being a non fluent speaker makes me feel like I have lost something, some expressions in te reo Maori sum up ideas way better than the words in English, they explain the maori perspective as well, the link between the way the words have more than one meaning is something non maori speakers don't get, its like missing the punchline of a joke, if you have to have it explained its spoiled. I want my mokopuna to speak fluent language, my grandson didn't know that kai was the maori word for kai, he just thought it was the word for kai, i want that for all the words. In his classroom he was searching around for the new maori word for kai.