Kiwi English
By Heather Hapeta
‘Kia ora and welcome to New Zealand’
Did you know we speak our own version of English? To help you, here is a little kiwi-land survival guide: an attempt to translate some Kiwi-English to make your stay easier, as we speak (especially our vowels) and spell differently to English-English, American-English and every other form of this widely spread language. We also have Maori words that have been absorbed into our speech: then of course many of our place-names will confuse you. Also, we are multi- English-lingual, learning English from the UK and USA from TV, so we (mostly) understand you. However, we are evidently the fastest English-speakers in the world, so be prepared to have to ask us to repeat words and slow down.
Here goes: We bank cheques, the driver will check all your bags are on the bus, and we queue rather than get in line. We also always put ‘the’ before North and South Island, i.e. the South Island, the North Island – I don't know why, we just do – and if someone talks about their partner it could be a wife/husband or live-in lover/de-facto etc - a business partner will usually be defined as ‘business’. When you see pies for sale (at a dairy!) they will be savoury unless on a dessert menu: made with steak & mushroom (or cheese or bacon & egg, or mince (mince = ground beef)). Also, we say ‘root’ for route: ‘boy’ for buoy: ‘rubbish’ for trash: and a walk is an American hike – an overnight walk is ‘tramping’.
Coffee can be a minefield for you. We mostly drink Italian espresso – except for in hotels, and they usually have filter coffee! Ristretto/short black is just the espresso - coffee extracted, with no extra water. Long black means espresso with some hot water. If you have milk in your coffee, order a flat white, or a cappuccino or latté: a flat white is black coffee with a little cold milk; cappuccino has hot frothy milk in it; and a latté is largely made with milk. Some cafés will make it easier for you by having 'Americano' – an espresso with more hot water to dilute it, to be more like filter coffee.
‘Kiwi’ means all New Zealanders; 'kiwi', one of our many native, flightless birds; and 'kiwifruit', is the brown, hairy fruit.
Maori vowel sounds – this is the key to saying them (similar to Italian or Japanese).
A - arr
E - air
I - ee ( kiwi = kewe)
O - orr (pork)
U - uu (as in shoe or moon)
Other tricky letters: ‘wh’ = has a soft ‘F’ sound; ‘ng’ a diphthong that is the same as in sing and words are divided up/pronounced, after each vowel.
To help translate some place names: Te = singular, Nga = plural, Wai = water, Maunga = mountain, Motu = island, Nui = big, Iti = small, Roa = long, Whenua = land (and placenta).
Now say the longest word in the world: taumatawhakangihangakoauaotamateaturipukakapikimaungshoronukupokaiwhenuatanatahu
Now try to translate these: panel beater - chilly bin - jandals - fortnight – dairy.
Finally, I have no problem with you laughing at our words - after all, I laugh at yours – and it’s our common languages that separates us, makes us unique and travel an interesting challenge. Enjoy your time in New Zealand.
