Correcting common errors in te reo Māori for all levels of students and speakers

Ngā Hapa Reo: Common Māori Language Errors
Hona Black and Te Aorangi Murphy-Fell

Bilingual addition to Oratia’s te reo reference series explains and corrects common errors in Māori

Māori language teachers and consultants Hona Black and Te Aorangi Murphy-Fell hear a lot of common errors in te reo, not only in the courses they teach but also among fluent speakers. 

That motivated the pair to write Ngā Hapa Reo, making readers aware of common Māori language errors and how to right them, so that the reo can flourish in the future.

 

From choosing between awhi and āwhina, to the importance of tohutō (macrons), to whether to address a friend as ‘Hēmi’ or ‘e Hēmi’ — the new book deals with word choice, grammar, interference from English and more. It profiles more than 150 common errors, with explanations about how to correct them.

Chapter openings are in Māori on left-hand pages and English on the right, while examples are profiled on one page, making this bilingual book accessible to readers of all levels of fluency.

 

Ngā Hapa Reo adds to Oratia's language reference series, which includes Hona's books He Iti te Kupu: Māori Metaphors and Similes and Te Reo Kapekape: Māori Wit and Humour.

Published in time for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, this new work fills a gap in the market for language resources. 

The authors

Hona Black (Tūhoe, Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) lectures on teaching for Māori medium schools at Massey University, Palmerston North. This is his third book about te reo Māori. Hona lives in Porirua with his partner and their son. 

Te Aorangi Murphy-Fell (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Apa) is a Māori language and education consultant for Haemata Limited. He has a keen interest in governance and holds several directorships. Te Aorangi lives in Whakatāne with his family.

Publication: 2 September 2024 | ISBN: 978-1-99-004259-1 | RRP $39.99

Paperback, 210 x 148 mm portrait, 196 pages, b&w

Starting the year off in te reo — a new guide to the basics of the language

The welcome upsurge in learning and speaking of the Māori language continues to gather pace across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Along with the growing use of te reo in daily life, demand is such that places in night classes are hard to secure and there’s a shortfall in resources to make learning the language efficient and enjoyable. 

In Te Reo Māori: The Basics Explained, seasoned author and language teacher David Kārena-Holmes helps answer that demand.

With his simple and methodical approach, David explains in simple terms the building blocks of grammar in te reo, showing how to create phrases, sentences and paragraphs. 

After an introductory chapter on pronunciation and written forms of the language, 17 chapters introduce the main base words, particles and determiners that guide their use. 

The book employs real-life examples to illustrate how Māori grammar works day to day.

Te Reo Māori: The Basics Explained draws on David’s previous books and decades of experience teaching and writing about Māori language to provide an essential companion for speakers at any level.

Nelson Public Libraries will be hosting a presentation by David about the book this Saturday 8 February; click here to find out more.

The author

David Karena-Holmes has been a tutor of Māori grammar at schools and institutions in New Zealand since the 1980s. This is his third book on the subject. He contributes a fortnightly newspaper column on te reo, and his poetry and other writings have been widely published. David lives in Whakatū/Nelson.

Publication: 5 February 2020 |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-69-8 |  RRP $34.99

Paperback, 210 x 148 mm portrait, 168 pages b&w

Taking a closer look at grammar

It's good to see editors' collective Coles & Lopez promoting attention to English grammar and usage.

Check out http://www.colesandlopez.com/blog/ for India Lopez' take on apostrophes, commas and more ...