A Maori Podcast

Ihira

Kia ora! Welcome to this podcast! As per the title, it's a Maori podcast and I am Maori. I try to keep the podcast completely in Te Reo, this is mainly because I want to improve my own language skills, and the best way to do it is to completely speak the language. I share my insights into learning and improving my reo Maori skills especially as someone that doesn't reside back in the homeland. Hoi ano, nahaku noa, I hope that you enjoy this mahi, and I'm proud to be Maori and to share our language. Ko te reo kia rere!If you live abroad and need a place to hang out, I finally found a great hangout spot filled with Maori speakers here.Discord - Reo MaoriI also have a Patreon where I hope to add some additional value. You can find me here:https://patreon.com/amaoripodcastI am planning to start a regularly online space to korero. Details are here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/korero-space-for-153338068

  1. Jul 8

    Using the Reo to speak on all topics - How to mihimihi when you are LGBTQIA+

    Kia ora ra e te iwi! I have a Patreon where I hope to add some additional value. If you'd like the kaupapa, and you appreciate this mahi, you can give a koha here: A Maori Podcast Whakatauki - Me te ihe - Like the ihe fish, always restless. [Kohikohinga Whakatauki a Raupo, pg. 153] Kia ora! I wanted to focus on expressing some nuance in Te Reo. I share some advice I gave regarding how to go about giving a mihimihi when you identify as LGBTQIA+. The purpose of language is the give word to how we think, and I wanted to share my thoughts on how to formulate sentences in Te Reo for concepts and ideas that may be new to us. How to mihimihi as transgender: Kia ora! Ko au tenei e tu whakawahine/whakatane nei, ki mua i a koutou, kia ora ki a koutou katoa! Ko Mea nei toku ingoa. Tena tatou. (Kia ora! I identify as transgender. I stand before you to greet you all. My name is ___. Nice to meet you all!) How to mihimihi as non-binary: Kia ora ki a koutou! Ko Mea nei toku ingoa. Tu tangata noa iho nei 'hau, heoi, karangatia au, "E hoa! E kare!" Koina nga mea e pai ke ki ahau. Kaore au mo te arotahi ki te iratane noa iho, ki te irawahine noa iho, tena, ko te iratangata ke. Heoi, nei ra ahaku mihi nunui ki a koutou katoa. Kia ora! (Kia ora to you all! My name is ___. I'm not for focusing purely on one's gender identity, instead I focus on our shared roots in being human. So, here I am, extending my many greetings to you all. Kia ora!) Wetenga Reo https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/8108 Ka kitea tinanatia taua mea e au (W 1971:419). / I actually saw that thing. Ngata [Search term: reality] Kia tika, kai pōhēhētia te āhua he mea motuhenga. - Be sure not to mistake appearances for reality.

  2. Jul 1

    Where do you go to find people to speak with?

    Kia ora ra e te iwi! I have a Patreon where I hope to add some additional value. If you'd like the kaupapa, and you appreciate this mahi, you can give a koha here: A Maori Podcast Whakatauki - Ko Maru kai atu, ko Maru kai mai, ka ngohengohe. - Maru who ate abroad, and at home was agreeable. [Te Kohikohinga Whakatauki a Raupo, pg. 72] Kia ora e te iwi! This week I wanted to share some tips, ideas, and personal experiences of how I go about finding people to speak with. Here is the Discord link, where I met some of my close Maori speaking friends. https://discord.com/invite/wrDm5d7 For our wetenga reo, I found this really cool phrase. Wetenga Reo: "E ka" Ka ora rapea ahau, e ka tuaina ki te moana. - I'll surely live if I'm dashed into the ocean. [Te Wiremu, pg. 26] Koia tenei pepeha mo te mea kite, e ka kitea te taonga makere. - Here is what's said for things which are found, when such a treasure is cast aside.[Te Wiremu, pg. 26] Kua mimiko katoa nga kiri o te wahine mate kino, e ka puta te marama. - Goosebumps emerged upon the woman in dire health when the moon appeared.[Te Wiremu, pg. 202] Ka mau ki tana tatā, e ka ipuipu. - He grasped at his canoe bail, that's when he began bailing water. [Te Wiremu, pg. 79] E pa, kei riri mai koia koe ki a au e ka whaki atu au ki a koe inaianei. - Please Father, be not mad at me when I confess to you now. [Te Wiremu, pg. 486] He ana koiwi e ka pukei. It's a cave of bones when piled up. [Te Wiremu, pg. 306]

  3. Jun 24 ·  Video

    Speaking Brazilian Portuguese, Hawaiian & Moriori

    Kia ora ra e te iwi! I have a Patreon where I hope to add some additional value. If you'd like the kaupapa, and you appreciate this mahi, you can give a koha here: A Maori Podcast Bom dia! Aloha, Kioranga! Tena tatou! I thought today I would benchmark my progress on the languages I'm currently learning. I've currently spent: 123 hours 46 minutes listening to Brazilian Portuguese. 4 hours 40 minutes reading Brazilian Portuguese. 85 hours 41 minutes listening to Hawaiian. 4 hours 29 minutes listening to Moriori. Using something to track your progress is a real game changer. It helps to keep things in perspective and shows you the "actual" time spent immersed in a language. I start learning Brazilian Portuguese in September 2025 but the amount of time actually spent with the language is only about 4 x 40 work week. In all the languages I'm learning, I think my main priority is improving the sound of my speech. Today I share a brief snippet of my speaking ability in each language. Our whakatauki today is: [Kohikohinga Whakatauki a Raupo, pg 101] He pakaru a waka e taea te raupine mai. - A broken canoe can be repaired. I relate it to our relationship to te reo, perhaps some of us never had the language, perhaps some of us had it in our youth but lost it as we grow up. Our reo, like a canoe can be repaired. We can still learn it. For our wetereo, I look at this cool phrase "Ka te". Here's what Te Wiremu [pg. 81] says: Ka te - "...before the verb, similarly to kei. In some cases the verb, though active in form, is apparently passive in sense, and the agent introduced by the preposition e. Ka te tami atu ki te umu taurekareka. Na ka te whai e te pa. " I also give my own example: Ka te titiro atu te rangi e au. - The sun is being looked at by me.

  4. Jun 10

    Atua Wahine: Hineatauira - The woman that became a Goddess of Death

    Kia ora ra e te iwi! I have a Patreon where I hope to add some additional value. If you like the kaupapa, and you appreciate this mahi, you can give a koha here: A Maori Podcast I have also transcribed the audio in time for the release of this episode! You can download it here for free, or for a koha. You can also just navigate to my Patreon as well: https://www.patreon.com/cw/AMaoriPodcast Whakatauki/Whakatauaki - Tūwhitia te hopo, mairangatia te angitū (Milroy 2011). / Eliminate the negative, accentuate the positive. Atua Wahine: Hine-a-tauira [Maori Religion and Mythology (1882), Edward Shortland] [pg. 22] [pg.23] "Tane took Hine-ahu-one to wife. She first gave birth to Tiki-tohua—the egg of a bird from which have sprung all the birds of the air. After that, Tikikapakapa was born—a female. Then first was born for Tane a human child. Tane took great care of Tikikapakapa, and when she grew up he gave her a new name, Hine-a-tauira (=the pattern maid). Then he took her to wife, and she bore a female child who was named Hine-titamauri. One day Hine-a-tauira said to Tane, "Who is my father?" Tane laughed. A second time Hine-a-tauira asked the same question. Katahi ka tohungia e Tane ki tona ure. and the woman understood, and her heart was dark, and she gave herself up to mourning, and fled away to Rikiriki, and to Naonao, to Rekoreko, to Waewae-te-Po, and to Po. He oti, ka rere te wahine: ka anga ko te pane ki raro, tuwhera tonu nga kuwha, hamama tonu te puapua. "Heikona, e Tane, hei kukume ake ia taua hua ki te Ao; kia haere au ki raro hei kukume iho i a taua hua ki te Po." Kia ora! I wanted to delve more into Kia and Ki te this week to sharpen my understanding of each. The source material is pretty dense; [Kia and Ki te Complementation in Maori; An Accusative Analysis, Pearce & Waite, 1997. https://nzlingsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Pearce-and-Waite-1997.pdf] So I've only managed to grasp an understanding of the below 2 examples. An asterisk means that the example is incorrect. "E pirangi ana a Moana ki te awhina i tona whanau. - Moana wants to help her family." This is an active voice sentence, meaning that the object (tona whanau) is marked. This sentence works because 'ki te' implies that Moana is doing the action. Bauer (1993:41) extends on Hohepa (1969) and gives the following statement on the differences between the 'ki te' and 'kia' structure: "If the verb in the subordinate clause is an experience verb, a neuter verb...a negative, or a passive, the clause is introduced by kia. If the subordinate clause verb does not fall into one of these categories, the distribution of 'kia' and 'ki te' depends primarily on the identity or otherwise of the subjects of the main and subordinate clause..." asterisk means it is incorrect. *E pirangi ana a Moana kia awhina i tona whanau. " This is an active voice sentence, meaning that the object (tona whanau) is marked. This sentences doesn't work because the use of 'kia' in an active voice construction means that the subject (Moana) needs to be made explicit, so the correction would be: "E pirangi ana a Moana kia awhina ia i tona whanau." Further examples are below for your own quick reference: Ka noho atu a Moana ki tona ano iwi hei awhina i tona whanau. - Moana stayed at her iwi to help her family. Ma Moana e awhina tona whanau. / Ma Moana tona whanau e awhina. - Moana will help her family. Kei te awhinatia a Moana e tona whanau. - Moana is helped by her family. E pirangi a Moana kia awhinatia e tona whanau. - Moana wants to be helped by her family. I peneitia e Moana, kia awhinatia ai e tona whanau. - Moana acted this way so as to be helped by her family. E pirangi ana a Moana kia rite ki tona whaea. - Moana wants to be like her mother. I peneitia e Moana, kia rite ai ki tona whaea. - Moana acted this way so as to be like her mother. E pirangi ana a Moana kia pai ki tana whaiaipo. - Moana wants to please her lover. I peneitia e Moana, kia pai ai ki tana whaiaipo. - Moana acted this way so as to please her lover. E pirangi ana a Moana kia mohio ki tona koroua. - Moana wants to know her elder. I peneitia e Moana, kia mohio ai ki tona koroua. - Moana acted this way so as to get to know her elder. I mahue a Moana i tāna tane. - Moana was left by her husband / Moana's husband left her. E pirangi ana a Moana kia mahue i tāna tane. - Moana wants to be abandoned by her husband. I peneitia e Moana, kia mahue ai i tāna tane. - Moana acted this way so as to be abandoned by her husband.

  5. May 27

    Orite - We've been using the wrong word...

    Kia ora ra e te iwi! I have a Patreon where I hope to add some additional value. If you'd like the kaupapa, and you appreciate this mahi, you can give a koha here: A Maori Podcast So, we've been using the wrong word and I hope that this episode can help us improve our reo. Making mistakes is fine, learning from them is better. Ko te reo kia tika, kia rere, kia maori! Tukuna ki te ao! Whakatauki - He peka titoki e kore e whati. / A branch of the titoki tree will not break. [Kohikohinga Whakatauki, pg. 43] Atua Wahine - Hineruru: "Families and larger kinship groups recognised the existence of ancestral guardinas embodied in animals. These spirits took a variety of forms, but the guardians [kaitiaki] that warn of death are usually owls (moreporks). These have different names. In Northland they are often known as Hineruru [Owl woman]. This special bird has the power to protect, warn and advise. As well as appearing at night wen someone is about to die, she may announce the imminent arrival of visitors. If she is seen flying ahead or walking along the road, she is usually there as a protector at a time of danger." [A Concise Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend, Margaret Orbell, pg. 41] Rite tonu - Her name and mine are the same / He rite tonu o māua ingoa. Anō - These same people are now asking for help / Ko aua tāngata anō ēnei e pātai āwhina nei. Pēnei - Do it the same way as I am / Me mahi tāhau kia pēnei i tāku nei. Kotahi - We all arrived at the same time. / Kotahi tonu to mātau taenga atu. ōritetanga - There was a dreary sameness about the landscape of the plains. / Tērā te ōritetanga mōrearea o te tirohanga whenua o nga mānia. [https://teaching.co.nz/pages/ngata-dictionary] - search-term is "same". We went to the same school. Incorrect: I haere māua ki te kura ōrite. Correct: I haere māua ki te kura kotahi. We returned at the same time. Incorrect: I hoki atu māua i te wā ōrite. Correct: I hoki atu māua i te wā kotahi. Tame and Mere come from the same family. Incorrect: Nō te whānau ōrite a Tame rāua ko Mere. Correct: Nō te whānau kotahi a Tame rāua ko Mere. [https://e-tangata.co.nz/reo/common-mistakes-in-reo-maori/]

About

Kia ora! Welcome to this podcast! As per the title, it's a Maori podcast and I am Maori. I try to keep the podcast completely in Te Reo, this is mainly because I want to improve my own language skills, and the best way to do it is to completely speak the language. I share my insights into learning and improving my reo Maori skills especially as someone that doesn't reside back in the homeland. Hoi ano, nahaku noa, I hope that you enjoy this mahi, and I'm proud to be Maori and to share our language. Ko te reo kia rere!If you live abroad and need a place to hang out, I finally found a great hangout spot filled with Maori speakers here.Discord - Reo MaoriI also have a Patreon where I hope to add some additional value. You can find me here:https://patreon.com/amaoripodcastI am planning to start a regularly online space to korero. Details are here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/korero-space-for-153338068