should be kept separate and not mixed (Seals, et al., 2020), contrasted with the reality that languages are routinely blended whenever there is contact between people who use different codes to communicate. From this perspective, translingual picturebooks may be desirable as a reflection of how languages are used and woven together. However, in postcolonial settings where Indigenous languages are being revitalized, maintaining linguistic boundaries may be preferred. This separation can provide the lesser-used language with the space and autonomy that it often lacks in other domains, where societal norms and practices favour the colonial language.

To explore the correlation between dual-language picturebooks and language attitudes and education in relation to linguistic marginalization, we consider with this article evidence from two geographically different locations which share a history of colonization and language loss, followed by a period of sustained and successful revitalization. Specifically, we will explore how the design, format, and frequencies of different types of dual-language picturebooks found in Cymru Wales and Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter Aotearoa) both relate to language hierarchies and policy, and inform critical awareness of language.

 

Description of the Two Contexts

This section will outline the main historical and sociolinguistic features of Māori and Welsh that inform our reading of bilingual picturebooks for children in these two contexts. In Aotearoa, sociolinguistic change during the 19th century was driven by colonization. Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) was signed between the British crown and many but not all Māori chiefs in 1840, after years of interaction between these groups since James Cook mapped New Zealand in 1769. For many years, the treaty was simply forgotten by the crown who forcibly took Māori land during the New Zealand Wars between the mid-1840s and the mid-1860s (Keenan, 2017). However, during the 1970s, a range of movements began to challenge the government for not honouring its Te Tiriti commitments, one of which was to protect te reo Māori, the indigenous language used throughout the country. After much activism, the Māori Language Act of 1987 was passed, recognising te reo Māori as an official language, and establishing Te Taura Whiri o te reo Māori, The Māori Language Commission, whose primary goal is to promote and expand the use of te reo Māori in Aotearoa. In the early 1980s, Māori-medium education systems were established allowing children access to education from kindergarten to tertiary level in te reo Māori. There are Māori television channels and radio stations, and the Wellington-based Huia Publisher focuses on publishing children’s and adult books written by and for Māori readers. The most recent statistics concerning the use of te reo Māori in 2018 show that almost one in every five Māori adults report being able to speak te reo Māori, and a third of Māori people reported understanding te reo Māori fairly well (StatsNZ, 2020).

Wales has also experienced rapid sociolinguistic change over the past two centuries, driven by economic and demographic growth in the 19th century and their subsequent contraction in the 20th century. Most people in Wales spoke Cymraeg (Welsh) as their first language until the late 19th century, and children’s journals serving the needs of Welsh-language Sunday schools formed an integral part of a thriving print culture. However, the language had no foothold in state education, governance and industry, and the association of English with progress and prestige accelerated the acquisition of English. By 1911, Welsh was the language of the minority in Wales for the first time and the percentage of speakers continued to decline thereafter. But with social change and language shift came new efforts to strengthen the Welsh language through education, language activism, media, and publishing (Jones & Lewis, 2019). After over a century of English-medium day schools in Wales, where Welsh was at best discouraged and at worst forcibly suppressed, the first Welsh-medium primary school was established in 1939, and the first Welsh-medium secondary school in 1956. In legislation, a Welsh Language Act was passed in 1993, and with the creation of a devolved government for Wales in 1999, new policies, opportunities, and confidence have advanced the use of Welsh in public life and education. Yet the degeneration of the language in its traditional heartlands has persisted. The Welsh Language Measure of 2011 confirmed the official status of the Welsh language and in 2016 the Welsh Government launched its Cymraeg 2050 strategy, to increase the number of Welsh speakers to 1 million by 2050. In the 2021 census, 17.8% of the population, approximately 538,300 speakers aged three years or older, reported being able to speak Welsh (Welsh Government, 2022a).

 

Literature Review

Previous research on children’s responses to dual-language texts (Naqvvi et al., 2012; Domke, 2019; Daly et al., 2022; Zaidi, 2020) demonstrates how these books support awareness of bilingualism and working theories about what language is. Family responses to Welsh-English dual-language picturebooks were explored by Haf (2019), showing how particular sociolinguistic contexts can shape expectations and attitudes to bilingual texts. In this case, families for whom Welsh is not the primary language gave positive responses to these books, while Welsh-speaking parents, in contrast, were more resistant towards the dual-language books, particularly books which featured Welsh and English on the same page. Other research shows how positively Aotearoa parents respond to bilingual picturebooks involving te reo Māori (Brouwer & Daly, 2022). There is also research about how dual-language picturebooks can be used with preservice teachers (Myerson, 2006; Hartmann & Helot, 2021; Daly & Short, 2022) to raise awareness of multilingualism and to develop critical language awareness in educational contexts.

The design of dual-language picturebooks has also begun to be explored, with several studies using a linguistic landscape lens to critically examine how dual-language picturebooks can support or challenge existing language hierarchies (Daly, 2019; Vanderschantz & Daly, 2023). Additionally, several studies have identified how the format of dual-language picturebooks can be considered in the context of language attitudes, language learning, and supporting indigenous languages in particular (e.g., Smith & Pryor, 2022; Boulard, 2022). Using the linguistic landscape framework to interpret how the unequal power relationship between languages is represented visually on the page, Daly (2017) argues that the presence of a minority language (in this case Spanish in American-English picturebooks) can offer status and visibility to the subordinate language by challenging the dominance of English. Yet, choices regarding both language positioning on the page and typography, which often privilege English, can also reflect and reinforce language hierarchies and the relative status of languages, and have a negative impact on the perception of minority languages (Daly et al., 2022). Furthermore, Hernández Socas (2023) explored the varieties of Spanish used in picturebooks published in the Canary Islands, revealing the underlying unequal power relations between American and European varieties of Spanish, and how biases about the status of coexisting varieties are perpetuated.

In consideration of the driving factors behind the production of dual-language picturebooks, Daly (2020) concluded that authors of dual-language Māori-English in Aotearoa picturebooks are motivated by a desire to increase the presence of te reo Māori in homes and schools, and a desire to positively impact the revitalization of the language. In Wales, Haf (2019) identified that the production of Welsh-English bilingual picturebooks was mainly motivated by publishers who wanted to support a specific audience of non-Welsh speaking parents who have chosen Welsh-medium education for their children and wish to encourage their reading at home. Haf found that the vast majority of publishers choose to translate popular and commercially viable English picturebooks for this market, adding Welsh translations to texts that may already be familiar, or at least reflect familiar Anglocentric publishing trends (e.g. modern classics such as The Gruffalo). As such, the role of translation is a pronounced feature of Welsh-English picturebooks, with translation itself seen as contributing to language regeneration by granting minority-language speakers access to internationally recognized brands and publications.

This literature review indicates that the motivation for the design and reception of bilingual picturebooks is not a neutral endeavour but is closely connected to language power dynamics. The aim of the following study is to understand how dual-language materials for children involving English and minority languages serve to help shape and implement language policy, practices, and attitudes. In bringing together two different minority language contexts, this article will argue that such an understanding of how English interplays with minority languages in children’s picturebooks can enhance critical language awareness and pedagogy and lead to more informed and purposeful use of bilingualism in picturebooks to support marginalized languages.

 

Method

In order to explore and analyze the range of dual-language picturebooks available in the two contexts of Wales and Aotearoa and how they relate to current language attitudes and educational contexts, we selected a range of dual-language picturebooks using purposive sampling (Cohen et al., 2018). The selected books represent a sample that was in print and circulation when this research was conducted. While statistics indicate that there were 450 Welsh-English books in print during 2023 (Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru Book Council of Wales, 2023), similar statistics are not available in Aotearoa. We used the categories presented in Figure 1 to guide but not limit our search. Specifically, we looked for translingual, bilingual, and dual-version picturebooks, and any variations within and external to these categories. In the findings section below, representative examples for each type of dual-language picturebook are examined for each language.

For bilingual picturebooks featuring two language texts within the same book, we used Daly’s (2019) linguistic landscapes of picturebooks method to analyze how the languages are presented. Specifically, we examined the cover, endpapers, and body of each book in terms of language order, size, and typeface style (bold, italics etc.). In the case of translingual picturebooks, we were interested in the typography of the Welsh and Māori words woven into the English text: was the typeface the same, how was the meaning of these words communicated – by context, illustration, glossing in text, or via footnotes? For dual-version picturebooks we examined whether there were any differences in the layout and design by making detailed comparisons of the two versions.

 

Findings

Our findings are presented under the three main categories of dual-language picturebooks: translingual, bilingual and dual versions. In each case, we compare and contrast what is available in Welsh-English and in Māori-English picturebooks to identify the various types of dual-language texts within each category, and describe a representative sample.

 

Category 1: Translingual picturebooks

In both Welsh and Aotearoa contexts, there are examples of picturebooks which tell the story largely in English, and weave words and phrases from either Welsh or Māori into the English text. However, in neither context did we find predominantly Welsh or Māori picturebook texts with English phrases woven in. In this category, a strong contrast can be seen between the number of publications in the two contexts of Wales and Aotearoa. Only two Welsh examples were identified, whereas picturebooks featuring Māori words and phrases woven into English text is the most common form of dual-language picturebook found in bookshops and libraries in Aotearoa (Daly, 2024).

English-Māori translingual. Many English language picturebooks published in Aotearoa feature the use of Māori lexemes woven into the English text (Daly, 2007; Macdonald & Daly, 2013). One early example of this is Patricia Grace’s The Kuia and the Spider first published in 1981. It is a predominantly English text, telling of an old woman (the Kuia) and a spider who lives in her kitchen arguing about whose grandchildren and weaving is the best. Six Māori words are woven into the English text, not differentiated typographically in any way. No glossing is given on the page to explain the meaning of the words, but they are accompanied by Robyn Kahukiwa’s illustrations, and a glossary inside the back cover presents English translations for the six Māori words. Though uncommon at the time, Grace convinced her publisher to produce a Māori language version Te Kuia me te Pungawerewere simultaneously (Grace & Kahukiwa, trans. Melbourne & Kaa, 1981), reflecting the strong push for recognition and revitalization of te reo Māori as the indigenous language of Aotearoa.

English-Welsh translingual. Only two examples of English/Welsh translingual picturebooks were identified in our sample. Tad-cu’s Bobble Hat (Doyle & Spikes, 2014), about a little boy’s relationship with his Tad-cu (grandfather), is a predominantly English text with seven Welsh words common in English usage woven into the text. They are not differentiated typographically and no glossing is given to explain their meaning, although the illustrations can aid comprehension (the noun ‘cawl’ is accompanied by an illustration of soup, for example). Two further Welsh words are visually depicted within illustrations, demonstrating the complexity and uniqueness of picturebooks as a visual and verbal narrative space: the word ‘Cymru’ (Wales) is woven into the bobble hat, and ‘llew’ (lion) is tagged onto an illustration of a lion. In the same way that many New Zealand translingual picturebooks have a Māori-only edition, there is a Welsh-only version of this picturebook, Het Gynnes Tad-cu (Doyle & Spikes, trans. Lewis, 2014).

 

Category 2: Bilingual

Bilingual picturebooks contain two renditions of the same text in two languages and are the most common category of dual-language picturebooks in Wales and Aotearoa. In the following sections, we identify and examine five different types of bilingual picturebooks: those that feature the two languages (1) on the same page, (2) on facing pages, (3) in different sections of the book, and those that include (4) translations in an appendix, and (5) comprehension support. Whilst examples of all but the final type are found in both Aotearoa and Wales, the main difference is the initial configuration of the texts. In Wales, the vast majority of Welsh-English bilingual books are sourced by translating existing English-language picturebooks into Welsh, thereby converting monolingual texts into bilingual versions. However, this is not common practice in Aotearoa, where in recent years many bilingual picturebooks are configured by incorporating both languages from the outset.

Bilingual Type 1: Same page. There are many examples of Māori-English bilingual picturebooks featuring both languages on the same page. Some place Māori first and/or above English, and others present English first. A recent example of a picturebook featuring English text followed by Māori text is Ko Mauao te Maunga (McCauley & Tipuna, trans. Waaka, 2018), a retelling of a traditional pūrākau (traditional story) concerning Mauao, a significant mountain in the region of Tauranga Moana. In this picturebook, English text is given first on the page, with Māori in the same font and size underneath the English text. McCauley has explained that she believes passionately in including te reo Māori on the page to recognize its official status in Aotearoa (Daly, 2020). Another example of a picturebook which presents both Māori and English text on the same page, but with Māori text first, is Ngā Āhua: Shapes (Brown & Parkinson, 2020). The font for both languages is the same, but the Māori text is larger and in bold; thus, Māori is privileged in three ways: order, size, and weight (i.e. the boldness of the type).

Most Welsh-English bilingual picturebooks have both languages on the same page, but there is variation in the presentation of English. The first set of examples, including Anhygoel / Amazing (Anthony, trans. Meek, 2019) prioritize Welsh in terms of order, but present both languages in the same font size, weight, and colour, suggesting a dual audience who may access either text equally or independently of each other, depending on their language choice. The second set of examples place Welsh first, with English in the same font underneath, but with slight differentiation in colour, and include 1, 2, 3, Dawnsio Dawns y Deinosor / 1, 2, 3, Do the Dinosaur (Robinson & Beardshaw, trans. Salisbury, 2019). In the third form of Welsh-English bilingual picturebooks, the Welsh-language reader (or language learner) is explicitly prioritized. The English text is not only placed below Welsh, but it is rendered considerably smaller in size, as seen in Dafad yw Blodwen / Blodwen is a Sheep (Hood, trans. Meek, 2020). As is the case for the Māori text in Ngā Āhua: Shapes, this design in which Welsh is privileged in three ways (order, size, and weight) indicates that it is expected that the content of the book will be accessed principally through Welsh; the English text is unobtrusive and positioned so as to support the reader (perhaps an adult) if they are not fluent Welsh readers.

Bilingual Type 2: Facing pages. Placing two language texts on facing pages is the least common type of bilingual picturebook; it is uncommon in both Wales and Aotearoa. One example is Mere Whaanga-Schollum’s (1990) award-winning picturebook Tangaroa’s Gift / Te Koha ā Tangaroa. In this retelling of a traditional pūrākau about how the pāua (abalone) shell got its colours, the Māori text appears larger and is presented second on the cover, but within the picturebook it appears on the verso page, and the English is presented on the recto (in the 2016 edition, the Māori and English titles are equal on the cover). It has been argued that when text is spread across the page in this way in an orthography which is read from left to right, the text on the verso will be read first, meaning that the Māori text is given a prominent position. However, according to book publishing convention, it is the text on the recto page that is privileged when reading from left to right, as the eye lingers longer on the recto page. As such, the English text can be said to be privileged, despite its positioning to follow the Māori text. Only two Welsh examples were found of this type, Pwyll a Rhiannon (2020) and Branwen (2021), originally written in English and illustrated by Aidan Saunders, with the Welsh adaptation by Mererid Hopwood. These are both retellings of traditional Welsh tales from the Mabinogion, and their content and format suggest an older reader than the other picturebooks discussed in this article. The Welsh text is on the verso page in roman font and English is on the recto page in italics. Welsh is privileged by order and font in the body of the text and on the title page, with the use of Welsh proper nouns as the main title, but again the position of English on the recto page complicates this dynamic.

Bilingual Type 3: Different sections. This third type of bilingual picturebook in which its two languages are given in separate sections of the book is present in two forms, as consecutive sections and as tête-bêche (head-to-tail). Several picturebooks in Aotearoa separate Māori and English by placing them in consecutive sections of the book. Examples located place English in the first two thirds of the picturebook, and the Māori text in the closing third, with the font and illustrations decreased in size. A book in this form is Ten Plucky Penguins (Hinde, 2015). A second form of bilingual picturebook which presents the languages in different sections of the book, is known as tête-bêche, where both versions are printed back-to-back. The text in one language is given in the first half of the book, then the book can be turned upside down to be read in the second language, with both versions (identical in length and design), meeting at the centre of the book. One such example from Aotearoa is The Tree House Treaty / Tiriti o te whare rākau (Grace & Potter, 2006).

In contrast to the prevalence of this type in Aotearoa, only five Welsh examples were located. In Dyfala Faint Rydw i’n Dy Garu / Guess How Much I Love You (McBratney & Jeram, trans. Mair, 2002), the Welsh text appears in the first section of the picturebook (29 pages) with double-page spreads. In the second section of the book (6 pages), the English text appears in condensed form together with illustrations. This second reduced English-language section is designed in a way that can be read by or to a child, despite the decreased font and illustration size. The tête-bêche format has also been used for a collection of four Welsh-English books, Straeon Bach y Byd / Little Stories from Around the World (Jewitt, trans. Gruffudd-Fleming & Umer, 2023–4).

Bilingual Type 4: Translation as appendix. This type is less common in Wales than the same page bilingual picturebooks, but it is increasingly used by a range of publishers. In Aotearoa however, it appears to be used by only one publisher. It is different to the previous type (‘different sections’), since the English text is given as a reference point at the start or end of the book, without accompanying illustrations or design features; it is therefore not presented to be shared and enjoyed alongside the illustrations.

The Te Reo Singalong series of over 30 picturebooks, in which a story is told solely in Māori, with an unillustrated English translation either at the end or the beginning of the picturebook, are one of the few examples of this type in Aotearoa. Two examples are E hia ngā moe? (Holt & Hinde, 2013) and Matariki (Holt & Hinde, 2018). Both books have only a Māori title, and the body of the book has only Māori text. The English translation for each is given in a red sidebar on one of the first or last few pages of the book, with no accompanying illustrations. These pages also include teaching suggestions and guitar chords to sing the words of the book as a song. A CD and QR code linking to an online version of the song is also included.

One Welsh example is Jamborî’r Jyngl / Jungle Jamboree (Empson, trans. Dafydd, 2019). A banner on the cover signals that the English text in this picturebook is provided at the back of the book. The main text is presented in Welsh within the illustrated body of the picturebook, and the English text is given on the inside of the back cover. Eliffant yn fy Nghegin / Elephant in my Kitchen (Halls & Okstad, trans. Karadog, 2021) includes the English text inside the gatefold cover flaps. By unfolding the flaps, the reader can gain easy access to the English version of the text, as required, while keeping a distance between English and the main illustrated Welsh text. The outside flaps of the book present discussion questions in both Welsh (verso) and English (recto). This picturebook also has a picture glossary with Welsh privileged by order, colour, and weight.

Bilingual Type 5: Comprehension support (without full translation). The main text of books in this type of dual-language picturebooks is presented in only one language, but it is framed by bilingual information that renders some features of the text accessible to those who cannot read the main language of the text. In Wales, examples of this type of picturebook are uncommon, and no examples appear to be present in Aotearoa.  

Y Lloches (2020), originally published in French as L’Abri by Céline Claire, is rendered entirely in Welsh; however, the gatefold cover flaps contains a Welsh-English bilingual statement by the translator, Aneirin Karadog. This is not intended as a translation nor an explanation of the plot. Rather it highlights its main themes and the translator’s approach and strategies when adapting the text from French. Inside the front cover flap is a vocabulary list and the back cover flap features Welsh and English discussion questions.

 

Category 3: Dual- or multi-version picturebooks

This third category concerns picturebooks which are published as two or more versions, each in a single language and in physically separate forms. In Wales this form has traditionally comprised books originally written in English and later translated into Welsh. There are also examples of picturebooks published originally in other languages before being translated into both Welsh and English for simultaneous publication. More recently there has been an increase in the number of picturebooks originally written in Welsh being translated into English for publication as dual versions. In Aotearoa, an increasingly more common form of dual-version picturebook is one where the English text is simultaneously published as a translation of the Māori text.

The production of picturebooks in separate Māori and English versions is an increasingly common practice in Aotearoa, particularly by Huia publishers who focus on publishing stories (for adults and children) by Māori for Māori. In 2021, for example, they produced two versions of a picturebook called Mokopuna Matatini (Māori version) and The Greatest Haka Festival on Earth (Tahau-Hodges & Hemi-Morehouse, 2021). In the past Huia published Māori and English versions of a book with the same cover. They now differentiate the covers of the two versions, but the body of the two picturebook are identical in design and illustrations. Other publishing houses are also producing dual versions of picturebooks both synchronously and asynchronously with the same illustrations, cover, and design.

There are three types of dual-version picturebooks found in Welsh. Those originally written in English and translated into Welsh, those originally written in Welsh and then translated into English, and those originally written in another language and then translated into Welsh and English. An example of a book originally written in Welsh is Genod Gwych a Merched Medrus (2019) and Wondrous Women of Wales (Jones-Jackson & Gwyn, 2022). While such books have not traditionally been common in Wales, there has been an increase in translations into English recently, in part reflecting the requirements of the new Curriculum for Wales (2022b) to ground English-medium curricula in more localized contexts, thereby increasing demand for Welsh-themed resources in English.

In the case of picturebooks originally written in languages other than English, some are translated into and published only in Welsh, such as Y Parsel Coch (Wolfsgruber & Alberti, trans. Elenid, 2021), while others are translated and published simultaneously in both English and Welsh e.g. I am an Artist (Sillaste, trans. Cullen, 2021) and Artist ydw I (Sillaste, trans. Jones 2021). The latter examples are published by Graffeg, who appears to be pushing against the trend to publish bilingual books, opting frequently for dual-versions. This choice, while more costly to produce, may derive in part from the publisher’s specific interest in graphic design and illustration, as these elements can be compromised if there are two sets of text on each page or spread.

 

Discussion

Based on our analysis of the types and frequencies of these dual-language picturebooks in the contexts of Aotearoa and Wales, we will examine several issues that relate to language hierarchies and policy which can be used to support readers in developing critical language awareness. The volume and variety of dual-language picturebooks in Aotearoa and Wales, and their increasing number in recent years, attest to the official status of te reo Māori and Welsh in both countries and the relatively recent increased interest in their revitalization. However, the key differences identified in our findings above can be interpreted in terms of the different experiences of linguistic marginalization in both contexts. Indeed, dual-language picturebooks are charged with historical and contemporary sensitivities which we will seek to unpack in this discussion of our main findings.

First, the differences noted in the types and frequencies of different dual-language formats appear to relate to language attitudes and status in Wales and Aotearoa. The predominance of translingual picturebooks in Aotearoa may reflect the dominance of English, which has borrowed words from languages with which it has contact all over the world (McCrum et al., 1986; Daly & Barbour, 2022). It may specifically reflect the changing nature of New Zealand English, which has seen an increase in the number of borrowed words from Māori concurrent with the revitalization of the language (Macalister, 2005). It is common for Māori words to be used in public media without translations into English, assuming that speakers of New Zealand English have these items in their mental lexicon. The question remains as to why the same has not happened in Wales, with its similar timeline of revitalization to te reo Māori over the past 40 years. Studies have shown that the Welsh language has shaped the way English has developed in Wales in the wake of increased bilingualism over the past two centuries (Coupland & Thomas, 1990), but the lexical and syntactical impact on the way English is used and spoken have varied greatly, in line with factors relating mainly to geography and class. As a result, very few Welsh words have been in general use in English across Wales, and even in the case of Welsh words which are culturally well known, such as Eisteddfod (a Welsh cultural festival) and cariad (love), their use in actual English discourse may be limited (Paulasto et al., 2020).

In contrast, New Zealand English has readily incorporated Māori words since European settlers colonized the islands, appropriating existing Māori words to describe new and unfamiliar surroundings. However, the spread of English in Wales during the 19th century was the result of Welsh speakers acquiring English rather than a process of territorial colonization. As a result, English in Wales may have absorbed fewer Welsh words, since the lexicon to describe many features of a shared British environment, culture, and social fabric had already been developed within both languages. The alacrity with which Māori words were woven into New Zealand English may therefore speak to a difference in status and attitude towards a language spoken by an Indigenous people when compared with the situation of the Welsh language in Wales.

The second point of difference is that the majority of Welsh bilingual picturebooks place the Welsh text ahead of the English, whereas many bilingual picturebooks in Aotearoa place English first. This may reflect differences in the social and political history of the two languages and may relate to their power and status in relation to English. With regard to education, while English was the normalized language of state schooling in 19^th-century Wales, educational materials were produced from the beginning of the 20th century to support the teaching of Welsh, and their volume increased with the advent of Welsh-medium schools. As a result, the production of children’s books in Wales throughout the 20th century concentrated mainly on monolingual Welsh-language publications, with English-language material provided by British and international publishers. Despite being a minority language, the Welsh language thus has significant cultural capital within the publishing sector. This is reflected in its predominance in bilingual picturebooks, a practice that allows Welsh speakers to view their language favoured above English, usually by means of language order and font size. This positioning of Welsh can be understood in the wider context of linguistic justice (Lewis, 2016). If bilingual books merely reflected the social position of the language, Welsh would be marginalized and less prominent than English on the page. However, to allow speakers of minority languages such as Welsh the ‘opportunity to use their favoured language and to strive for its continued success and survival’, resources such as books can provide key ‘background conditions’ to give minority languages parity of esteem with English (Lewis, 2016, p. 597).

Consequently, dual-language picturebooks for children in Wales serve to underscore and implement aspects of language planning and policy intended to support Welsh speakers to exercise their linguistic human rights, and to promote the learning of Welsh in domestic and educational settings. Haf (2019) notes that children’s books in bilingual formats are being produced in significant measure to support home learning for children from mixed- or non-Welsh speaking backgrounds entering Welsh-medium education. Parents who find themselves distanced from some aspects of the educational experiences of their children see the advantages of bilingual picturebooks as an effective tool to connect with their children’s language learning. The fact that Welsh always appears first on the page indicates that these publications are designed to be perceived predominantly as Welsh-language texts, utilized primarily to support and strengthen children’s acquisition of Welsh, with the addition of English either aid in understanding or to stir the potential interest of non-Welsh speaking parents and caregivers. This dominance within the linguistic landscape of the text reverses the substantive marginal position of Welsh, reflecting a confidence in using Welsh in spheres relating, in particular, to education and culture.

By contrast, in Aotearoa the sustained privileging of English in many bilingual picturebooks may function to reflect the impact of colonialism on the development of Māori in education over the past two centuries. Although high levels of Māori literacy were evident during 19th and early 20th century (Derby, 2021), there was an emphasis on assimilating Māori children into Pākehā (New Zealand European) culture, with children being even physically punished for speaking Māori at school (Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2022). Post-WWII Māori urban migration and a deliberate policy of separation of communities and families in state housing further served to entrench English as the dominant language, and te reo Māori entered a period of severe decline. This acted to prompt various revitalization efforts during the 1970s and 1980s (Higgins & Keane, 2015). Māori-medium schools were established soon after the 1987 Māori Language Act, and picturebooks produced during the 1990s were largely only in Māori, designed to support children in the Māori-medium education system. In the 2020s, however, the increased number of bilingual picturebooks from both small and large publishers in Aotearoa may reflect the increased use of te reo Māori in English-medium educational contexts, and a desire by many Pākehā families and the state to ensure that New Zealand children from English-speaking homes acquire some proficiency in te reo Māori as well (Daly, 2024).

The prominent position of English in many Māori-English compared to Welsh-English bilingual picturebooks may well reflect the concrete impact of colonization on Māori people, and their Indigenous culture and language since the 19th century. But the use of bilingual books in both Wales and Aotearoa today reflects how they support family language policy – the decisions and practices bi- or multilingual families employ to support informal language learning in the home (King et al., 2008) – as well as language revitalization more broadly across the society. As language revitalization ‘is an attempt to counter trends that have influenced decline in the use and learning of the language’ and ‘a conscious effort to change ideas, values, attitudes and behaviours’ (Williams, 2014, p. 242), picturebooks that privilege minority languages can be seen as important tools to challenge and undercut the hegemony of English.

Within the second category described above, we have been able to identify examples of bilingual same-page books in both Aorearoa and Wales that clearly foreground the minority language by order, size and weight, and types where the English text appears elsewhere in the publication, such as on gatefold flaps. These examples support minority-language revitalization by positioning English as peripheral to the now more centralized minority language. As a result, complete accessibility of the text is not possible for the monolingual English reader who must search to locate the translation or accept summaries rather than full translations. In this way, Anglocentric readers are being reminded of the limits of their knowledge (see Bohata, 2009) and existing ‘attitudes and behaviours’ (Williams, 2014, p. 242), which usually give precedence to English, are being undercut and questioned. Reading these types of picturebooks in the context of language learning and teaching can enhance critical literacy by exploring how languages are positioned in relation one to another, and ‘how issues of ideology, power, difference, and identity are linked to languages’ (Porto, 2022, pp. 27–8).

However, the more common practice in Aotearoa and Wales of providing full versions of the text in both languages on the same page, often in the same font size and weight, suggests an unwillingness to frustrate or exclude the monolingual English reader. As a result, such readers are not encouraged or required to look beyond their own language. Consequently, the potential to disrupt the unequal balance of power that can promote minority-language revitalization and support for language learning is diminished. Despite raising awareness of minority languages, we believe that these examples of bilingual picturebooks are essentially a representation and commodification of the ideal of bilingualism as perceived from a dominant and often monolingual language perspective. That is, they represent the idea that if both languages are present on the page and afforded equal status the reader can choose which language to follow, and the reading experience in both languages is expected to be the same. We argue that this is a misconception and does not acknowledge the unequal power relationship between the status of the two languages.

In the context of linguistic justice, we commented earlier that bilingual picturebooks have the inherent potential to support speakers’ linguistic human rights by giving them the means to use their favoured language. But bilingual picturebooks that do not clearly differentiate between the dominant and minority languages do not challenge or remove the pressures that can discourage the use of minority languages. This then limits their potential to provide meaningful opportunities for speakers to use their favoured language (Lewis, 2016). For example, the current emphasis on producing bilingual books, rather than dual-version books, in fact favours the already dominant English language and inadvertently serves to engage Māori- or Welsh-language publishing in a struggle for power between minority and majority languages. Also, while bilingual books may support English-only (adult) readers, when both languages occupy the same space on the same page as they do in some bilingual picturebooks, this can be seen to compromise the concrete reading experience of Welsh and Māori speakers, as suggested by the resistance to bilingual picturebooks expressed by Welsh-speaking parents in Haf’s study (2019).

In this sense and following on from the work of Vanderschantz and colleagues (2022; 2023), we wish to argue that the design of the text in bilingual picturebooks needs to be carefully considered with regard to the books’ intended audience and purpose. Linking back to Haf’s work (2019), we suggest that bilingual picturebooks could have a particular role in families where the children have stronger language skills than their parents. By reading bilingual picturebooks, using them constructively and focusing on the non-dominant language, parents can develop their own bilingualism through working with their children, as was found in a study using dual-language picturebooks with parents to support the use of te reo Māori in English-dominant homes (Brouwer & Daly, 2022). Also, dual-language picturebooks have the potential to support the teaching of a minority language as a second or additional language in mainstream schools – as attested evidentially in Ibrahim’s (2025) study of the pedagogical affordances of dual-language Northern Sámi-Norwegian picturebooks.

Our consideration of the books returns to the political and cultural context in which they are created, and one of the reasons for the differing types and proportions of dual-language picturebooks in Wales and Aotearoa may link with the notion of proximities and relative power. The fact that there are fewer translingual Welsh picturebooks may reflect the immediate proximity of England to Wales. This proximity may have led to stronger resistance to the interweaving of the two languages. Although Wales ‘might be considered the first colony of an expanding English state’ (Williams, 1990, p.19), its anglicization was a gradual process over centuries, which allowed the Welsh language to gain footholds and confidence in spheres not directly sanctioned by the state, such as the publishing industry. Furthermore, this proximity permitted Welsh people, through their acquisition of English, entry into a British social order (Williams, 2014).

In corollary, the fact that distant seas separate Aotearoa and Britain may have resulted in less desire to keep the languages separate, and a softer boundary between the languages developed. It could be that early colonial attitudes when plants and cultural artefacts were collected and appropriated are also present in the borrowing and use of Māori lexical items in New Zealand English today. Although contemporary translingual Aotearoa books may seek to incorporate, acknowledge, and celebrate Māori language, culture, and heritage in the English-language sphere, the prioritizing of English in bilingual picturebooks still speaks to the repercussions of colonial cultural hierarchies and linguistic hegemony.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, our article has explored the range of forms of dual-language picturebooks in two geographically distant contexts where there are operative programmes of language revitalization. We have shown that the categories of dual-language picturebooks previously described in the literature are found in Wales and Aotearoa, but in different frequencies which may reflect the histories and geographical locations of both countries. Through a comparative analysis of the range and variety of dual-language picturebooks, we have identified key differences in experiences of linguistic marginalization and recent revitalization, as well as identifying how decisions regarding design and format can impact the potential of these texts as tools of language learning and critical language awareness. Dual-language picturebooks offer important markers for minority languages to be seen within bilingual settings. By offering opportunities for speakers to use their favoured language, they are a tangible way of shaping and concretely implementing language policy and providing background conditions for linguistic justice. But the unequal power dynamic between minority and majority languages is often reproduced on the page, thus limiting the transformative potential of bilingual picturebooks to influence minority language revitalization.

The application of our study is thus threefold. First, for those involved in the production of dual-language picturebooks, an enhanced understanding of the impact of language order and format could lead to more purposefully designed books to support language learning, bilingualism, and cultural awareness in families and schools. Second, in the context of family language policy, our findings can assist parents and caregivers in making informed decisions regarding the types of bilingual books best suited to their experience of bi- or multilingualism in the home. Finally, in education, an understanding of how sociolinguistic factors, including language planning and policy, concretely shape and impact bilingual picturebooks can increase educators’ awareness of how English relates to other languages, and particularly in postcolonial settings, the importance of destabilizing its traditional dominance within the classroom. Critical readings of dual-language picturebooks involving English and minority languages contribute to critical pedagogy by encouraging teachers to examine underlying biases regarding language and power, language use, and equity, thereby offering them ways to resist linguistic imperialism (Porto, 2022) and develop learners’ critical literacy. Future research is needed to explore how child and adult readers engage with bilingual and translingual practices offered within dual-language picturebooks in the context of their own language learning and development of cultural awareness.

 

 

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