Three Hard Truths I've Learnt From Te Reo Māori

Kia ora! It's been a while, and I thought I'd get the ball rolling again with some good ole lessons from 2022 and my year of learning Te Reo Māori. You ready? Let's go!

Learning takes time!

I learned fairly quickly on my reo journey?that I only ever became better when I verbally spoke Te Reo Māori. Now you might be thinking, "No sh*t", but let me tell you how easy it is to have a conversation in your head in full Te Reo Māori and then you go to speak it out loud and all of a sudden you sound like your two-year old!

Learning any new language isn't something you get overnight. You definitely don't get it in a week, just like your two year old didn't speak or understand English overnight, or in a week, you will be the same.

When you start to learn Te Reo Māori it's important to remember this one thing:

"Treat yourself as though you're a child, because in all honesty, you are one (learning a new language)"

Knowing more isn't always better

If you're anything like me, this is what your learning may resemble:

1. You learn a new sentence structure
2. You practice it once
3. You think you've got it
4. You want to learn something else
5. You fail to practice or use the other sentence structure
6. You learn a new one
7. You repeat Steps 2-5
8. You retain jack sh*t
9. You cry because you can't retain what you've learnt on the first go.

Just as I explained in the first Hard Truth, the second Hard Truth is that trying to learn more when you haven't fully grasped a little isn't always the best way to get to where you want to be faster.

Think of it like the two year old. You show the two year old how to hold a pen and they start to draw a circle. You see it drawing a circle and you think it's got it on the first go. The next day, you try to teach it how to draw a square. Again, you think they've got it. Then you teach them a triangle...and then a star. Next thing you think they're the next picasso. You don't draw with them until the few days after and now they can't even hold the pen the right way up and instead of drawing on the paper, they've drawn on the carpet, their face and your new pants.

"Knowing" more a.k.a being made aware of more things at once doesn't neccesarily mean you're going to fast track your learning any faster than someone who focuses on nailing one sentence structure, or one kupu over the course of a week.

Just remember:

It's not how much reo you have, it's how you use the reo that you've got!

Sh*t is gonna hurt

No, I'm not talking about the bruised ego I've just given you. I'm talking about the mamae (pain) that is going to start to arise within you while you dive deeper into your reo journey.

Te Reo Māori isn't just about learning a language, it's about learning a way of life and a way of a people.

This means learning about the mamae, the stories, the atrocities and the successes that are all piled into one. These sorts of stories are going to uplift a lot for you, and I'll be honest with you, no amount of pre-warning can truly warn you of what you'll feel on the way.

I spent a lot of this year crying because of what I had learnt, and what I had begun to feel as I deepened my understanding of Te Reo Māori. I'm not saying the entire journey is like this, engari (but), it is definitely going to pop up when you least expect it to.

Just remember:

The pain you feel isn't only yours, and sometimes, it's not going to be your own tears when you do allow them to flow. You'll understand what I mean when you get there.

Final words

Reclaiming your reo is going to be a journey that changes your life forever. Just know that there are going to be moments where you may feel the above Hard Truths for yourself. When you do, that's your sign to press forward and continue on the haerenga (journey), because when you do, there's so much more that you'll start to discover about yourself along the way!