IslandThyme Posted August 26, 2019 Author #151 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Is wh always pronounced as f, or only at the beginning of a word? I wonder if I can manage to terrify timid passengers with drop bear tales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docker123 Posted August 26, 2019 #152 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Here is some scientific reading about drop bears. It even has a picture. Note it says they mostly prey on those with foreign accents. A word of caution, do not try to put on an Australian accent, it makes them more vicious. https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2013/04/drop-bears-target-tourists-study-says/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
possum52 Posted August 26, 2019 #153 Share Posted August 26, 2019 1 hour ago, IslandThyme said: Is wh always pronounced as f, or only at the beginning of a word? I wonder if I can manage to terrify timid passengers with drop bear tales. I believe it is only Maori names starting with wh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted August 26, 2019 #154 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Just show them these 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSWP Posted August 26, 2019 #155 Share Posted August 26, 2019 2 hours ago, GUT2407 said: Just show them these Stone the Crows, I feel crook as Rookwood looking at that. I am off to the Rubbity Dub for a Laguna. Ooo Roo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted August 26, 2019 #156 Share Posted August 26, 2019 47 minutes ago, NSWP said: Stone the Crows, I feel crook as Rookwood looking at that. I am off to the Rubbity Dub for a Laguna. Ooo Roo. Have a schooee of Black while ya there, the Rissole? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted August 26, 2019 #157 Share Posted August 26, 2019 6 hours ago, Aus Traveller said: Whakawareware (I think I have the correct spelling) Not quite, it's Whakarewarewa. One of the main NZ skifields, Whakapapa, usually gets a giggle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted August 26, 2019 #158 Share Posted August 26, 2019 5 hours ago, IslandThyme said: Is wh always pronounced as f, or only at the beginning of a word? I'm not actually sure. There aren't that many Maori place names with the "wh" in the middle of the word. I could only think of two - Rawhiti and Maungawhai - and I think they are both pronounced as "wh" not "f", but that could just be the anglicisation of those words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus Traveller Posted August 26, 2019 #159 Share Posted August 26, 2019 42 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said: Not quite, it's Whakarewarewa. One of the main NZ skifields, Whakapapa, usually gets a giggle. Sorry. I was lazy and didn't check the spelling. I went from my memory of a trip long, long ago. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MicCanberra Posted August 26, 2019 #160 Share Posted August 26, 2019 4 hours ago, possum52 said: I believe it is only Maori names starting with wh. Whuck, they are hard enough to say already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskarNZ Posted August 26, 2019 #161 Share Posted August 26, 2019 (edited) 6 hours ago, IslandThyme said: Is wh always pronounced as f, or only at the beginning of a word? I wonder if I can manage to terrify timid passengers with drop bear tales. Depending on one’s tribal affiliations, the letters wh are either pronounced as ‘w’ or ‘f’. From my experience the ‘f’ sound is more common. Pronunciation doesn’t depend on where the letters are placed in the word. Compared to learning English, te reo Māori pronunciation is actually relatively easily. (Not that you would think so given how poorly many kiwis pronounce Māori words). I would argue that the only tricky thing to learn is the blending of vowels (such as the ia in Kia Ora, the āo in māori or the au in Tauranga). Te Reo Māori certainly isn’t plagued with ‘exceptions to the rules’, like English is. There are 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) which all make only one sound each. /a/ as in the a in car /e/ as in the e in egg /i/ as in the ea in eat /o/ as in the o in tore /u/ as in oo in moo Then there are just 10 consonants (k, h, m, n, ng, p, r, t, w, wh) which always pair with 1-2 vowels to make a syllable. E.g. Whakapapa ski field is broken up into Wha-ka-pa-pa. Matamata (where Hobbiton is located) is broken into Ma-ta-ma-ta, Tauranga is broken into Tau-ra-nga, and Rotorua is Ro-to-ru-a If you’ve ever learnt how to speak Japanese, Te Reo is very similar. Edited August 26, 2019 by oskarNZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted August 26, 2019 #162 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Then, just to confus ed the issue, there are (or used to be) local mispronunciations of some place names e.g. Paraparaumu became pa-ra-pa-ram, and Ohingaiti became oh-a-nightie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandThyme Posted August 26, 2019 Author #163 Share Posted August 26, 2019 I'm happy to have these guides to pronunciation, and I am totally adopting whuck! Actually, Maori looks a lot like Hawaiian, which is easy to pronounce if you just go one syllable at a time. Hawaiian does have an apostrophe-like mark, to indicate a little break in the word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korimako Posted August 26, 2019 #164 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Not just at the beginning of words - Te Papa Atawhai - the Department of Conservation, has the 'f' sound in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MicCanberra Posted August 26, 2019 #165 Share Posted August 26, 2019 5 hours ago, IslandThyme said: I'm happy to have these guides to pronunciation, and I am totally adopting whuck! Actually, Maori looks a lot like Hawaiian, which is easy to pronounce if you just go one syllable at a time. Hawaiian does have an apostrophe-like mark, to indicate a little break in the word. Iwh, you want to use whuck, that is whair enough. Just be aware of whucking whive whingered pilwherers.😋 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandThyme Posted August 26, 2019 Author #166 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Actually, I've already used it on Whacebook, saying What the Whuck!?! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MicCanberra Posted August 26, 2019 #167 Share Posted August 26, 2019 2 minutes ago, IslandThyme said: Actually, I've already used it on Whacebook, saying What the Whuck!?! Whantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted August 26, 2019 #168 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Forgot to say, no need to talk nicely to Kiwis, they don’t understand English anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted August 26, 2019 #169 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Talking of strange language facts Each “c” in Pacific Ocean is pronounced differently. S K Sh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MicCanberra Posted August 26, 2019 #170 Share Posted August 26, 2019 6 minutes ago, GUT2407 said: Talking of strange language facts Each “c” in Pacific Ocean is pronounced differently. S K Sh Actually, the Pacific Ocean has many more seas in it, but they are silent.😋 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
possum52 Posted August 26, 2019 #171 Share Posted August 26, 2019 34 minutes ago, MicCanberra said: Actually, the Pacific Ocean has many more seas in it, but they are silent.😋 I've seen and heard some very loud seas in the Pacific Ocean Mic. 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docker123 Posted August 26, 2019 #172 Share Posted August 26, 2019 1 hour ago, IslandThyme said: Actually, I've already used it on Whacebook, saying What the Whuck!?! Sounds like you have moved to The Good Place. What the fork? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandThyme Posted August 26, 2019 Author #173 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Americans sometimes say What the What? to tone it down. Of course, if you pronounce that Fut the Fut, it takes on a whole new feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mr walker Posted August 27, 2019 #174 Share Posted August 27, 2019 This discussion reminds me of the lovely Kiwi lady we met onboard Voyager in 2013. She had the broadest Kiwi accent I have ever come across, and introduce herself as "Biv". I thought that's a very different name. Turns our her name was Bev. Anyway, within the group we met, we were discussing cabin locations. Her and he husband were on Deck 6. We delighted in repeatedly asking here where her cabin was located & she would reply Deck 6, which we would all hear as Dick Sex. I don't know that she ever caught on to our amusement. The other amusing thing for me with Kiwis, especially on Sth Is is the word wee, which applies to just about everything. A tour guide in Dunedin pointed out the 'wee bridge', the 'wee hill'' the 'wee tree' etc & then the 'WEE MOUNTAIN' 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted August 27, 2019 #175 Share Posted August 27, 2019 10 minutes ago, mr walker said: This discussion reminds me of the lovely Kiwi lady we met onboard Voyager in 2013. She had the broadest Kiwi accent I have ever come across, and introduce herself as "Biv". I thought that's a very different name. Turns our her name was Bev. Anyway, within the group we met, we were discussing cabin locations. Her and he husband were on Deck 6. We delighted in repeatedly asking here where her cabin was located & she would reply Deck 6, which we would all hear as Dick Sex. I don't know that she ever caught on to our amusement. The other amusing thing for me with Kiwis, especially on Sth Is is the word wee, which applies to just about everything. A tour guide in Dunedin pointed out the 'wee bridge', the 'wee hill'' the 'wee tree' etc & then the 'WEE MOUNTAIN' 🙂 Scots use the wee a lot, maybe it was an import. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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