Māori (The REAL Language of New Zealand)

This video is all about the Māori language, the indigenous language of New Zealand.
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Special thanks to Oliver White for his Māori language samples and feedback.
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Intro 00:00
Basic information about Māori 00:17
A brief history of Māori 01:07
Māori pronunciation & orthography 02:16
Basic Māori phrases 04:05
Word order of Māori 05:35
Māori articles & determiners 07:08
Māori possessives 09:26
Māori verbs 11:36
Final sentences 13:08
Final comments 14:41
The Question of the Day 15:47
The following images were used under Creative Commons Share Alike license:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi.... Author: Newzild.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:18.... Restored by: Adam Cuerden
Still images containing the above images may be used under the same Creative Commons Share Alike license.

[@Langfocus]

Hi, everyone! I hope you like the video! Note that at 2:35 it's a *voiceless* bilabial fricative, not a voiced bilabial fricative. If you're learning a new language, try the world-famous *Pimsleur method* in its new-and-improved subscription format: ► imp.i271380.net/langfocus ► *Get started with a free trial!* (Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, so Langfocus gets a small referral fee - at no extra cost to you)

[@_McCormickProductions]

Thanks. Your videos are cool

[@Bourbon_Biscuit]

Ah man you are just great. Keep it up👌👌👍👍

[@Bourbon_Biscuit]

And noted sir🙂

[@therealbosnianestonianball7363]

Nice thanks Paul

[@jourifaries4047]

Done ✅

[@eldeion4146]

I want Maori to survive just for the way they call France. Wīwī. It’s genious. It’s because French people say “oui oui” a lot

[@Findalfen]

Haha c'est bien vrai.

[@John_Weiss]

Oh, that's awesome. 😆

[@vilena5308]

Brilliant.

[@tanet]

I didn't know that 🐓

[@PainterVierax]

maybe it's related to Polynesian French because Metropolitan are more "non-non" or "fais chier" :D

[@kelvindavis172]

Fun fact: there is a Māori dub of SpongeBob (SpongeBob Tarau Porowhā), and it's actually pretty good (from what I've seen of it, at least). Interestingly, despite all of the Polynesian influences seen in the show, like Squidward's moai house or the use of Hawaiian background music, the Māori dub is the only time SpongeBob was actually translated into a Polynesian language.

[@c0ronariu5]

Fun fact: I’m willing to bet you’re not the “real” Kelvin Davis MP. It would be cool if you were though.

[@caramelldansen2204]

@@c0ronariu5 1) that's not fun or a fact 2) more than one person is called Kelvin Davis in the world 3) who cares?

[@kelvindavis172]

@@c0ronariu5 LOL, I forgot there was a Māori MP in NZ named Kelvin Davis! Sadly, I'm not him. 😆 It would've been pretty cool if he did comment on this video, though.

[@geoffaldwinckle1096]

@@kelvindavis172 yeah i wondered that.

[@PrinceDizzy226]

I’ve heard the Māori dub of the song SpongeBob and Mr Krabs sang when SpongeBob had to work at the Chum Bucket. I’ve also heard of the Frisian dub for Gary Come Home but I couldn’t watch the video cause it was taken down for copyright reasons

[@pentelegomenon1175]

It's odd to think that Maori, Tagalog, Hawaiian, Rapa Nui, Malay, Javanese, Malagasy, Samoan, and Fijian are all related, that's a sizeable family.

[@lars-akesvensk9704]

Even Malagasy from Madagascar

[@gsf67]

The connection is irrefutable, and there are many cognates or words that are similar right across the Pacific and parts of Asia. The migration, and exploration must have been phenomenal.

[@pentelegomenon1175]

@@lars-akesvensk9704 Madagascar isn't that weird if you look at it on a globe, Hawaii is much weirder.

[@campbellbailey9614]

@Sanscript where is the linguistic proof for what you say?

[@campbellbailey9614]

As far as I am aware what you say is linguistically in correct. Where is the scientific linguistic proof of what you say?

[@KrisWood]

Here in southern Oklahoma (US), the Chickasaw Nation is making an effort to revitalize their language. My family and I are not Chickasaws, but my husband and son and daughter all three work for the Chickasaw Nation in various administrative positions. As part of employment, they offer language lessons as one way to accrue points toward a yearly bonus. It will be a difficult recovery, but thankfully the tribe is well-organized and has managed their resources extremely well, so they've managed to get extensive recordings of native speakers before they all died out.

[@KrisWood]

As soon as the course is made available to non-employees, I plan to jump right in. I love learning about languages, how they're structured, how they developed over the centuries, etc. I have extended family members who are Chickasaws, but aren't speakers.

[@John_Weiss]

@@KrisWood

[@Sirinwara]

that sounds incredible!

[@RedHair651]

Wholesome content

[@shadowboxing7029]

Reading this just made my day. Kia kaha!

[@evanmurray5920]

There's a band called Alien Weaponry that sings in Te Reo Māori and it sounds so cool.

[@therealbosnianestonianball7363]

Thanks for that I'll check them out

[@kl1541]

And MAIMOA and Stan Walker too! Nice songs in maori

[@vadimkugushev7960]

Oh my god! Thank you so much for this gem!

[@piotrekn3127]

I just posted about it. Goes to show one should check out the previous comments before writing ;)

[@marcusknutsson2714]

They sound awesomely badass!!

[@xxkissmeketutxx]

My mum is Maori but only knows one phrase: ha te mai kittie kai (come to eat). In her childhood, it was illegal to speak Maori in schools. Such a shame. Glad to see it being revived, it's so pretty 🙂

[@kalinsapotato]

Haere mai ki te kai It was so sickening to think of that era and what an attitude there was against Te Reo Māori back then... I'm also glad the tables are turning.

[@minim6981]

"kain" is "eat' in Filipino. And I know some Polynesians say "kai tae" (eat shit). It's "kain tae" in Filipino

[@xxkissmeketutxx]

@@kalinsapotato Thanks for spelling it, I only know how to say it lol, till your comment 💕

[@xxkissmeketutxx]

@@minim6981 That’s funny, I know a Kain and a Taye, I might tell Kane his name has a meaning in Philo 😃

[@sweetsweet3753]

Same - my mum got the strap at school around 1940 for speaking Maori at primary school. Fortunately things have changed but has taken a while.

[@LauraTeAhoWhite]

Me as a Maori: He is probably going to butcher the pronunciations, if he gets any right then I'll eat my pōtae (hat) Langfocus: *Māori.* Me: ( ͡⊙ ͜ʖ ͡⊙) proceeds to eat pōtae.

[@arthurvilain7270]

Paul's pronunciation is usually spot-on, which is impressive considering the number of languages he has showcased on this channel !

[@allanlgeorge]

@@arthurvilain7270 Kua kai au anō i tōku pōtae.

[@LauraTeAhoWhite]

@@allanlgeorge Indeed!

[@wilhelmbittrich88]

Yeah I went into this video expecting it to be just another one where they butcher the word Maori right from the start. I was pleasantly surprised :)

[@ariarose6176]

Bruh ikr I was shocked too lol

[@annebutler5169]

The Irish government is talking about introducing Irish universities where the subjects are taught in Irish. That should help to keep the Irish language from becoming extinct. It is taught at school, but not many people use it after school. There are areas where only Irish is spoken.

[@ByteMe619]

at universities in Wales, there are certain modules that are only taught in Welsh, and anyone who speaks Welsh has the option to write any exam/essay in Welsh. I hope other countries around the world do this for language that are in danger of becoming obsolete

[@dariuszdudka1991]

Perfect

[@sdrawkcabUK]

Good to hear... hopefully Cornish too.

[@gerald4013]

Not many people use it after school because Irish is so badly taught that even after more than 10 years studying it, most pupils aren't fluent in it. Actually many Irish language teachers don't speak it properly either... Not enough is done to save the language, probably on purpose...

[@PainterVierax]

@@gerald4013 The same can be noticed for Breton : the teachers and the few people on the media aren't native speakers, as the contrary of elders.

[@dactylntrochee]

I'm reminded of a stand-up routine I heard years ago where the comedian proposed a trade agreement between Hawaii and Yugoslavia. In the interest of achieving normal phonemic balance, the Slavs would export consonants, and the Pacific Islanders would ship vowels.

[@quinterbeck]

That is such a niche joke and I love it

[@ladymarianne793]

As a greek trying to learn Croatian, I totally relate !🥰🥰😁😁

[@AvrahamYairStern]

@@ladymarianne793 Don't you mean "S ' Grk tryng t lrn Hrvatski, ' ttlly rlt."

[@hcassells66]

🤣🤣

[@justin.booth.]

This is a good joke I approve.

[@cucummmber]

As a native te reo Māori speaker, I am fortunate enough to work for an indigenous tertiary education provider. I use te reo Māori in formal and informal situations, mostly from home or at the office. Itʻs great seeing a video that is so well though out and put together like this. Tēnā koe😊

[@vitor5969]

Seria legal esse isso acontecer com as línguas brasileiras (não temos nenhuma lingua indigena como oficial, só o português)

[@wolf1066]

Which Wānanga? I worked for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa for a number of years.

[@1june204]

@@vitor5969because the native speaker is disappeared😂

[@vitor5969]

@@1june204 decedentes de indígenas são uma piada pra você ?

[@humanityissupreme.2575]

Aroha ana ahau ki te māori Aroha mai i India.

[@mauricebeyjr611]

My mom is an ex patriot of New Zealand and both me, my brother and her speak Māori. Tēna koe! I've been waiting years for this. Tēna he orā pai rā

[@artemkatelnytskyi]

Why an ex patriot?

[@mauricebeyjr611]

@@artemkatelnytskyi say if you born in the US like my mom was, but you gain citizenship in another country and then regain it here. That's an ex patriot.

[@artemkatelnytskyi]

@@mauricebeyjr611 ngl I'm a bit confused. So first she was a citizen of the US then a citizen of New Zealand, and now she's a citizen of the US again?

[@mauricebeyjr611]

@@artemkatelnytskyi yes

[@insanitytruth]

As far as I know, by definition expatriates only refer to those people living outside of their country of birth.

[@lemakeup13]

I am Indonesian and enrolling my son to a New Zealand International School. I can't believe that my son's school teaching Maori as second language along with English. He learns a lot due to the teaching syllabus requires him to understand Maori. It's pretty cool tbh.

[@sweetsweet3753]

Apa Kaba..there are some common words between Maori and Bahasa so he will find it extra interesting..

[@sadtown]

Selamat! Your son should pick up Te Reo pretty fast. I'm so glad it's in the NZ curriculum, as it definitely helped me with learning Bahasa Indonesia/Melayu when I was working in a Malaysian business.

[@nakitojimo2001]

I'm Indonesian too n been studied there for 3 years in 2000-2003. I still miss NZ because of their culture n learned a few Te Reo Maori. Surprisingly there are few words that similar to Batak people (numbers 1-10).

[@itsgeraldine8837]

Where is the school e hoa?

[@bismanaufa5618]

Dari daerah mana pak indonesianya

[@BrainInAVat7]

Hearing "see ya" instead of "have a nice day" at the end really threw me, haha

[@frigginjerk]

Me too.

[@Froggability]

Should've said "Cherrio" or "Ka kite ano"

[@JasonWillsonLinguaphile]

Same

[@ADeeSHUPA]

@@Froggability か きて あの

[@yzwariij]

I know right! I feel incomplete. :O

[@wolf1066]

Māori and Tahitian are similar enough that my uncle, who spoke fluent Te Reo Māori, was able to converse at length with a Tahitian visitor without either needing to resort to English - when a word in either language wasn't understood, they'd explain it in terms that were mutually comprehensible until the word was understood. When I was in Tahiti, I also noticed a lot similarities between Tahitian and Māori words.

[@sanciston]

On James cook's voyage he brought along a Tahitian man named Tupaia to help with translation. Tupaia could speak pretty fluently with the Māori and was able to trade with them.

[@wolf1066]

@@sanciston Hmm. Wasn't aware of that. Thanks.

[@dulcesyeux]

Here in Brazil there are over 200 languages and they're all endangered. There are local and academic efforts regarding some of them, such as caiapó, macuxi, guarani, among others. There's a language, Karitiana, that might be actually close to complete disappearance. The government, unfortunately, simply ignores the diversity of brazilian indigenous languages.

[@Velisaur]

You said what I wanted to say. The government in Brazil doesn't care about even the lives of indigenous people.

[@rubensneto9049]

se depender desse governo atual não tinha mais indígenas

[@dulcesyeux]

@@rubensneto9049 infelizmente, essa é a maior verdade. O que está acontecendo com o Karitiana já aconteceu com outros povos e ainda acontece com muitos. É uma tristeza infinita.

[@tatianaleutwiler1867]

I was coming here to comment that, I'm happy to see someone got here before me.

[@zabaanshenaas]

I would like to learn Munduruku, Asheninka, Makushi, and Shavante. If only I could get hold of some decent resources.

[@julianamagg3177]

I am Icelandic and as someone who reads a lot of books set in Aotearoa I started looking for a pronunciation guide online a few years ago. It suprised me that my Icelandic way of reading the words was so much closer than the English way. Yes there are a few differences but using my Icelandic reading gets me really close without butchering the words completely. I wouldn't be able to speak to anybody like this but reading words from a map to get directions from a Māori speaker would probably get me farther than some others would get.

[@geoffaldwinckle1096]

You may be interested to know that "Aotearoa" is not documented until the 1850s. Both the 1835 Declaration of Independance and the 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi refer to New Zealand as "Nu Tirani"

[@stephanietulloch790]

@@geoffaldwinckle1096 “Nu Tirani” (one of many variants) is a transliteration of ‘New Zealand’. Good info on “Aotearoa” here www.newsroom.co.nz/aotearoa-whats-in-a-name

[@geoffaldwinckle1096]

@@stephanietulloch790 Good info. It misses one curiosity. As the article says "Aotearoa" was first used in 1855. True. But.... In England in 1833. 'Land of the Long White Cloud' appeared in the Tennyson poem "The Palace of Art", which many settlers were aware of. So, is Aotearoa in fact Tennyson Translated into Maori? ( read Paul Moon "Encounters" Auckland 2013 pages 108-109.

[@dylbert140485]

Interesting. I've noticed that Germans can pronounce Maori words very well also (i.e. much better than a Pakeha like me) maybe it's because the vowels are similar

[@JORDIIMusic]

Interesting you say that Juliana! I'm Maori and had the privilege of studying with some people from Norway at my university. They had no issues with pronouncing our words (actually did better than most English New Zealanders - who often struggle with pronouncing our language correctly). Funny how there can be similarities between languages on opposite sides of the world :)

[@arthurm3653]

Here are more then one hundred endangered languages in Russia. So, being Tatar (the second nation of Russia), I realy envy to Maories, because Russian government is doing nothing to save minority languages. In splite of here are more then 4 millions of Tatar speaker, our language was excluded from university education and since 2017 it is being excluded from school education. I hope luck will smile us and we will can save and evolve our languages. Long live to māori!

[@myresponsesarelimited7895]

Kia ora (hello) ...brother, thank you for your kind wishes, I really wish you all the best concerning your language and your life, aroha nui (much love) ...from Aotearoa (NZ)

[@wtc5198]

There's a lot of languages in an even worse position, like Nivkh, many Uralic languages, Ket, Tungusic languages, North Caucasian languages, Chukchi, Ainu, and so on. Hell, even Belarusian is losing speakers because of the Belarus government. Peace from Serbia, brother.

[@alwaysdreaming9604]

@@wtc5198 Поздрав из Росиjе брате :)

[@wtc5198]

@@alwaysdreaming9604 Привет (Русије, не Росије) :)

[@Asehpe]

I've heard about the situation of Tatar (though I'm more familiar with Mari and Erzya). It's really sad. Putin is now intent on rebuilding a Russian empire over all his conquered peoples, and their languages are suffering accordingly. I hope you all will be able to thrive in the future, though!

[@accessdenied3350]

Your pronunciation of the word "Māori" is better than most kiwis

[@the_linguist_ll]

If most speakers of a language pronounce it differently than him, by definition langfocus is saying it wrong

[@almac97]

@@the_linguist_ll Yeah, it's not Māori speakers that are butchering the name of their own language, it's the majority Pākehā (NZers of European descent - white people) that do it. Langfocus ain't saying it wrong, the generations of Pākehā who were never taught any te reo Māori who can't be bothered learning to pronounce things correctly are.

[@the_linguist_ll]

@@almac97 Ah fair, I interpreted the comment wrong as "Speakers of the language" rather than "Residents of the place where the language is spoken", my bad.

[@jackphillips6742]

This is actually a combination of regional differences to standard Maaori that is hard to track since Maaori and generational Pakeha move and mix all around the country, and since it isn't really taught in a lingual sense to the general nz population, lots of varations and arguments occur. There's also ignorance from recent immigrants of all backgrounds, and still ignorant mainly urban Pakeha, and then there's intentional racism and distain for all things Maaori by a small minority.

[@jackphillips6742]

TDLR: If it isnt ignorance or intentional racism, it's iwi and regional differences in Te Reo.

[@ramonzitoito]

In Brazil there's a lot of indigenous languages endangered. There's more than 150 languages and dialects spoken, but only 25 has more than 5.000 speakers, some examples are: Guajajara, Guarani, Kaingang, Xavante, and others. I don't really know a lot about these languages, but as far I know I didn't see public efforts to revitalize them, though are some efforts by some groups to do it.

[@jeffersonleonardo2]

Pra que? Índio hoje em dia é tudo menos índio!

[@bargu]

@@jeffersonleonardo2 Que jeito idiota de pensar, só por que eles usam roupa, assistem TV, vão no médico, comem comida industrializada, etc, não significa que não são índios, ser índio e preservar a cultura não é sinônimo de morar no mato pelado morrendo de chagas.

[@fernandonogueira7995]

Cara, se vc tá perguntando pra que se deve preservar línguas ameaçadas, vc tá no canal errado e não entendeu porra nenhuma sobre a importância de uma língua

[@dondon9734]

@@jeffersonleonardo2 Típico pensamento Eurocentrista. Pra vocês apenas as culturas Européias merecem respeito.

[@jeffersonleonardo2]

@@bargu Mais um defensor de índio que mora em apartamento. Tá com dó, leva pra casa, melhor ainda, fura pedágio deles pra ver a flecha comer solta

[@greenhawk6839]

Kia ora, as a kiwi it's kinda weird to hear Paul talk about a familiar language for once instead of an unfamiliar, overseas language. Anyway, an interesting consequence of the bilingual (actually trilingual) policy is that there's a mismatch between the official usage of Māori and the everyday use of Māori. Māori can legally be used in many official settings, including parliament, the courts, and consultation. Māori is included in symbolically important places, such as the names of education institutions and govt departments. Most official welcomes and events feature people speaking Māori, which they sometimes butcher, usually because they have not actually learned to speak it. This is contrasted by the lack of Māori usage in everyday settings. Save for marae, Māori immersion schools, classes and the homes of speakers, Māori is not normally used for everyday purposes, save for a few limited areas such as the East Cape where you can hear people speak it for everyday conversations and sometimes see it used in advertising. Because I do not live in such an area, I only speak Māori with someone if I know that they speak enough to understand what I'm going to say. Otherwise, there's a risk of causing confusion, embarrassment or even shame for the person I'm talking to and I want to avoid that.

[@fricatus]

It’s funny... I could copy and paste what you’ve written here into a comment on how the Irish language is used in Ireland. Only the name of the language and a few other culture specific words would need to be changed. The bit about people butchering the language at official events rings true. Our expression for that is “cúpla focail”, or “a few words”, and is laden with sarcastic meaning. Still though, people speaking the language is better than people not speaking it. It’s very popular now to send kids to an immersive learning school. My own son goes to one and knows more than I ever learned! Hopefully this approach will work for Māori. Having the PM announce that she’s going to do it is an important symbolic step.

[@Rebecca-vg2ef]

Funnily enough, I had a classmate from New Zealand and sometimes I can't understand his instagram posts because of Maori loanwords

[@dylbert140485]

As a kiwi who has lived overseas for more than 10years I find it very interesting to see how many Maori loan words and expressions have slipped into everyday use in NZ over time. Hope the trend continues

[@greenhawk6839]

@PARALLAX Āe, koia rā. He tohu a Aotearoa te reo Māori, nō reira ka tuhia i roto i ngā uruwhenua.

[@kayaayak2011]

@PARALLAX He pai atu te kite etahi tangata korero ana i to tatou reo nei tooo much

[@SunriseAotearoa]

As a New Zealand immigrant (from the US), I've been trying to learn te reo Māori. This is an EXCELLENT summary and very very helpful. Having only studied Indo-European languages in the past (French, Spanish), I am finding some challenges with word order and other things you mentioned. Thanks for this.

[@justin.booth.]

This is so true I want to learn languages outside the IE family but they are much more difficult! I am partly Vietnamese but I don't look it and I was raised by White parents so I had virtually no contact with the culture other than some friends and my biological grandmother. It would be really meaningful for me to learn Vietnamese and hopefully to visit sometime, but it will take a lot of work and lessons are really hard to find.

[@GordonKindlmann]

The more linguistics videos KZbin recommends to me, the more I gratefully appreciate how you’ve worked to get native speakers to say the language samples. Even if the video’s author can pronounce everything correctly, it seems more respectful as well as more informative to let the language speak for itself. Thank you.

[@Langfocus]

I sometimes do the samples myself if it’s a language I’ve studied a fair bit, but for these language profile videos I usually get someone to help with the samples because the video represents the language in a way. In this case the speaker isn’t exactly a native speaker, but he began learning it as a second language when he was a kid and speaks it everyday. It’s hard to find genuine native speakers for endangered languages.

[@AeroCraftAviation]

@@Langfocus I second that sentiment. I really do appreciate the respect and integrity that is demonstrated by your consistent presentation of endangered languages as spoken by native or fluent speakers. Also, watch out with "everyday" (the adjective) versus "every day" (the adverbial phrase).

[@PrinceDizzy226]

In America there are around 150 native North American languages that are spoken. The 10 most spoken are: 1: Navajo 2: Yupik 3: Dakota 4: Apache 5: Keres 6: Cherokee 7: Ojibwa 8: Choctaw 9: Zuni 10: Pima And there was a whole generation in Hawaii that wasn’t taught Hawaiian

[@ADeeSHUPA]

@@ethanadamrose580 WA state

[@martinstent5339]

Inclusive and exclusive first person plural. If English had that feature, everyone would have known that when Boris Johnson said “We need to take back control”, he was not including the listener.

[@the_linguist_ll]

Not to be pedantic, but if English had clusivity and boris was trying to decisive, he would have used the inclusive

[@davidcho6024]

Underrated comment

[@thp8485]

If I was drinking a drink when I read this would have spat it out lol

[@J11_boohoo]

I don’t think there are enough programs to help struggling languages I’m from the Philippines and I speak the Isnag language where there are 40,000 speakers and I don’t think that’s a low number considering that there are so many languages in the Philippines but it’s sort of scary thinking about the future and then knowing that someday, maybe, the language you speak will disappear

[@_McCormickProductions]

Sadly, yes. Anyways, your language is interesting!

[@_McCormickProductions]

I speak Romanch language in Switzerland and the speakers are reducing every years. How sad!

[@petersmith2040]

Thanks to government policies and programs in most countries that discourage people from speaking in their local dialects and encourage people to speak their national language. An example was China which had hundreds of dialects in the past but the Communist central government implemented a policy/program that every Chinese person in China must use Mandarin throughout the country which made the children and grandchildren of dialect speakers unable to speak the dialects of their ancestors. It has more to do with the centralization of power and control for the coming NewWorldOrder (AKA OneWorldGovernment) as the fewer the languages are being spoken around the world, the easier for their AI system to eavesdrop and decipher what’s being spoken.

[@dafeels3085]

@@petersmith2040 tru

[@_McCormickProductions]

@@petersmith2040 Same example with Switzerland. We speak Romansh language, they recognize us as a national language speakers but the language speakers are reducing every years in advantage of German or Italian. We will certainly lose our language and I still don't know If in 20 years or less, I'm gonna still speak Romansh or just speak German or Italian.

[@19erik74]

I'm a Navajo speaker and its is definitely etly endangered. It is taught in schools but the classes I'm familiar with are useless. Lots of learning basic vocabulary, drawing, and making family trees. No effort to actually make kids speak the language. My neighbors have in a single house grandparents that dont speak english and grandkids that dont speak navajo.

[@ljr1998]

Here in Brazil, many indigenous languages are endangered of extinction, because the ancient knowledge is disappearing, and the environmental criminals are enforcing the Brazilian Portuguese language to these people.

[@hemoperekihoanisimon2897]

In Aotearoa in this regard we are lucky. You can do your entire school in the language. This has been copied elsewhere like Hawaii. Look up kura kaupapa or kohanga reo. There is a school like this in Albuquerque for Navajo.

[@antoniussugianto7973]

Navajo language very interesting... : )

[@ironheart5830]

Navajo language must survive because it is that language that bring Victory for US in WW2. That language defeated the Japanese empire.

[@junirenjana]

Yeah, the education system in my country Indonesia also treat regional languages the same way. Schools in some regions are obliged to teach local languages, but none, afaik, teach _in_ languages other than Indonesian or English (yes, even English has a better status than most local languages despite not being an official language).

[@kizzymckee9005]

I’m of Maori descent and on my reo journey this year!

[@undercover1921]

I speak fluent Te Reo Maori and Tagalog! I learned them both quick because they were both similar. I was over 20 when i learned them both

[@michaelogden1968]

A lot of things in Māori are similar to Hawaiian, as seen in the video Paul did about a year ago. I lost count of how many familiar things I saw from that video. Of course, it makes sense considering Māori and Hawaiian are very closely related. Also, it's nice to see someone actually pronouncing the word "Māori" correctly for a change.

[@georgeinjapan6583]

Maori is closer to Proto Polynesian, whereas the main dialect of Hawaiian had a consonant transformation (k --> ')(t --> k).

[@dylbert140485]

Hey if you are a Hawaiian speaker , one thing I've always wondered: Do u think "Aloha" and "Aroha" (Maori for love) are cognates?

[@anerce]

@@dylbert140485 i would assume so, based on the example for "milk" in this video. L became R. also, Aloha also means love in hawaiian

[@dalastkanakamaoli9058]

@@georgeinjapan6583 the Hawaiian language was changed by white foreigners when they wrote our language old Hawaiian had t and r in the alphabet

[@georgeinjapan6583]

@@dalastkanakamaoli9058 Indeed. Mahalo nui loa !

[@SB-jh8rl]

I was working for the Australian Consulate in Gallipoli some years ago, there was a police officer from NZ and he taught me a sentence that I still remember to this day “ Kia ora” , he made me say this to his colleagues who spoke Māori and they were so happy to hear me saying that 😅

[@BrianPurdue]

Kia ora from a Kiwi in Kaitaia, NZ. Maori has 10 consonants (in its phonemic inventory}. It uses 8 (consonant) letters from the Roman alphabet, 4 of which are also combined into two digraphs, ng and wh, to represent those 10 consonants: 3 stops p t k , 3 nasals m n ng , 2 fricatives wh h , 2 approximants r w . It is a small phonemic inventory with no voiced stops, and because all syllables are open and there are no consonant clusters it sounds beautiful in songs. Reduplication is common: just in my area, Te Hiku (The Tail of the fish that is the North Island), there are places called Hihi, Mitimiti, Karikari, and my favorite Whatuwhiwhi ('Fatufifi'). I love all your videos.You are helping so many people.

[@SliceJosiah]

Kia ora fellow Kiwi

[@DinnyJay-lz9iw]

Well said 👏

[@Happy_days01]

Whoa, as a Māori you explained this perfectly. Aroha mai.

[@Krimatic1]

I'm a fluent Māori speaker and I use it everywhere and anywhere. Also use it in my mahi (job).

[@mfnzer]

so not a lot of places then

[@maapauu4282]

@@mfnzer Everywhere and anywhere isn't a lot of places?

[@Willybean08]

As a Hawaiian, this sounds very interesting. I can understand it but some words I don't recognize and some pronunciation is weird. The Hawaiian 'okina (A glottal stop like in uh-oh) is replaces with a "K". And the "N" is usually turned into "Ng" Saying "My name" in Hawaiian is "Koʻu inoa" but in Māori its "Tōku ingoa" Very well-made video.

[@robji3372]

Kia ora. I know what you mean: the first time I heard Hawaiian, I was able to pick out some words and that weird pronunciation you mention, lol. Once I figured out the WH/H, K/', NG/N, R/L, T/K changes, I got the general gist of the conversation. A lot of different words. And more confusing a lot of the same words that have a slightly different meaning. But I found it very interesting.

[@hehloworld4841]

Well, noho in Māori means live, but in Hawaiian it means a damn chair

[@longuevalnz]

@@hehloworld4841 noho means to sit or to stay, in Māori… so by extension to live somewhere. Basic meaning is sit

[@hehloworld4841]

@@longuevalnzmy bad it means chair aswell but you're right, i didn't think about that.

[@bazookacantgame]

As a kiwi myself, thanks, one of the best Maori pronunciations by a foreigner that I’ve seen at least. Nau Mai haere mai taku whare Aotearoa

[@simonsaysism]

In Canada, it seems that the only Indigenous languages that are given any government support at all are the ones in the Northern territories, where a much bigger proportion of the population is Indigenous. Even though there are dozens of languages still struggling on in the southern provinces. As far as I know, the only efforts to revitalize such languages come from grassroots movements. Here in Nova Scotia, I feel like there is more government support for Scottish Gaelic than there is for Mi'kmaq. I wish there were more resources available; I feel it's my responsibility as a descendant of white colonialists to support and learn more about the Indigenous culture of this land.

[@PainterVierax]

TBF, French is also in bad shape outside of the actual Québec. Even in NB and Ontario were education is bilingual (I don't know for Nova Scotia) the number of speakers noticeably decreases in favor of the English lingua franca from the USA's soft power.

[@gregcarter8656]

One's race has nothing to do with one's responsibilities. Likewise for one's ancestry, ethnicity, color, and gender.

[@E4439Qv5]

@@PainterVierax "English _lingua franca"_ is a curious oxymoron.

[@PainterVierax]

@@E4439Qv5 no, it's the postWW2 US soft power.

[@E4439Qv5]

@@PainterVierax and a Latin loanword.

[@enttiuni7109]

Many of the Finnic languages are endangered. Karelian is currently being supported in Finland to increase its speaker base. Livonian, spoken in Latvia, can already be considered dead by some standards, but efforts are made to teach it and to keep knowledge of it alive; some people still speak it, and, for example, create music in it. Votic and Ingrian are close to dying in Russia. Karelian, Ludic and Veps have more native speakers left, though still not many, and efforts are made to teach the languages and to pass them to new generations; news and media are published in Russia in the Karelian and Veps languages.

[@lahagemo]

the kven language is also endangered, although i´ve noticed a slight increase in attempts at making it more known and orgs reaching out to the forest fins to ensure it´s survival. and then there´s the saami languages that´re near all, save for the one the government´s been pushing rly hard, dying out ://

[@timurermolenko2013]

russia did a great job getting rid of those languages. Doesn't seem they'd act to preserve them. Livonian is gone for good now. Surely, small Baltic nations accelerated this trend by promoting one standardized language

[@AyeGee721]

Kinda funny you bring Finnic up as my partner is Finnish and I am Maori. She speaks in a Savo-Kainuu dialect but a lot of Karelian there too as they are next to the Russian border. A lot have Sami heritage but Kainuu Sami is already went extinct.

[@user-pf1dk5vx2l]

Woud love to see a video on these

[@enttiuni7109]

@@AyeGee721 Interesting combo! Any success learning each others language?

[@christineeliseev]

I'm an American immigrant to New Zealand and live in Wellington. I'm so happy that you have done this Māori episode. My son attends a full primary English school (he's a year 3), but he and his generation are exposed to more and more te reo everyday, starting from preschool, even if it's an English language medium school. Classroom commands like sit down, stand up, let's go to ___, are all spoken to the tamariki in te reo. And these kids also participate in Kapa Haka, and learn the traditional waiata in te reo. All of these little things add up, even for the kids that don't attend the kura kaupapa Māori. I'm in IT, and everywhere I've worked since arriving has made an honest effort to incorporate more te reo in every day office talk, and offers cultural and language training for everyone. Even as an American, I'm now fully in the habit of greeting my coworkers with, "Mōrena e te whānau!" when I get in each morning. And we fluidly replace English words with te reo Māori words midsentence. For example, we regularly use words like "mahi" for "work" by simply replacing the English word with te reo. And several Māori concepts are better articulated in te reo rather than English, like when we're talking about the "kaupapa" or "mana" of our "mahi" (kind of like the "greater purpose or meaning"). It's not perfect, but an interesting way of us Pākehā (non-Māori New Zealanders) to engage in language preservation, even before we are actual speakers of that language.

[@JORDIIMusic]

Kia ora Christine! Hope Aotearoa has been treating you well. I recently met a group of Americans at my work who were fluent in Te Reo Maori. It is really heart warming when non-Maori go out of their way to learn our language, which for many years has been in decline.

[@mfnzer]

Its a complte and utter waste of time. We will see in years to come where NZ education system is heading. We are losing ground to every major OECD nation. teachers are leaving in recored numbers. Maori seem to forget that they are 15% of the nation. They all speak english yet NZ needs to spend millions and brain was kids to make maori feel better? Lets see them go to Tokyo Sao Paulo and speak maori.

[@iffoundreturntoshizun]

how's about you let the people who had their land stolen, language beaten out of them, and resources pillaged have a chance to feel like themselves again aye

[@marcusty6957]

@@mfnzer waste of time? Learning Te reo is the new norm. Like it or hate it it’s not changing. I’m not Maori but a proud kiwi and this is what being kiwi is all about… Mauri Ora! And guess what, there is Japanese students that coming to Aotearoa to learn Te reo! You have no idea

[@mfnzer]

@@marcusty6957 Japanese come to nz to learn maori jahahahhaah. My best friends wife is Japanese and actually runs a program for Japanese students to come to nz to learn wait for it ....English. She is shocked as are her students at how much maori is pushed on them. Every single one of them switch off. Look at the media, record numbers of people turning off, Breakfast numbers are tumbling, I wonder why? None of my friends even watch TV now as it's filled with maori crap. We don't want to speak a shitty language that's spoken by a few thousand people who also speak English. I'll get Miki my Japanese friend to tell you how much her Japanese students think maori os a stupid idea. I tell you how my kids 12 and 11 think it's stupid. How schools don't even care about math English science but slip in a few tiki ta ta blah blah and we are a beautiful 2 cultural society. Maori culture is only good at carving and fighting. What an amazing people. 👏

[@islamadam8502]

As an Arabic native speaker the grammatical similarities between Arabic and Maori are quite striking!

[@jimcarroll9738]

My wife is Māori. She has often said she can usually understand most of Te Reo Māori when it's spoken, but it'll depend on the region/dialect. She doesn't really speak it, although when she's back in NZ or chatting with family online she'll sprinkle Māori words in with her everyday English.

[@barmizaharioudaki4693]

My Mothers from the Ngāi Tūhoe tribe, where they don’t pronounce the “g”. She has cousins from the Taranaki region where they don’t pronounce the “h”. As children conversations between them didn’t flow as easily and they had to stop and think over what the other said to try understand. I think with most of these dialects, it’s mainly just being aware of where someone is from and what dialect they use there. Like if you know someone is from the south island, then you’ll know they change the “ng” sound to a “ka” sound. So when they’re talking, even if you don’t get it, you’ll be able to pick up faster on what they’re saying. For some who have never been exposed or made aware of the different dialects, it can be like hearing a foreign language and you stand there confused ‘cause your minds not comprehending lol.

[@maapauu4282]

@@barmizaharioudaki4693 Wait what do you mean "g"?

[@dinnercakes]

I’ve never heard Mäori before and it’s so pleasant to listen to. Beautiful and rhythmic. It is, by far, one of the prettiest languages I’ve ever heard.

[@Langfocus]

I agree. It’s quite similar to Hawaiian, but there is something distinct about the way it’s pronounced. Maori sounds quite rhythmic.

[@Katharsis540]

Check out Alien Weaponary.

[@TenorCantusFirmus]

Yes, Austronesian Languages are very "musical".

[@Flying_GC]

Really? Pretty? As a kiwi haven't really heard anyone say that before

[@catzkeet4860]

@@Flying_GC I’ve heard it often, but then I have a lot of friends who are either multi lingual or are native speakers of other languages, who enjoy the musical nature of te reo Maori, like most Polynesian languages. My father was a native speaker of Samoan and could understand much spoken Maori because the languages are so similar, and he said the same went for Hawai’ian.

[@MrKiwiboii]

As a Māori who was lucky enough to be brought up speaking Te Reo Māori back in the 1980s and thanks to my parents, I also had the privilege of going to one of NZ's first Kohanga Reo in the Hawkes Bay area and then going onto an influential Māori Boarding School. Those learning experiences have taught me to respect, appreciate and honour the learning opportunities I have received during my life. I have also learnt to respectfully acknowledge those Non-Māori men and women who have made the effort to WANT to learn Te Reo Māori and respect our language and culture. I have always admired and RESPECT those Non-Māori men and women who have taken the time to learn our language and culture. So, congratulations and thank you Langfocus for sharing your experience and learning tools to help others learn, understand and educate both Māori and Non-Māori about the Te Reo Māori language and its history. Much RESPECT TO YOU!!

[@H-Vox]

I'm gonna call books pukapuka

[@destryflame9343]

Pukupuka also means lungs

[@makaibey8146]

Āe pukapuka does mean that. Ko te ngā pukapuka kāwanatanga means the government documents

[@just_a_turtle_chad]

A Turtle approves of "pukapuka"

[@ProximaCentauri88]

In Bahasa Indonesia "buku buku" means "books".

[@m_uz1244]

In Hindustani "phuka" is like a childish kind of way of saying "to blow on something" so it sounds oddly nostalgic to me

[@licensedbreaddealer9748]

I'm Maori and actually knew a fair bit of the language growing up but it didn't stick with me because I just never used it. Fully intend to relearn it however because a lot of it is just sitting dormant somewhere in my head.

[@cheekyb71]

Same here! Use it or lose it right? I always feel the guilts when I think of how much I've lost, but one day I'll knuckle down an make the aunties proud

[@marekjanik9962]

Why waste time and energy on a language that is essentially useless outside NZ? Do yourself a favor and learn Mandarin

[@licensedbreaddealer9748]

@@marekjanik9962 how much did the Chinese government pay you to post this reply on a comment written over a year ago?

[@wancoet]

Tuawhenua in Indonesian would be translated as 'old continent' or 'old world' = countryside. Koe in Javanese is also you, 'ia' in Indonesian is also he, she, it. So many similarities yet the grammar is so different. Probably old Javanese is closer to Maori since it has VSO structure as well.

[@thehound510]

I got excited when I saw this. Cant wait for a samoan language one.

[@KogaInTheMoon]

Here in Spain we can qualify Asturian and Aragonese as endangered. Recently there was an iniciative in national level to try to make the two languages official in the respective regions, but even the regional governments there aren't in the mood to do it or at least go full official

[@seid3366]

How many native speakers of each language are there?

[@asdf-un9gs]

And, unfortunately, even those languages with official recognition (Basque, Catalan and Galician) are declining also. They have lost thousands of speakers during the last decade due to the influence of Spanish.

[@user-fv1lc2qm3e]

Those two languages are almost indistinguishable from Spanish so why even bother keeping them alive? If it wasn't for the European Union your country would already be balkanized

[@KogaInTheMoon]

@@user-fv1lc2qm3e I am having a course of Aragonese and I'd like you to try to learn it. And cmon, Balkan War wasn't for language exclusively, wtf

[@montimuros2837]

@@asdf-un9gs Actually, Basque is currently growing among young generations, both in the Spanish side and the French side.

[@clashinglanggeo1864]

For the questions of the day: Yes, in my region of Italy, Piedmont, there's the Piedmontese language, which is slowly dyin'. However, there aren't any efforts to save them. What a shame! Anyway, great video! You've motivated me to learn languges! Keep it up!

[@tyreesetranh4074]

É, pròpi un darmagi che n'ëstat, pitòst che guerné na richëssa coltural, a la meprisa.

[@clashinglanggeo1864]

@@lucadipaolo1997 Wow! Good choice! Good luck!

[@thehound510]

Also, in everyday primary/elementary school in NZ, you learn Maori. I can speak and understand the basics purely just from what I learnt at my primary school. TUMEKE = Cool

[@KakapoKakapoUnderscore]

Kia kaha = stay strong i think

[@hakawailivingstone2840]

Seeing someone who isn't fluent in our Māori language, yet has so much knowledge of its structure is really mind blowing! But previous to watching this, I always thought learning Māori was hard. But the way he explained things is really amazing and makes me think it'd be easy to learn (if I wasn't already fluent) :P

[@herr4367]

In Costa Rica we had language called Bribri and unfortunately it died out😔 there were never efforts to revitalise it not even when it was considered endangered and nowadays every single indigenous people in Costa Rica only speak Spanish

[@Toatekaha]

I’m so sorry your indigenous language died out💔😢really i am❤️

[@sonbulan1425]

Dang! Just what I needed for my project! Thank you so much, Paul!

[@biancaguimaraens6498]

pukapuka is such a cute word. Loved the video too, thanks!

[@aidanberger]

I am from New Zealand and have been following your channel for years hoping you would make this. Thank you Paul 🙏

[@c.r.bouton1842]

It's amazing how you can practically read my mind. I was just learning about NZ and Maori culture and thought it'd be interesting if you made a video about Te Reo, and here you are now with a video about Te Reo. It's so cool!

[@Miguel-wy5hh]

Great video! I've always been obsessed with island cultures and languages so this video was especially good for me. It's great to see how far your channel has come. I remember watching your videos since I started college, I graduated last year and I still keep up with your videos. This is literally one of the best channels on KZbin along with Geography Now and Atlas Pro. Hope everything is going well for you! Greetings from the Caribbean! 😀😄

[@chrisjeee]

YESSS I've been waiting for a video from you about this!!! I love the Māori language ❤ thank you!!

[@zenmaster7393]

It’s refreshing to hear a pakeha pronounce our Māori words properly.

[@Harry-gc8kb]

Wowww I can't believe you actually did Maaori! Thank you Langfocus!

[@JORDIIMusic]

I was just as shocked as you lol. Such a surprise!

[@Magyarosivatuvaluk]

LOTS OF LOVE 💗 FOR NEW-ZEALAND 🇳🇿 and New-Zealandian people !!!!!!!!! From Lebanon 🇱🇧 !!!!! One of the most beautiful countries in the World !!!!

[@selcukdilek4656]

Thats a credit for mother nature, not necessarily for the citizens ya know 😉

[@niladrichatterji9140]

That's not Newzealandian..It's Kiwi

[@Libanaise_7]

🇱🇧❤️

[@richjdnz]

respect right back to you in Lebanon- from one beautiful country to another 💗

[@SliceJosiah]

@@richjdnz Same

[@pavarangi]

Kia ora everyone, I love this video and am a language lover myself. I teach in a Māori immersion school and speak Māori in my home and everywhere I go with my family. This is very cool!

[@gnatdagnat]

I like the sound of te reo Māori, it's kind of rhythmic sometimes in the way all the syllables get the same attention, if that makes sense

[@SliceJosiah]

No, no, you have a point.

[@JORDIIMusic]

It's to do with the Vowel-Consonant rule of Te Reo Maori. You always get a vowel following a single consonant and you never get consonant clusters. Similarly, all Maori words end in a vowel, so it is very rhythmic as you say.

[@LongDistanceCall11]

What a beautiful analytical grammar, I loved it! Thank you, Langfocus!

[@tokenoftime8599]

Portuguese, which is my native language, has 3 different demonstrative pronouns as well. Este livro (this book) = When the book is close to the speaker. Esse livro (that book) = When the book is close to the listener. Aquele livro (that book) = When the book is away from both the speaker and the listener. We also use "este" when we're referring to something that has not been mentioned yet in the text. We use "esse" to refer to something that has already been mentioned in the text. The demonstrative pronouns also vary depending on the grammatical gender. In the examples above I used the masculine form because "livro" ("book") has masculine gender. The feminine forms are: Esta janela (this window) Essa janela (that window) Aquela janela (that window) And, obviously, they vary in number as well: Masc. pl.: estes / esses / aqueles Femin. pl.: estas / essas / aquelas The Portuguese language also offers a few other demonstrative pronouns that we can use in order to make our speech less repetitive.

[@freetraveller_pt]

In Italian too: Questo/a/i/e => object is close both to speaker and listener Codesto/a/i/e => object is close to listener, but far from speaker Quello/a/i/e => object is far from both listener and speaker Problem is: "codesto" has fallen out of use in everyday language (except in Tuscany), but can still be found in some literary works 😎

[@thp8485]

Such a useful language function 👌

[@balsalover]

thanks for this video! i'm catalan and i'd love to learn Māori, because my family has always had a special connection to New Zealand. It's so important to preserve languages, as they are the history of the culture of the territory. i actually went to a school in new zealand for one month and i had a maori teacher. we used to sing songs in maori and learn a few words here and there. it's nice to see how the Maori culture is embraced in New Zealand and kiwis acknowledge the need to preserve and respect it

[@tehyalee390]

I’m Māori and I am comfortable with the language but far from fluent. I can pronounce words correctly and am familiar with general greetings and use many words in my daily vocabulary as I was brought up in a part of the country where hearing the language is very common. I will often substitute English words when I am speaking for Māori words and I use Te Reo a lot in my mahi (work)

[@ahorrell]

Tū meke, e hoa! So happy to see Māori (and Austronesian languages in general) make an appearance on your channel. Nice stuff Paul!

[@zouzouglouglou9738]

I just love your channel thank you for existing

[@Vini-BR]

Long live the Maori language! It's so beautiful and so complete!

[@jourifaries4047]

Wow! We just covered it in history around one week ago. Thank Paul

[@flaviosouza4449]

Dude, your channel is AWESOME! Thank you very much. Greetings from Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

[@RetroAeroSynthwaveRadio]

Kia ora rawa atu mō te tuku i tēnei! Thank you so much for posting this! Te Reo Māori needs more recognition. Ngā mihi

[@artemkatelnytskyi]

I'm pleased to hear that the effort is being made to revive the language.

[@nuggetyidk1928]

Me 2

[@helcium2022]

At last! I was looking forward to seeing this Maori language video!

[@jasonpacyau7978]

Thank you Paul for including another Polynesian language in your videos. It is truly appreciated.

[@dylbert140485]

Yess! Thanks Paul. Been waiting so long

[@wilhelmbittrich88]

As a New Zealander it’s good to see a video on our Māori language! I do think it’s a shame hardly anyone here knows it fluently, but most people know basic phrases, as they are used all the time, everywhere. There is a lack of interest with most people to want to learn the language, even amongst my Māori friends, who seem to be content with just knowing the basic phrases. There is definitely a push at the moment to revitalise and make the language more prominent, as we are hearing more of it spoken on television, radio, etc.. Also on signs and billboards they are providing both English and Māori wording. I think it’s a good thing, being a bilingual country would be fantastic. However, as I said before, there seems to be a lack of interest in people from most people to want to learn it. But it will always be here, and everyone will at least always know basic phrases.

[@wilhelmbittrich88]

@Jim Bobjones I’ve had things stolen by Māoris multiple times over the years

[@wilhelmbittrich88]

@Jim Bobjones what the fuck are you talking about dude? Are you being racist?

[@thethinkingman-]

@@wilhelmbittrich88 did they take anything or just alcohol?

[@Lithoxene]

"Are there any similarly endangered languages in your country?" Around 300 indigenous languages were spoken throughout the area that is now the United States. However, centuries of forced assimilation and cultural genocide have produced incalculable losses. Fewer than 170 of these languages are still spoken today, and of these ~170, ~110 are considered "moribund" (only spoken by the oldest generation). *It is estimated that by 2050, only around 20 of the United States' ~300 indigenous languages will remain.* "Are there any efforts to revitalize them?" Yes. According to their website, The Language Conservancy has documented over 55,000 words across 30+ indigenous languages of North America. They help create resources for learners of these languages, as well as provide training for teachers.

[@jh5401]

I've been waiting for this one for so long! Yay :D

[@Luboman411]

Glad to know that a Japanese commentator has commented on how similar Maori is to Japanese phonology. I noticed the similarities too. Both New Zealand and Japan are also Pacific Ocean archipelagos, so it wouldn't surprise me that the native peoples of these islands would have similar languages. Maybe Polynesians settled Japan 2,000 to 3,000 years ago and residual Austronesian linguistic characteristics--like the phonology--survived in the Japanese language to this very day.

[@cbrtdgh4210]

The last time I was this early, the Maori were speaking Taiwanese.

[@officialnyiyanmoehtet]

Hi, you're also doing CDM? I am also from 🇲🇲Myanmar.

[@_McCormickProductions]

@@officialnyiyanmoehtet Hope your country recover soon

[@John_Weiss]

Love it! Someone else who knows the origin of the Austronesian Language Family!

[@lars-akesvensk9704]

Yes all of the Austronesian languages are Taiwanese.

[@_McCormickProductions]

@@lars-akesvensk9704 not all

[@xior1761]

I was just going through your channel wondering when you would post your next video, and then you posted a couple seconds later lol.😂

[@selcukdilek4656]

He uploads whenever the video is finished. He has no vast time table.

[@xior1761]

@@selcukdilek4656 yes I know. I just thought it was pretty random that he just happened to post right after I was going through his channel lol.

[@thp8485]

Great video. Good starter resource, or supporting resource for Māori language learners 🙌🏽

[@marcusknutsson2714]

Thank you for this video Paul!!! I loooove the Maori language it sounds so cool and the grammar is super interesting, will start studying it eventually after some other languages. Also here in Sweden we have the indingenous Sàmi language(s) related to Finnish, which have a similar situation, I know there are Sàmi schools in the north and some Sàmi festivals.

[@sutematsu]

My people's language is endangered: it's called Dee-ni' or Nuu-wee-ya. We're from the southern Oregon/northern California coast. It was interesting to hear about Maori because our language also has a dual form, which I hadn't heard of in other languages!

[@b43xoit]

Earlier Old English had a dual form.

[@iain349]

Tui - a kind of bird, and a kind of beer :D ? Good on you for doing one of these on Maori langfocus!!

[@beauwoods6300]

This information is absolutely spot on and succinct. Thank you for such a well done video 🙂

[@20LeeBrian1]

Nice job! I know you are working so hard, but keep up your good work! :DD

[@izzykyl]

"Ahau" means "aku" in Malay which means "ako" in Amis, a Taiwanese Tribal Language

[@arthurvilain7270]

And "aho" in Malagasy. And probably something similar in most austronesian languages. It runs in the family ^^

[@FrontWood]

Austronesians ancestors

[@quaidponga599]

Aku in te reo maori means "my" more than 2. And taku is 1

[@quaidponga599]

And ako means learn or teach

[@torspedia]

I hope the revitalisation efforts succeed, especially with Māori bands (like Alien Weaponry) becoming more widely known!

[@jamesprophet7060]

Amazing work my friend. I love your videos and they inspire my cold heart.

[@adamhg7040]

Absolutely incredible Paul, ka pai. I know few Māori phrases but it is bit difficult to fully learn it, hoping this will become easier as more people start using it

[@xboxnube]

I was actually amazed at the number of cognates there were with Ka ‘ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. I remember reading that a particular sound change in Hawaiian was the [k]>[ʔ] and it was fairly consistently shown here with Māori which doesn’t have that sound change

[@JORDIIMusic]

We were always told of how our ancestors came from Hawaiki! Although it's believed to be somewhere near Tahiti, the Maori people from New Zealand and the Maoli people from Hawai'i come from the same place.

[@visomelsker5999]

Just Great! Es ist sehr interessant, I like it. Thanks so much! Tēnā koe! Kia ora!

[@user-jq3ox5kd8d]

Ich lerne seit ein paar Wochen"te reo maori" mit der App "language drops". Zum Lernen von Vokabeln eignet es sich gut. Die Wörter werde auch vorgesprochen. Aber so etwas wie Einzahl, Mehrzahl oder Satzbau oder ähnliches vermisse ich dort bisher. Hat jemand dazu eine Idee? Oder gibt's irgendwo empfehlenswerte Kurse? Oder Deutsch/Maori Lernpartner? Oder, oder ...

[@gazzamuso]

I've seen videos on KZbin that clearly have not done the requisite research on Māori, but you clearly have and I thank you for that! 💖

[@Langfocus]

Thank you, Geraint!

[@Chasantnik]

Beautiful work. Thanks Paul.

[@bombygriz]

One thing I really appreciate about Māori speakers is that they have recently created new vocabulary to describe disabilities and mental illness in an inclusive and respectful way. I study Hawaiian myself, and I hope that one day someone might try to do the same thing for this language.

[@swagmund_freud6669]

Such a beautiful language, hope it has a long and prosperous future in New Zealand.

[@jasonphillips8236]

Kia Ora e hoa I really enjoyed this thank you . He māori ahau. I decided to learn the language of my Ancestors about 6 years ago and Im proud of my decision. I love that you love languages especially indigenous languages, I remember I was on a plane sitting next to someone who was reading a book in the indigenous Irish language and we found common ground around the revitalisation of our languages. It’s really encouraging to see videos like these. Thanks Ngā mihi nui

[@DM.123]

What an excellent and well researched video! As a Māori person who speaks te reo, it's crazy to me that a non-Kiwi has a better understanding on te reo and its history than most non-Māori Kiwis. Ngā mihi maioha ki a koe mō tēnei kiriata, me tō mahi ki te whakamohio atu ki te ao whānui i te reo! Ka rawe, e hoa 😊