Open With Difficult Words and Tricky Accents

[Aonghas Fergusson]

Aonghas had been in an odd head space since the rose giving, he couldn’t help but want to get a little more stuck in with things in New Zealand, and he’d settled upon Maori. The boy had heard a few others use the words but he decided that it couldn’t be too hard for him to pick up. He knew gaelic and english, already two whole languages, and he’d gotten pretty good at scots, which was maybe a dialetic more than a language, but there was no reason why he couldn’t try to figure out maori. The boy had found some beginner maori books in the library and sequestered himself in a little corner of the place. He had the books out in front of him but hadn’t yet opened them. He was trying to remember the phrase he’d heard others saying, but he couldn’t think of how they were said, and he feared that he’d sound dumb while saying it. The boy took the books and opened it, spotting the greeting in front of him, which he was sure what people were saying. He couldn’t of course say for certain, but he felt pretty confident about that being it. He looked at the word and the guide, ”Ke-a-or-a” he was trying his best to say Kia ora, but it was broken into two words and the r in ora was rolled quite a bit. He had a feeling that it wouldn’t be right and it hadn’t ever really occurred to him that his biggest difficulty in picking up maori was the fact his accent was a little tricky.​

 

[Madeline Kaimarama]

Maddy wasn't terribly enthusiastic about spending time in the library; it didn't have any of the kinds of fantasy books she enjoyed reading, just boring non-fiction books for studying. Study was what she needed to do today, get some reading done for class, but it was so boring. Maddy was easily distracted, looking around at the sounds of anyone walking past, doodling in the margins of the page she was supposed to be taking notes on. Then she heard a voice from behind a nearby shelf, mangling what she thought was a familiar greeting. "Kia ora?" she said curiously, peering through the shelf to try and see who it was.

 

[Everly Harrington]

Everly was following Maddy around the library knowing she needed to study and having heard wonderful things about the library she decided to keep her friend company. She heard a voice through the bookshelves, although it didn't quite sound familiar until her friend replied in Maori. Currently they were teaching a roommate the language, although she only really knew basics from muggle school. So it was a great chance for her to learn more from a person who spoke the language quite well. She looked through the shelf with her friend curious to see who was talking to them. Or maybe he was just talking to himself. "Oh, it's a boy from our year Maddy, kia ora!" She said sticking her hand through the shelf to wave at the boy to get his attention. She realized then her voice might have been rather loud for a library and looked around to make sure a librarian wasn't coming around.

 

[Aonghas Fergusson]

Aonghas looked up as someone said way better than him and he repeated back what she said, but still wasn’t quite getting it. It was at least being said as one word rather than two, which was more correct, but he was still likely over rolling the the r sound in ora, and the K sound wasn’t the same as how the girl had said it. A second girl spoke, saying it and adding a little bit about him. He kept his gaze on them through the books, they was in his year he thought but of course through the books that they were peering through to look at him, Aonghas couldn’t tell if they were in his house or not. ”Ah can speak two languages,” he told her, as if trying to justify why he wasn’t managing this at all though he could figure from his own attempts that his accent was his biggest hindrance. He felt bad, he’d be living in New Zealand and he knew the professors occasionally used the greeting and he wanted to be able to say the same, to interact with them, or at least to have some understanding of what they were saying. ”Can ye repeat but like real slowly, ah ‘hink ah need tae sound it oot better ‘fore ah can say it,” The boy hoped they sit down with him and maybe give him the chance to learn from them.​

 

[Madeline Kaimarama]

Maddy was surprised that Everly could recognise the boy through the shelves, but she was entirely prepared to believe her. She giggled as Everly stuck her hand through the shelves to wave at him. Then the boy spoke in English, and Maddy suddenly understood why he'd been having so much trouble with the pronunciation. She could barely understand him in a language he spoke already! Maddy stood up and walked around the shelves to where the boy was, and now she could see him she did know him, a Hufflepuff she'd seen in classes. "No worries, you're doing okay," she said encouragingly. "It's Aonghas, right?" she added, failing entirely to correctly pronounce his name. She'd only heard it spoken a couple of times, and it was as unfamiliar to her as te reo was to him, so hopefully that would reassure him rather than offend. "Kia ora," she said again, more slowly, trying to say it as clearly as possible.