how do i pronounce these words in Maori?

Maori was originally an oral language - the speakers did not write their language down and conventions of usage were passed on by the telling of stories. Upon the European colonisation of New Zealand, the language was recorded in terms of the English alphabet. there is now a standardised Maori alphabet which is largely based on phonetics - similar to the Chinese Pinyin alphabet.

when practising these phrases aloud, it's best to remember that Te Reo Maori is a very musical language, even when spoken. the length of each syllable is often shorter than the syllables in English, and syllables are not stressed as they are in English. so be careful not to draw out syllables in Maori and don't stress anything too much. there is an exception on vowels and diphthongs though - if there is a flat, horizontal mark over a vowel, then that means the length of that vowel should be twice as long as it is without that mark. in music, if each syllable takes up one beat then the syllables with the mark over them would take up two beats.

another useful thing to remember is that the vowel diphthongs are simply the combination of two sounds to make a syllable that is the same length as the other syllbables.

in the first phrase, 'h' is similar to the English pronunciation of 'h'. 'a' is pronounced like 'ah'. the diphthong 'ai' is pronounced like 'eye'. 'e' is pronounced like the 'e' in 'bed'.

so, He aha ai = he ah-hah eye

in the second phrase, the same rules apply - 'e' as in 'bed', 'h' as in 'haha', 'a' as in 'ah', and 'ai' as in 'eye. 'm' is also the same as in English. 'r' is a little difficult - it sounds like your tongue is flapping against the roof of your mouth behind your teeth very quickly. you know when you try to purr like a cat? it's that sound. don't draw it out, just let the tongue flap once or twice.

Ehara mai = Ehah-rah m-eye

in the third phrase 'wh' is similar to the sound that you make when you blow out a candle. others claim it is more similar to the English 'f'. the first word should sound a little bit like the english word 'fire' without any American English 'r' pronunciation.

't' is similar to the English, 'i' sounds like the 'e' in 'bee'. 'k' is the same as in English, 'u' sounds like the vowel that comes out of your mouth when you push your lips forward and together. try pronouncing 'cool' in this way - the vowel sound that comes out is OK.

as for 'ng' it is halfway between the English pronunciation of 'n' and 'ng'. place your tongue as if you were going to pronounce the letter 'n' but then pull your your tongue away from your teeth a little bit and let more of your tongue make contact with your hard palate. that is 'ng'.

whaia te iti kahurangi = f-eye-ah te ee-tee kah-hu-rah-ngee

the diphthong 'uo' often sounds like there is a 'w' in it. 'o' in Maori sounds like the sound that comes out of your mouth when you make your mouth into an 'o' shape and your lower jaw is dropped. so it would sound like you said 'two-oh' in English.

similarly, the diphthong 'oe' sounds like 'weh' in English.

dipthong 'au' sounds like 'ah-oh'. don't sound them out separately, as in the English 'uh-oh' for when someone makes a mistake. keep the voicing constant.

diphthong 'ei' sounds like the English pronunciation of the letter 'a' - but much shorter.

kee te two-oh-hu kweh me he mah-oh-ngah tay-tay.

this is nowhere as good as the real thing - i.e. hearing someone speak it, I suggest you look online for actual examples you can listen to. or try and find songs on line in Maori and learn the pronunciation by reading the lyrics in Maori while listening to the song. I suggest you try listening to Maori songs by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Hayley Westenra, Sir Howard Morrison, etc.

Hope this helps.