NEW ZEALAND
Language

Cities in NEW ZEALAND

Auckland

Christchurch

Wellington

Language

English, with a clearly audible accent, and Maori (since 1987) are the official languages of New Zealand. There is a kind of "Kiwi snake":

Some examples of this are:

• Rattle your dags! = hurry up!
• Mate / cobber = buddy
• Goes like a bomb = runs like a train
• Not much chop = doesn't pay
• Loopies = tourists
• Full as a bull = drunk
• See ya = goodbye
• Wops-wops = deep in the province

Maori is spoken by more than 3% of the population and the Maoris themselves speak both languages. The number of Maori who still speak Maori among themselves is getting less and less.

Maori has some similarities with Indonesian dialects and Polynesian languages as spoken in Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia.

Maori pronouns New Zealand_{Photo: Wiremu Stadtwald Demchick CC 4.0 International no changes made}

The Maori alphabet has only fifteen letters: the a, e, h, i, k, m, n, o, p, r, t, u, w, ng, and wh. The last letter is pronounced as a hard f. Maori has no S-sounds.

Most geographic names are of Maori origin and translate well, such as:

• Ao = cloud
• Tea = white
• Roa = long
• Ao tea roa is then "land of the long white clouds", the Maori name for New-Zealand.

Some Maori words and expressions:

• Aroha = love
• Haere-mai = welcome
• Hui = gathering of the tribe
• Manu = bird
• Peruperu = war dance
• Roto = more
• Rangi = heaven
• Waiata = song
• Waka = canoe
• wai = water

The word Maori was first used by the Europeans and means normal or ordinary.

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Sources

Driessen, J. / Reishandboek Nieuw-Zeeland
Elmar

Gebauer, B. / Nieuw-Zeeland
Lannoo

Gebauer, B. / Nieuw-Zeeland
Elmar

Hanna, N. / Nieuw-Zeeland
Kosmos-Z&K

Harper, L. / New Zealand
Rough Guides

New Zealand
Macmillan

Te gast in Nieuw-Zeeland
Informatie Verre Reizen

Williams, J. / New Zealand
Lonely Planet

CIA - World Factbook
BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated October 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info