When you visit New Zealand you will immediately become aware of the Māori language, as many of the place names are indigenous. At first you may be puzzled by the seemingly impossible-to-pronounce names. In fact, Māori has a logical structure and, unlike English, has very consistent rules of pronunciation. The Māori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa - land of the long white cloud.

The Māori language consists of five vowel sounds: a e i o u (‘a’ as in ‘car’, ‘e’ as in ‘egg’, ‘i’ like the ‘ee’ in ‘tee’, ‘o’ as in ‘four’, ‘u’ like an ‘o’ in ‘to’). There are eight consonants in Māori similar to those in English — ‘h’, ‘k’, ‘m’, ‘n’, ‘p’, ‘r’, ‘t’, and ‘w’. There are also two different consonants — ‘wh’ and ‘ng’. Many Māori pronounce the ‘wh’ sound similar to our ‘f’. The ‘ng’ is similar to our own ‘ng’ sound in a word like ‘sing’, except that in Māori, words can start with ‘ng’.

Try these expressions:

• Kia ora - Hello
• Kia ora tatou - Hello everyone
• Tena koe - Greetings to you (said to one person)
• Tena koutou - Greeting to you all
• Haere mai - Welcome
• Nau mai - Welcome
• Kei te pehea koe? - How's it going?
• Kei te pai - Good
• Tino pai - Really good
• Haere ra - Farewell
• Ka kite ano - Until I see you again (Bye)
• Hei konei ra - See you later