Kia ora koutou from Otaki, star of the Kapiti Coast with its push to encourage people like me to speak te reo at home, on Main Street, in shops, cafes, library, everywhere.
Like everyone else up and down the motu who’s not fluent, the big hurdle comes after we go to classes, both formal and informal, after we do the mahi. We finish the course, or the study, the workshop, the group, the exam/tests are done, we deliver our mihi, all ka pai, we know a little but nowhere near fluent.
So there we are – a tiny wedge of korero in our kete – where do we take this little bit of knowledge? To whom do we say, ‘Kei te haere au ki te Otaki? Where do we get some korero practice to support, stimulate and strengthen our small kete of kupu.
We’re so shy, so whakama, and everyone else speaks so fluently, so easily, so confidently, while we stand struck dumb, scared we’ll make a mistake, knowing with painful certainty that there is no doubt about it, we definitely will make mistakes. And the hideous reality is that sometimes we won’t even know what the mistake is.
Here’s an idea – invite people round for a cup of tea/coffee and say only te reo Maori will be spoken and that you will provide a list of words and phrases so it won’t be scary because you are all in the same waka. Do it not only for this week but every week or fortnight? Te reo Maori is easy to find. There is loads of help and information online, you just have to look, and ka pai, tino pai, most modern print publications on learning te reo are available as ebooks.
…and at last I’ve organising someone with good eyesight to put a macrons programme on my computer.
Kapu ti e hoa?
He manako te koura i kore ai – Wishing for the crayfish won’t bring it… (so you have to go out and get it, ka pai?)
Renée
