How to talk nicely with Aussies and Kiwis?

[IslandThyme]

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. 

[Docker123]

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/

[possum52]

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.

[GUT2407]

Just show them these

[NSWP]

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.

[GUT2407]

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?

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

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.

[OzKiwiJJ]

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. 

[Aus Traveller]

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. 🙂

[MicCanberra]

4 hours ago, possum52 said:

I believe it is only Maori names starting with wh.

Whuck, they are hard enough to say already.

[oskarNZ]

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

[OzKiwiJJ]

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.

[IslandThyme]

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.

[Korimako]

Not just at the beginning of words - Te Papa Atawhai - the Department of Conservation, has the

'f' sound in the middle.

[MicCanberra]

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.😋

[IslandThyme]

Actually, I've already used it on Whacebook, saying What the Whuck!?!

[MicCanberra]

2 minutes ago, IslandThyme said:

Actually, I've already used it on Whacebook, saying What the Whuck!?!

Whantastic

[GUT2407]

Forgot to say, no need to talk nicely to Kiwis, they don’t understand English anyway.

[GUT2407]

Talking of strange language facts 

 

Each “c” in Pacific Ocean is pronounced differently.

 

S

K

Sh

[MicCanberra]

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.😋

[possum52]

 

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. 😁

[Docker123]

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?

 

[IslandThyme]

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.

[mr walker]

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' 🙂 

[GUT2407]

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.