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MaoriI learnt Maori at school because I did not expect to go overseas much and figured I should at least learn the language of my own country. Also, I knew it was easy to spell and easy to pronounce. Looking back, I see how easy the grammar is to learn. The words, in general, don't change... past, future, me, you, singular, plural, none of the main words change, it's just the little words around them that change. And there are some interesting linguistic and cultural features which are not present in the other languages I am familiar with, such as a distinction between 'us, including you' and 'us, not including you'. It really is a pity that it's not particularly useful to know, except in the general way that it's always good to know another language.
Having said that, I would like to dispel the myth that nobody speaks Maori any more. We went on a class trip to Russell (Kororareka) where there was quite a community of people speaking it from day to day. There are new native speakers too, those who go to kohanga reo. I have had a few conversations in Maori with speakers, and although I've forgotten most of what I learnt, I think that if I needed to use it I'd have more chance of getting by than with Japanese. However, I doubt that there are any native Maori speakers who are not also native speakers of English.| School | I took Maori from 3rd form to 5th form, and for School Certificate I got a 1 (the best mark) for oral and a 3 (medium) for written. In 6th form there were not enough people taking Maori at my school, so I started doing it by correspondence. I got full marks for my first assignment, but I was in hospital a lot that year due to an operation on my leg, and ended up dropping Maori. | | School | I took Maori from 3rd form to 5th form, and for School Certificate I got a 1 (the best mark) for oral and a 3 (medium) for written. In 6th form there were not enough people taking Maori at my school, so I started doing it by correspondence. I got full marks for my first assignment, but I was in hospital a lot that year due to an operation on my leg, and ended up dropping Maori. |
This page has been accessed  times since 2024-12-14 21:47:00 Last updated: 2007-01-04 10:16:39
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