Te reo Māori is a beautiful language, but it can be difficult to learn, particularly when it comes to the correct pronunciation - but a little girl in the United States has stunned the internet with her admirable attempt at enouncing a te reo word, which also happens to be one of the longest place names in the world.
Capturing the moment in a video that has since been viewed almost 450,000 times, TikTok user Maddy - who goes by the username @lenaknows12 - encouraged her young daughter Lena to attempt to pronounce 'Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu', the name of a hill in the Hawke's Bay region.
The hill is situated near the township of Pōrangahau, south of Waipukurau in southern Hawke's Bay - and as aforementioned, is also the holder of one of the longest place names worldwide.
"This one's a treat. You're welcome. The more and more she reads I look for words that push her pronunciation and reading skills. This one was fun to learn, but shiiiit I had to teach myself before I taught her and it wasn't easy for me, but she picked it up QUICK!" Maddy captioned the clip, which has been liked almost 90,000 times at the time of writing.
When presented with the word, Lena at first appears to be shocked by the length, asking her mum: "How do you know that I can say that?"
"Okay first, I'm not saying a curse word," she adorably prefaced her attempt, appearing to be referring to 'whaka'.
"I'm just reading the word," she continued, screwing up her face. "I really don't want you guys to think I'm saying a bad word."
"She always gets uncomfortable saying the first part of this word," Maddy added.
Lena then launches into the name with pronunciation that has been widely congratulated, especially taking into consideration her age and the fact she's from America, not Aotearoa. She doesn't stumble once, continuing the name in one flowing attempt without pause.
Clearly feeling shy, Lena then reaches over and covers her mum's mouth, who praised her as "incredible".
"Two little fun facts today," Lena continued. "The language New Zealands [sic] speak is Māori, and second of all, the 'WH' in Māori makes the sound 'fff'."
The adorable clip has quickly gone viral, with many viewers from Aotearoa and of Māori heritage praising Lena for her attempt at taking on te reo.
"I am Māori from New Zealand and you pronounced this amazingly! Better than some New Zealanders," one viewer applauded her. "Can I give one little fact, not to belittle at all! But to help - 'Au' in māori is pronounced as 'Oh'."
"Thank you for that!" Maddy responded.
"Young lady, I'm from New Zealand and would love to talk with you and mum if you guys are keen," a second said, with a third adding: "Okayyyyyy she is AMAZINGGGGG. From all of us Māori in NZ we LOVE her [sic]."
"She is a little genius," another added.
Maddy and Lena have amassed a loyal following on TikTok, with Maddy frequently filming videos of her daughter guessing the countries different flags belong to and learning various words, with an ongoing series called, "Think you can stump Lena?"
