Here’s a recording of a song in a mystery language.
Do you know or can you guess which language it’s in and where it’s spoken?
10 thoughts on “Name the language”
Comments are closed.
Here’s a recording of a song in a mystery language.
Do you know or can you guess which language it’s in and where it’s spoken?
Comments are closed.
As I can hear ‘Aotearoa’ repeatedly, I’d say it’s got to be Maori.
For me it is sounds like the songs I heard in the Moluccan communities here in the Netherlands. Their culture is of polynesian origin and the language is Malayu(Bahasa Malayu)….
I heard ‘aroha’ which is ‘love’ in Maori.
You should have used Ka Mate (smile)! I heard “tea roa” several times but even though I was listening for it, somehow I didn’t catch an “ao” before it.
The overall syllable structure and vowel system sound either African or Polynesian. With the “faka-” I heard (a common prefix) I was convinced this was a Polynesian Language and couldn’t be Hawai’ian because of the [f] sound (and the [t], neither of which occurs in Hawai’ian), and with the [r] sounds and no [l] sounds, I feel sure this is likely Māori and not Samoan, Tahitian or one of the other better known Polynesian languages. On which case, the “faka-” should be spelt “whaka-” instead. As for the “tea” and “roa”, people familiar with Hawai’i will recognise common Polynesian vocabulary in the mountain names Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea (White Mountain and Long Mountain), with three of the sound shifts that happened in Hawai’ian. (Mauna is the Hawai’ian version of what is pronounced maunga in Māori and other languages, e.g. Maunga Teatea on one of the easternmost islands (Easter Island?).
I’am agree; probably it’s maori.
Another vote for Maori here.
I also guessed Maori.
Definitely Maori, primarily in New Zealand, and is, in fact, a song about New Zealand– Perhaps the Maori anthem.
d.m.f.
New Zealand Maori. Although, can I suggest, they are non-Maori speakers singing. The pronunciation seems somewhat “anglified”.
The answer is Māori (Te Reo Māori), which is spoken mainly in New Zealand.
I made the recording at the Bangor Community Choir rehearsal last week.
Here are the words and a translation:
E hara i te mea
No naianei te aroha
No nga tupuna
Tuku iho tuku iho
Whakapono tumanako
Te aroha ki te iwi
Te whenua te whenua
Te oranga mo te iwi
Translation
It is not a new thing
now that is love
comes from the ancestors
handed down through the passages of time
Faith and hope
Love to the people
The land, the land
is the life for the people