I’ve added māori to the list of languages I’m gonna try and learn in the next year. Sadly it seems like Duolingo has shelved their māori project (though I actually now think this might be a good thing).

Thought I’d check out my local library and found a great book available to borrow digitally: Te Reo Māori: The Basics Explained by David Kārena-Holmes.

I feel like te reo education in NZ for most people consists of learning a few key words, but it doesn’t really go into the grammar of the language. This book provides a really great clear explanation of the grammar and sentence construction of the language.

I think the next thing I need is flash cards for practicing the meanings of particles and prepositions in example sentences because this looks like the most complex thing to learn.

What resources have you found really useful when you’re studying māori (or any other language for that matter)?

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[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 4 points 1 year ago

I've been thinking about this as well. I really should, as a 50th birthday gift to myself and NZ as a whole, start to learn it properly

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I highly recommend taking a class. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa has free ones that are generally evening classes.

There are other places offering courses but you'll probably have to pay.

The TWoA ones provide the Māori made easy book (and the sequel in the second year).

For flashcards, you can use Ankidroid. It has downloadable te reo set, but I think it's better to start empty and add your own words and phrases as you learn them in other places (course/book/etc).

[–] tracy@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I learned reo Māori at the Wānanga about 15 years ago and it was a great experience. The resources were great and they use a lot of different teaching methods. I imagine their resources have only gotten better over time. Plus Olly Ohlson was a guest teacher!

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 year ago

Lucky! Yeah they do quite a mix and especially in the first year they do quite a holistic view rather than focusing on the language exclusively.

So for example, learning about pōwhiri, marae, te ao Māori, karakia, and waiata were all used as devices to teach language.

I did a couple of years starting in 2020 (it was a bit of chaos at the start as they took a class that had always been taught in person and tried to convert it for online delivery).

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago

I highly recommend The Wānanga ō Aotearoa (TWoA).

I did two courses, one evening per week for two semesters each (over two years). Actually did it at work with about a dozen other colleagues.

It was awesome. A perfect blend of the technical aspects of the language, actual usage, cultural background.

That might be more than you can commit to, they also have many other courses in smaller more manageable chunks.

[–] Alan11@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago

I used the Drops app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.languagedrops.drops.international&hl=en&gl=US&pli=1) for a while, but it was mostly just vocabulary, and may not be entirely accurate :-/

I also watched some Toku Reo online https://www.tokureo.maori.nz/ There are hundreds of episodes with Grammar, Vocabulary, and Activities sections in each episode and online exercises to practice after each episode. There's also a short version of each episode.

I'm probably not the best person to give recommendations though, I've made very little progress...