Kia ora koutou. Ko taku ingoa Shane. Nō Amerika ahau. Kei Te Atatū taku kāinga.
Greetings, all of you. My name is Shane. I am from America. I live in Te Atatu.
…and thus begins my introduction to Te Reo.
Te Reo is the name of the language (translated "the language) used by New Zealand's native people, the Maori.
We've talked a bit about the degree to which Maori culture has been embraced by the country. In fact, when it comes to language, Te Reo is an official language of NZ and is taught in schools – though some more than others. Most place names derive from this language, and officials sign often include both English and Maori words.
Naturally, the relationship between Pakeha (European kiwis) and Maori hasn’t always been great, and there are certainly still issues.
But, coming from America – where we’ve largely ignored native history – to NZ where the native culture is embraced and wounds of the past acknowledged, it's been an eye-opening experience. Again, it's not perfect. But would you believe that recognizing past mistakes and trying to learn from one another is more constructive than telling an entire population to get over it? Strange but true…
Since part of my job is communicating with the public, I thought it would be advantageous to learn some very basic Te Reo. A little effort goes a long way with people who use this language.
However, if you know me, you probably know that I’m terrible at learning languages. In fact, I took French I in 7th grade and 8th grade. When I got to high school, I took French I again – and failed the final exam. So… not good.
In college, I tried out Spanish. No, I don’t know why. The first time I took Spanish I (you can already tell this is not going to end well), I got a D. I retook the course and got a B. Hooray! Then I took Spanish II and had to withdraw so that I didn’t fail. You get the idea.
So, let me tell you what I’ve learned so far.
The Te Reo alphabet has 15 letters – 10 consonants and 5 vowels. The vowels are: A, E, I, O, U. Easy enough.
The consonants are: H, K, L, M, N, P, R, W, WH, NG. Now, those of you who are perceptive might have noticed that two of those consonants are actually digraphs (two letters that combine to form one sound). We have these in English too. Like in the word “enough” the “GH” makes the “F” sounds.
The main difference between Te Reo and English is that in Te Reo, each letter (or digraph) makes one – and only one – sound. This means that once you know how to pronounce each letter, you can read any word and pronounce it correctly. Contrast this with English where a sentence like this requires a range of sounds: "He put a comb and a bomb in the tomb." Ridiculous, right? Rite? Write? Wright?
In Te Reo, all of the consonants make exactly the sounds you think they would make – with the following exceptions: The "R" is kind of rolled, kind of sounds like an "L" and kind of like a "D" -- and is definitely a sound a guy like me will never get quite right. But, if you slightly roll an "R," you’re pretty close.
The "WH" sound is basically pronounced like an "F." Again, there is a slight difference that is deaf to my Pakeha ears, but you get the idea. It’s basically like the "GH" in enough.
The hardest one for me, by far, is the "NG" digraph. It’s basically the "NG" sound in the word singer. That’s easy enough when it’s in the middle of the word, but I haven’t quite mastered starting a word with that sound.
As for the vowels, each of them makes a very specific sound. But, coming from America, where our vowels sound a bit different than in UK or NZ English, I have a hard time figuring out exactly what those sounds are. For instance, my teacher will tell us, “Say the ‘A’ like you do in the word ‘car’”. But, I don’t say the word car like kiwis do. I say it like a Yankee. They say the word car like you do when you pretend to have a terrible Boston accent. I never thought my very bad Good Will Hunting impression would come in handy!
So here’s a guide for you Americans:
A – It’s kind of like the "o" in hot. Or like, “Open up and say ah.”
E – How you doin’, eh?
I – Like the "ea" in eat.
O – Oh, hey there!
U – Like the "ou" in you.
Also, you may have noticed that some of the vowels have a line above them. That’s called a macron. This indicates that you hold the vowel a bit longer.
It’s like the Mitch Hedberg joke, “My girlfriend is named Lynn. She spells her name L-Y-N-N. My old girlfriend's name is Lyn, too, but she spells it L-Y-N. Every now and then I screw up, I call my new girlfriend by my old girlfriend's name, and she can tell because I don't say 'n' as long.”
So, how does all of this work in practice? Take the country Tonga. If you’re like me, your inclination is to pronounce it as "tong-guh." But, it’s actually pronounced “tong-ah”. Or thereabouts.
(P.S. if you’re relying on a 4th week Te Reo student for your pronunciation, you’re doing it wrong. There's much better resources out there.)
Tamāhine means daughter. You’d pronounce it “tah-maaaa-hee-nay.”
Here’s a tougher one: whānau – which means extended family or community. It’s pronounced roughly like “Faaaa-now” but not quite as dorky sounding.
And finally, here’s a fun one: whakanui. This is the word for “celebrate” and is pronounced “fuk-ah-new-ee."
Anyway, I hope you’ve found this to be at least mildly entertaining and interesting. I love my Te Reo class, even though I’m most likely super bad at it. I think the fun part is sounding like an idiot in a group of people who also don’t know what they’re doing. Plus it’s fun getting to know folks at my company who I wouldn’t otherwise meet, learning about Maori culture and language, and taking an hour a week to do something totally different from my day job.
So until next time, hei konā rā. Farewell!
