I used to find myself mis-pronouncing place names in New Zealand for others because I felt shame?? I guess because of someone else's inability to pronounce Maori words. But these days as an adult I find myself more and more inclined to correctly pronouncing my words. I have no idea where I created this shame from, but whenever it came to pronouncing words like tarakihi, I would always refer to 'teraki'. I was working part time at a fish and chip shop after school, and I found myself internalising the shame I felt and couldn't understand why I felt this way. So from then on I decided it was time I pronounced it correctly. The person who may have been mispronouncing it would probably never know the correct way and so it was my duty to help them. Because I can't be angry with someone if I have never offered to correct them first.
Now that I am so much more older I am currently internalising whether or not pointing out to another person their error would be beneficial? Would I be met with hostility? How would I approach someone to change the way they think and pronounce things in a way that would be positive? I really do want to keep positive relationships with everyone but how can I do this so that everyone can feel welcome to try and pronounce words correctly? Or is the way I am approaching it now, by just pronouncing words correctly but not 'correcting' someone, the better option.?
Great blog! I can actually relate to you on this one. I'm Maori and a fluent speaker of the language. I have always felt that I should correct people who don't pronounce place names properly because most (if not all) of them are either the names of great chiefs of the past or stories from before the first settlers came ashore. For example, Rangitoto- the volcano named after a battle that occurred in front of it between two great chiefs. Of course there's more to the story but what I'm saying is that in Maori culture a name has so much more meaning to it than meets the eye. I think place names especially deserve to be said properly, out of respect of where that name came from. So for someone to get offended for being corrected (in a polite manner) should understand that they are not just pronouncing a 'name' wrong but disrespecting the history behind it. Good on you for making the decision to pronounce place names correctly!
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