Ask most Māori and they will have their own personal story to follow the answer to the question, ‘how important is pronunciation anyway’? The ones with a lingering sting often relate to names of people and places precious to them. They can tell you who, where, and what happened blow by blow with the lasting, albeit unintended impact, when a name or word is repeatedly mispronounced.
Pronunciation is a hard one to talk about. Focus on it too much and people can feel offended, affronted, and be put off even trying. Don’t focus on it and the status quo reigns. Watching my son live with a Māori name on a daily basis leads me to spend a little time shining some light on the topic, to share a story or two, and some tips for the kete.
My Story
My story starts with me, Nichole Catherine Gully, a good Pākehā name given to me by my plump Pākehā mum, from Porirua. Although renowned in many an East Coast wharekai for her perfect pavs, my mama bear was not one for reo, never learned it, and she had many a reason to avoid learning to pronounce things in Māori. My sisters and I would constantly cringe and correct to no avail.
….and then DUN DUN!!!… her mokopuna were born.
Manukorihi Mia Arita Wilson, John Kanuta Rewiri, Wiremu Michael Rewiri, and my boy, Tanirau Tahurākau Inia… and she HAD to learn to say their names. Boy did things change like the Pantene advert promised. On their arrival, she finally got why it was important and went about working out how she was going to make it work for her. Choosing avoidance and reasons was no longer an option. Some of these strategies are shared below.
How hard is it?
So let’s unpack some of Mama Thelma’s reasons, because she does make some valid points. Learning a language is hard work; getting your ear tuned in and tongue twisted around new words is not easy. The research argues that there is a critical period in language learning, and although a second language can successfully be learned as an adult (not just as a kid), developing a native-like accent is often NOT achievable. However, improving accent is VERY possible. This is especially true in Māori, as most of the sounds are also present in English; it’s all about cracking the code and matching up the puzzle pieces like the following examples:
Today is Tūrei, the number two day is Tūrei
Dead eel mouldy
Many errors in pronunciation are made because people read Māori words with their English reading glasses (coding). The first example, Tūrei, sounds similar to the English ‘Two day’, and ‘te reo Māori’ to, ‘Dead eel mouldy’. The same letters, but the codes are quite different. Some letters make different sounds, like wh, r, t, ng, as do the vowels and vowel blends. And if that wasn’t enough, how we break up syllable sounds in a word is also not the same. So much to remember!!! It’s all about tips, tricks, time you commit, but most of all knowing for yourself why giving it a good crack is important.
Some tips and tricks.
There are loads of websites, apps, and books that have pronunciation guides and tips like Kōrero Māori. Below are some of the tried and true top tips I have used and shared.
I don’t make mistakes. My hypotheses merely require reformulation.
The inter-language continuum (my favourite second-language acquisition theory) taught me as a language learner and a self-professed perfectionist, that I NEVER make language mistakes. What a weight that lifted! Instead, on the language-learning journey we make and test language hypotheses. Some are spot on, others need reviewing and resetting so we right-shift along the continuum from newbie to being in closer proximity to a native-like speaker.
Inter-language continuum
There are two groups who live on the continuum. The right-shift travellers are the Wants to, Tries to, who just do it, then there are the Can’ts, Won’ts who don’t. They have set up camp and aren’t ready to shift yet, and may not. The continuum gave me the power and permission to give everything a crack without all the pressure of getting it WRONG. When I owned that, right-shifting was smoother. I now gift this to you, if you don’t already own one — and here is a spare one to share with a friend. Choose to do with it, what you will.
Moral of the story is Mama Thelma found bigger reasons WHY, to over shadow the WHY NOTS, and sniffed out strategies that worked for her. She’s nudging right on the continuum, and in our whānau Manukorihi Mia Arita Wilson, John Kanuta Rewiri, Wiremu Michael Rewiri and Tanirau Tahurākau Inia know their plump, Pākehā nan from Porirua wants to, tries to, and does say their names with all the love and respect they deserve.
Nichole Gully
Latest posts by Nichole Gully (see all)
- How important is pronunciation anyway? How hard is it really? - December 12, 2014
Ngā mihi Nichole
Loved this…your mother did well for her mokopuna…. Great read for all, with challenges for us too. Keep up the wonderful advocacy for the promotion of our Reo. He taonga tuki iho.
Ngā mihi rā Phoebe. Ko koe ki tēnā, ko ahau ki tēnei kīwai o te kete e ora ai te reo, angitu ai ngā tamariki.
Katahi nā koe Māmā Thelma! Mā te tuakana e tōtika i te teina, mā te teina e tōtika te tuakana.
Tika tonu Whaea Rau. Ki te tautoko tētahi i tētahi ka koke whakamua, ka koke whakate matau.
Kia ora Nicholle,
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Kairoi te maunga
Ko Whaingaroa te moana
Ko Hoturoa te tangata
Tainui Āwhrio ngunguru te ao, ngunguru te pō.
Ko Waikato/ Maniapoto te iwi.
He mea whakamīharo ake ki a au te akoranga whakateretere ake i te reo. He tino kaupapa hoki rā tēnei ki tāku titiro.
Ka tāea tonu nei tāua te āta kōrero ki tēnei kaupapa mā runga īmera, mā runga wāea rānei kōrerorero ai?
Nei rā tāku īmera kia kite ai koe te tūhonohonotanga mai inā ka hiahiatia ake.
Mauri ora atu rā
Piripi
Tēnā koe i tō whakapeto ngoi ki tō tātou reo kāmehameha me tō pākiki ki tēnei o ngā kaupeka. Whakapā mai a-imera nei e hoa nichole.gully@core-ed.org
Ka rawe, Nichole. I really miss working with you…
Back at you Jo. Be great if we could work out a way to do something together again. Have had some ideas actually which I'd be keen to talk to you about.
Wonderful post Nicole. It's true, pronunciation is a sensitive subject — as a beginner in Te Reo Māori I can totally empathise with the fear people feel when trying to tackle a language they're not native to, but the rewards are so worth the risk! When I'm feeling apprehensive about using another language, I try to remember that when I'm listening to someone for whom English is their second language, I'm always super happy to cut them some slack — in fact it's really interesting experiencing your own langauge through someone else's learning of it — therefore, whoever has to listen to my baby-Māori is most likely doing the same thing for me! Ka rawe!
Ngā mihi mutunga kore e hoa. Kua whāia e mātou, e ō hoamahi Māori, tō ara ako reo i ngā tau tata nei. Ka mau te wehi!!! You have been an inspiration to your colleagues and others, your language learning journey and how you have led things reo in our communications. Agree with your idea about cutting each other slack, supporting progress, movement forward…or the right shift on the continuum.
Kia ora rā e kare, e tautoko ana ahau ngā mihi, kua mihia, otirā, ngā whakaaro me ngā urupare kua whakapuaki nei, E kī! kāore au i mōhio e tamahine koe o Porirua i tō whaea taha. Tērā pea e mōhio ana koe tētahi o aku hoa nō te hood nei, ko Rihari Manning? heoti, lovely read and some very good ideas particulalry with developing a accelerated model of learning te reo Māori. In a Kura/ Māori medium context it's been identified as a 'special need' in some kura when comparing the aquisition of learning for a child starting kura with no reo or very little reo, to a tamaiti who is immersed in te reo Māori at home and having attended kohanga reo etc. toru meke!!
Āe rā e hoa. Elsdon hard tēnei, heoi e mōhio pai ana ki te poai nā nō te Creek, ki a Rīhari rā. Agreed with your point about kura recognising the unique needs that tamariki who come from English speaking backgrounds and Māori speaking background and building from where our tamariki are. We do that for our kids, and the question is to what extent do we do that for each other and ourselves as adult learners on the learning journey?
Kia ora Nichole. Great to hear advocates for more accurate pronunciation of one of our official languages! I love the concept of an inter-language continuum. In a similar way, when I am teaching te reo Māori pronunciation to mainstream education teachers, I remind them that we are all on a te reo journey – even when we don't realise that we are! That's because we are all living in Aotearoa, which means we pronounce (correctly or not) Māori language kupu every day, in our place names, street names, people's names, flora and fauna. My own belief is that if we all make an effort to pronounce our Māori place names correctly (such as Rotorua, Porirua and Ngaruawahia) the mana of those places will rise to its full potential and we will be well on the way to a more harmonious nation. Kia kaha.
You’ve got it in a nutshell. It’s a journey which we are all on by virtue of being in Aotearoa and it’s not about perfection, it’s about making getting on the wobbly bridge and just giving it a go. Mā hapa, ka tika, nā reira me hapa, kia tika!
I'm a teacher and I always struggle to pronounce Maori names correctly too, but I do try. I really like your image of being on a continuum from 'newbie' to 'native-like'. It makes it seem less threatening somehow. I don't know any native Maori speakers to try my attempts out on and sometimes worry that I am teaching my class the worng pronunciation. I'm confused by your 'dead eel mouldy' – is that how I should be pronouncing te reo maori?
Hearing you Debby and wow, good on you for 'feeling the fear and doing it anyway'. No doubt you are making a few mistakes here and there. I have made plenty, believe me! My commitment to the language and my learners is to lead by example and be clear about also being on a learning journey. Mistakes are a necessary element to development. Embrace them, learn from them and fear fades away like background noise, ever present for some, but a source of energy as opposed to paralysis.
Dead eel Māori with a good kiwi twang sounds very very similar to how Te Reo Māori sounds. A Māori 't' is softer than the aspirated English 't' much like the softness of an English 'd'. The Māori 'r' is NOTHING like the English 'r' but is formed again in much the same way as the English 'd', so Māori sounds crazily similar to mouldy. Maybe treat it as code cracking, a game you can do alongside the kids and work it out together, The AWESOME thing about Māori is once you have cracked the code, it doesn't change.
There are loads of sound files on the web that can be used as a exemplars. Below are a few
http://quizlet.com/37178490/useful-phrases-for-core-peeps-list-1-flash-cards/
http://hereoora.tki.org.nz/Unit-plans/Unit-1-Ko-au/Reomations/Taku-whanau-My-family
Record yourself on something like: http://vocaroo.com/
Good luck Debby. nichole.gully@core-ed.org. Would LOVE to hear how you progress.
This is fantastic!! Nei rā te mihi nunui ki a koe e te kaituhi miharo – kua whai oranga hou ōku whakaaro hei rautaki kia whakaako i te taonga nei ki a tātou taiohi me te whakaaro nui rā 'karekau he hē, he wāhi kē, he wāhi noa kei kei te ara o te akoako' – love it :-)
Koia koia e hoa. Kei te aro ako tātou katoa ahakoa te taumata o te reo. Ko ngā tihi o ngā maunga, ka taea, ko ngā tihi o te mātauranga, he mutunga kore.
Tēnā ra koe ē Nichole. Ngā mihi o te wā ki a koe mō te tuhinga i tuhia ai e koe ki runga ake nei. Whakaāe ana au ki tā Piripi Waretini, “He tino kaupapa” tēneki mō ngā iwi katoa e noho ana ki Aotearoa nei. He pai anō tā Sharon Holt. Ngā mihi ki a rāua tahi mō ngō rāua whakahokinga kupu.
E pēwhea ana ngōu whakaaro mō tēneki? Ki ngōku ake whakaaro, e rua kē ngā whakahuatanga o te [Tt] i roto i te reo Māori. Kotahi mō te [t] + [i] = Titirangi, kotahi anō mō te [t] + [a] = tamariki, [t] + [e] tekau, [t] + [o] Tongariro, [t] + [u] Tūrangawaewae.
Ki a au anō, he rerekē te “Māori” ki te “mouri.”
Heoti anō, he mea pai ki au ki te pānui haere ki tāu tuhinga. Ngā mihi. Kua tau ngā matimati :D