WhyamI, amiddle-aged Pa¯keha¯, on a reo journey?

Ito, I started compiling a tally of things I still not quite speaking a language, is it? thought I’d have got round to, but hadn’t. Without the adverbs, locatives and f this is a journey, I’m at the stage just Learning te reo was high on the list. prepositions, and the ability to generate after you’ve lumbered on to the train Despite decades of vague intentions, I had fresh sentences of your own, all those and squashed your luggage in, before somehow neglected to learn the first lightly acquired kupu are just jigsaw actually finding your seat. language of the country where Iwas born. puzzle pieces rattling around in a box. My understanding of Ma¯ori grammar Of course, I already knew the 351⁄ So yeah. It felt like time to learn te reo 2 is negligible, my vocab still meagre and, Ma¯ori words any Pa¯keha¯ use – probably Ma¯ori properly – or at least make a start. given that the course I’ve started is 100 even Don Brash – simply by being in It took three Januarys of failed per cent online, I’m yet to know how bad Aotearoa for most of my life. Kia ora, kia resolutions and saying, ‘‘this would be the my pronunciation might be. kaha, waka, maunga, awa, wha¯nau, hapu¯, year’’, before I finally started googling for

This is my journey, my haerenga, if iwi, hı¯koi, rangatira and kuia. courses in earnest. you will. (Please note: whenever I suavely The names of Maui and various I thought about joining an evening drop in kupu Ma¯ori mid-sentence to show relatives. I read the brilliant Pukunui class where I’d talk with real people. I off, this is mostly because I’ve figured out books when I was a kid, so I knew the liked the sound of language immersion how to copy and paste from the excellent word for stomach –puku, big – nui and, if weekends where you’re forced to learn maoridictionary.co.nz). you put the two parts together, greedy – fast or perish like some sort of linguistic

Why am I, a Pa¯keha¯ Aucklander just pukunui. Outward Bound. In the end Iwent for a shy of 50, having a go at learning te reo However big the list of random kupu 20-week online-only course run by Te Ma¯ori right now? ¯ inOMa¯ori,themanyphrasesyouhalf-Wa¯nangaoRaukawa taki (rack rate

My reasons are, I suspect, pretty recognise from RNZ’s te reo Ma¯ori spiels $2500 or so, free to New Zealanders). standard. About four years ago I was and usage, your pronunciation of Taupo¯ I’m finding it difficult, but also startled to realise Iwas approaching and Whanga¯rei – hell, even if use ‘‘nga¯ enjoying it. I like that I can work at my middle age, and without really intending mihi’’ in your Gmail auto-signoff – that’s own pace. The blend of vocab acquisition, low-key grammar lessons and real-life scenarios in the supplied audio works well. I’ve crammed a few hundred words into my head using an online flashcard programme.

I amstill incapable of constructing a fresh sentence of my own without consulting an array of files and webpages, but I did get a thumbs-up from a colleague when I shyly tried out a ‘‘tino reka te kai’’ (‘‘this food is delicious’’) during ameal.

Also – and I’m not sure whether this means I’m antisocial, or a coward, or (more self-flatteringly) a perfectionist – I love that this course allows me to complete those first, extremely faltering stages of language acquisition from the safety of my own home and laptop.

My plan is that when I finally move to the scary world of a language course where I interact with actual humans, I will already have a baseline vocabulary and some basic grammar ready to roll out, and with any luck no-one will laugh at me.