Korero Maori!

HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE VOWELS

A note on pronunciation
The following English equivalents are a rough guide to pronouncing vowels in Māori:

a as in far
e as in desk and the first ‘e’ in where; it should be short and sharp
i as in fee, me, see
o as in awe (not ‘oh!’)
u as in sue, boot
There are fewer consonants, and only a few are different from English:

r should not be rolled. It is pronounced quite close to the sound of ‘l’ in English, with the tongue near the front of the mouth.
t is pronounced more like ‘d’ than ‘t’, with the tip of the tongue slightly further back from the teeth
wh counts as a consonant; the standard modern pronunciation is close to the ‘f’ sound. In some districts it is more like an ‘h’; in others more like a ‘w’ without the ‘h’; in others again more like the old aspirated English pronunciation of ‘wh’ (‘huence’ for whence)
ng counts as a consonant and is pronounced like the ‘ng’ in ‘singer’. It is not pronounced like the ‘ng’ in ‘finger’, i.e., Whāngārei is pronounced Far-n(g)ah-ray (not Fong-gah-ray); Tauranga is pronounced Tow- (to rhyme with sew) rah-n(g)ah (not Tow-rang-gah).

The macron – a little line above some vowels – indicates vowel length. Some words spelled the same have different meanings according to their vowel length. For example, anā means ‘here is’ or ‘behold’: Anā te tangata! (Here is the man!) Ana, with no macron, means a cave. Some writers of modern Māori double the vowel instead of using macrons when indicating a long vowel; the first example would be Anaa te tangata!

GREETINGS AND MORE
Kia ora - A wish of good health encompassing physical, spiritual and emotional health. Used to greet people, to agree with people, to encourage people and as thanks.
Chur Chur - (colloquial)How the rangatahi greet or thank or encourage each other.
Rangatahi -  Youth, teenager or those younger than a kaumatua. Maori are considered Rangatahi throughout their adulthood until they reach the status of elder.
Kaumatua - Respected elder. Elders are considered the holders of knowlege and wisdom. It is the role of the elder as teacher that is paramount in the development of Maori society.
Tamaariki - Literally means  child of or from the gods. Children.
Whanau - family
Whakapapa - ancestry, genealogy, blood lines. The practise of studying and learning  your blood lines.
Hapu - tribe