I am a 51 year old Pākehā wahine and I have been wanting to learn te reo for some time. It started because of my terrible pronunciation that was embarrassing. I just couldn’t get it right, so I would stop trying.
I have two tamariki that grew up learning basic te reo at school and pronounce te reo correctly effortlessly. My generation didn’t get the learning like they did.
My job in midwifery means I have relationships with Māori wāhine and their whānau. Knowing more and having some understanding of Māoritanga is a way to show respect and honour and hopefully can be empowering for them.
Te reo is a beautiful, rich language. It offers such deep nuance with each word, that saying even one word can tell a story on its own. English doesn’t do that.
To kōrero in te reo is my goal and I am slowly getting there. I understand better than I speak at the moment.
Comments