Tauranga, I'm pronouncing tor-ang-a
Waipukurau, why-pooka-roo-ah
Waipawa, why-paw-ah
Otane, o-tane (rhyming with tame)
How far off am I???
Tauranga, I'm pronouncing tor-ang-a
Waipukurau, why-pooka-roo-ah
Waipawa, why-paw-ah
Otane, o-tane (rhyming with tame)
How far off am I???
Waipukurau, why-pooka-roo-ah
From when were there I think it is why-puk-a-row
For the first couple of days I called it "that unpronounceable place" Luckily the locals just call it Whypuk
wait till the kids have to pronounce whakapapa (sp) My 6 year old still cant believe I wont get cross!!!
Originally Posted by wilson182
Bit like when teaching about Wankel rotary engines - you should see the smirks on the students faces!!
Slightly off topic but fun nonetheless
Yeh know the feeling - I tave to talk about 3 1/2 in Floppy's
I don't think my toddler needs encouraging
So, am I right with Tauranga?
close, it's more like Taw-ronga, according to hubby.
An
It's easier if you remember that Maori words are made up of syllables and each syllable ends with a vowel. So Otane is 3 syllables: O-ta-ne. Break the others down the same way, Wai-pa-wa, etc.
And, just to confuse things, names are often pronounced more than one way, there's the correct Maori pronunciation, and then the way that "everyone (meaning Pakeha) has always said it".
This might help:
Guide to Maori pronunciation
The five vowels; a, e, i, o and u, are pronounced in two ways:
short long
a as u in but a as a in father
e as e in pen e as ai in pair
i as i in bit i as ee in feet
o as o in fort o as o in store
u as u in put u as oo in boot
Where two vowels are together: both are sounded but they are run together smoothly.
The ten consonants in Maori: h, k, m, n, p, r, t, w, ng, wh.
The first eight are pronounced as in English. The last two are differend, with 'ng' being pronounced as the ng in 'singer', and 'wh' as wh in 'whale', or as a 'f', depending on the iwi.
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~sarah/content/kiwiana.html
Great, the vowels are exactly like the pronounciation for german!