Maori Made Easy - Week 4

Tāwhaitia te reo e rongo ana koe.
Imitate what you are hearing.

When I began learning Māori, one of the methods I used to accelerate language acquisition was to ‘imitate’ the style, subtleties, nuances and flow of expert speakers. To ‘imitate’ means to copy someone or something, or to do something the same way. My learning experience was enhanced and my language acquisition was accelerated by copying
the sentence structures and words used by our expert native speakers.

So, pick an eloquent speaker of Māori, learn their style and begin to imitate the way they speak!

For this next activity, close your eyes and listen to the five sample Māori sentences on the website. These sentences are all whakataukī or proverbs. They are great to learn because they are one-off statements that are very Māori in meaning and can be used in many contexts. They are listed below, but don’t look at them yet.

First, listen carefully to how they are being said in the video and try to make the same sounds.

Hear the sounds and don’t try to see the words. Listen many times, not  just once!

Ināianei me ako ngā whakataukī.
Now learn the meanings of each proverb.

Hōhonu kakī, pāpaku uaua.
Long on words, short on actions.

Okea ururoatia.
Never say die.

Iti noa ana he pito mata.
From the withered tree a flower blooms.

E kore a muri e hokia.
What’s done is done.

Kia mau ki te tokanga nui a noho.
There is no place like home.