Māori Culture in the eyes of the Pōrangi

Remember! The most important thing in the world is to know how to pronounce the Māori language correctly!
Okay, so maybe I am exaggerating a teeny bit. Nevertheless, you should put a lot of effort into learning the pronunciation before starting to learn the rest of the language. If you do not get the pronunciation correct, it will be very difficult to change the pronunciation of the words you have learned already. So start with pronunciation, work at it, don't do anything else, do not eat, drink or sleep until you have it right.

The Māori language has 5 vowels and 10 consonants. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and the consonants are h, k, m, n, ng, p, r, t, w, wh.

Don't forget that the Māori language has different dialects, so different people may pronounce the sounds a bit differently.

I will be using the sound files from a Māori page so when you have finished reading this page, you should go to that page for more tips on pronunciation (I will remind you later on).

The easy consonants are h, k, m, n, p, t and w, because they are the same as in English. Another consonant that is easy to pronounce is "wh" which sounds like the "f" sound in English (you just gotta remember that one).

Now for the difficult ones (note - ALL vowels are not what you learned in English):

• a: This is like the "ah" sound that you are supposed to make at the dentist, not the "ah" sound of someone falling off a cliff. In different words, it's like the the "o" in the American "pot", not like the "a" in the American "cat". Keep the sound short please.
• e: This is like the "e" sound in "get". Keep the sound short please.
• i: This is like the "ee" sound in "peek". Keep the sound short please.
• o: This is the vowel you need to work on... This vowel does not really appear in English, so you are getting a description instead. You are basically hearing the "aw" sound, but without the "w". Try to start the word "law" but stop before the sound starts to curve for the "w". You should listen to the sound file a few times to understand what the heck I'm trying to say. Let me just mention that sometimes (usually when there is another vowel after the "o") you do get the "w" sound for a full "aw"...
• u: This is like the "oo" in "loop". As usual, remember to keep the sound short.
• ng: One of the two consonants that do not exist in English. It is like the "ng" in "sing" but stop before you make the "g" sound. The tongue is not in the "n" position, instead the back of the tongue is like in the "g" position but without the bursting sound of the "g" from the throat.This may require some practice. Just keep saying the world "sing" without getting to the "g" sound and then try to say "nga" (remember what the "a" sounds like?) without hearing a "g" sound (if you heard a "ga" in there, it is wrong).
• r: This is the other consonant that does not exist in English. Hopefully you know how to pronounce a rolling "r" like in Spanish, and then only "roll" it once. It is something like the "L" sound, but the tip of your tongue is close but does not touch the top of your mouth. Under any circumstances, do not pronounce it like the English "r". It is not that. Do not dare to use the English "r" sound or the spirit of the pōrangi will come to haunt you!
• wh: Remember this one? It is an "f" sound, not the English "w" sound. For the "w" sound - there is a "w" in Māori.

I may be pōrangi, but I did not try to make sound files for you. Instead, I used the sounds from here so you should now go to that page for more tips on pronunciation.

I suggest you come back to this page frequently (every day) when you start with the Māori language until you have it right. Remember, the Māori pronunciation is the most important thing in the world. Without correct pronunciation, you cannot get accepted to the Pōrangi Marae. Can you think of a worse fate?

Now that you have learned all the vowels and consonants, it is time to tell you that there are actually more vowel sounds. You remember that I told you to keep the sound short? Well, if there is a macron on the vowel, the sound is longer (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). In addition, when there are two vowels put together, the sound may be a bit different. For example: "koe" can be pronounced as ka(w)eh or kwe. You can start off by always sounding each vowel separately and eventually you'll know when to change the sound a bit.

In the Māori language, there is always a vowel after a consonant ("ng" and "wh" are considered a single consonant). Therefore, the words never end with a consonant.

One last comment, the emphasis is always on the first vowel (syllable) unless there is a macron on a different vowel. If there is more than one macron, the emphasis is on the first vowel with the macron. There is an exception to this rule (words with "whaka") but we will talk about that later.

That's it. Once you are comfortable with pronunciation, you should move on to the next page...