Te reo Maori

Tena koe, nau mai haere mai (translates to roughly hello and welcome)

The last week of July being Maori language week in NZ, I went along to a training session at work on te reo Maori, which promised to teach me the basics of the language, especially regarding pronounciation.

It was a good opportunity for me to find out what was the right way to say many words, especially place/river/mountain names, for many are still in Maori here. And they sound like totally different each time, depending on who is doing the talking.

I thought with my limited experience of NZ, I would find it hardest. But if you know other languages (apart from English that is), it isn't too bad at all. The pronounciation is very similar to Tamil or any other Indian language. And the class was fun. And what's more, everyone was maha impressed with my multi-lingual skills. After all, four launguages and bits of a couple of others is quite good to people who can speak just one!

Anyways, I came away, much heartened and a little more knowledgeable.

Some interesting facts about Maori.
The language and the people are both called Maori (same for plural).
All words end in vowels.
It is now fashionable to use Maori in workplaces as well, so we go 'Kia ora' or 'Morena'
The NZ or Aotearoa national anthem has two parts, first in Maori and second in English.
Maori is one of the official languages of NZ.

Kaki te anou, for now.

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Funny people, these Brits!! Decades ago, children in school were caned by them for speaking in Maori and told to speak only in English. And now, they spend millions of dollars each year to revive the language which was dying. After having very nearly killed it in the first place.

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Reminds me of what my grandfather used to tell us about his school days (apart from quoting Milton). When he was young, in India, you would be rapped on your knuckles if you spoke any language other than English in school. Ho hum, the colonial mind wasn't very imaginative, for sure.