Nga Hapa Reo: Common Maori Language Errors

Kohikohia ngā kākano 
Whakaritea te pārekereke 
Kia puāwai ngā hua

Kī tonu te pukapuka nei i ngā kākano kia whakarite ai tātau i tā tātou pārekereke kia whai hua tā tātou kōrero Māori.

Tēnei taku mihi nui ki ngā kaituhi, ki a Hona Black rāua ko Te Aorangi Murphy-Fell. He kai reka, he āwhina nui, he koha hirahira ki te akunga houhare, ki ngā ākonga nohinohi, ki te whānau reo Māori, mā te katoa te pukapuka nei.

Nau mai ngā hapa, ko tērā kiwaha te wairua o te pukapuka nei. Ia whārangi ia whārangi i tuhia ai kia reo rua, tuatahi ko te hapa rongonui, arā, te whakamārama i te reo Māori kātahi ka whai te reo Pākehā, kei raro iho nei o aua whakamārama reo rua ētahi tauira kōrerorero. He whakatakotoranga mīharo tēnei, he whakatakotoranga māmā tēnei. Pānuitia kia kotahi te whārangi, pānuitia rānei te katoa o ngā whārangi, kei a koe te tikanga, anei te momo pukapuka. Heoi anō, nāku te katoa o te pukapuka i pānui nā te mea kua heke te kohu nā te nuinga o ngā whārangi. Te mīharo hoki! Hei tauira, ko te rerekētanga o ngā kupu nei, ōrite me te kotahi.

“Ko tā te kupu ‘ōrite’ he whakataurite i ētahi mea e rua, tangata mai, kai mai, aha atu mai rānei….Ki te kore te rerenga e hāngai ki te whakataurite, ko te kupu tika hei whakamahi i aua horopaki ko te ’kotahi'"

Kāore anō au kia mārama ki ērā i mua i tēnei pukapuka. Ki tōku nei whakaaro, ka kōwhiringia e ngā kaituhi ngā hapa rongonui i te ao noa iho, ehara i ngā hapa katoa, arā, ka whakarāpopotia e rāua ērā i te pukapuka nei. Ko tētahi o ngā hua nō ā rāua mahi, ki ahau, i haumaru ai rāua i te ao o ngā hapa. Āe, whakaputa ai te hunga matatau, te hunga nohinohi, te akunga houhare i ngā hapa i te ao, heoi anō, e pai ana tērā nā te mea kei te ako tonu, kei te ako ngātahi, kei te āwhina tātou katoa. Koinei te ao Māori, koinei tētahi tauira o tō tātou kotahitanga.

This proverb demonstrates the abundance of seeds of knowledge found in every page of this book which support us to prepare and nourish our garden beds of learning in order for our Māori language skills to flourish.

I absolutely must acknowledge the authors of this book Hona Black and Te Aorangi Murphy-Fell. They have generously shared their expertise with all learners of the Māori language whether they be fluent speakers already, intermediate learners or absolute beginners. The clever lay out of the book meets the needs of all types of learners and speakers of the Māori language. This book is an important addition to the corpus of much needed Māori language books.

Nau mai ngā hapa! This is a saying which welcomes all mistakes for it is in our making mistakes that we find our most beneficial learning. This saying is epitomised in this book. All mistakes are welcome here.

The layout of each page in the book, the use of both Māori and English translations makes the book accessible to all readers. It is an easy to follow book and is designed that you may dip in and out of the book at any point or read the book all in one go. I enjoyed the book so much, I have read it from cover to cover and will continue to refer to the book as needed.

One of the gems which I had not known before was the difference between the words ‘ōrite’ and ‘kotahi’. “The word ‘orite’ (same) is used when comparing two things, such as people, food and so on….If the phrase does not involve comparisons, the correct word to be used in those contexts is the word ‘kotahi’ “

It is my view that this book is a safe space for mistakes and normalises that we all make mistakes regularly regardless of who we are and where we are on our language journey. In my opinion, one of the benefits of this book is that it brings together the fluent, intermediate, beginners and native speaker of the Māori language as we are all always learning, we are all always making mistakes but the important thing is that we are doing it together. And this is just one other example of Kotahitanga in the Māori world.