Wikijunior:Languages/Māori

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Languages

Arabic Bengali Catalan Dutch English Esperanto Estonian French German Hebrew Hindi Japanese Korean Latin Mandarin Chinese Marathi Nahuatl Norwegian Polish Portuguese Quenya Russian Sanskrit Serbian Spanish Swahili Tagalog Tamil Turkish Urdu

What writing system(s) does this language use?

Māori originally had no writing system. Later the Māoris used the same system as we do in English. Their alphabet is slightly different though. h, k, m, n, p, r, t, w, a, e, i, o, u, wh, ng ."A" is said like in "car". "E" like in "bear". "I" like the "e"s in tree.

How many people speak this language?

The 2006 New Zealand Census found that 157,000 people can have a basic Māori conversation. It is believed around 29,000 can speak Māori fluently.

Where is this language spoken?

Māori is mostly spoken in New Zealand. Particularly in the North Island.

What are some basic words in this language that I can learn?

• Hello - Kia ora
• How are you? - Kei te pēhea koe?
• Good luck - Kia waimarie
• Do you speak Māori? - He reo Māori tōu?

What is a simple song/poem/story that I can learn in this language?

This is the Haka. It is sung by the All Blacks rugby team before games. It was a traditional Māori war chant. KA MATE! KA MATE! KA ORA, KA ORA! KA MATE! KA MATE! KA ORA, KA ORA! TENEI TE TANGATA PU'RU-HURU NA'A NEI TIKI MAI WHAKA-WHITI TE RA! UPANE! KA UPANE! A UPANE! KA UPANE! WHITI TE RA! HI !