LETTERS & PRONUNCIATION
Tahitian has only fifteen letters, and unlike many European languages, is actually quite easy for English speakers to pronounce, provided you pay attention to correct and clear pronunication of the vowels. Every consonant is followed by a vowel, and there are no consonant clusters. Vowels can stand alone, and no word ends in a consonant.
Vowels
There are five short vowels and five long vowels.....
| a | similar to the 'a' in "father" | |
| e | similar to the 'e' in "met"; at times it is closer to the "i" in "pin" (British English pronunciation) | |
| i | similar to the 'ea' in "heat", but a pure vowel sound - no glides. | |
| o | similar to the 'o' in "pot" (British English pronunciation) | |
| u | similar to the 'oo' in "boot", but without the glide. It is also further back in the mouth than the English vowel. |
There are also the long vowels á, é, í, ó, ú, which are pronounced exactly the same as the short vowels, but twice the length. Be sure not to glide these vowels like we do in English! Note also that Tahitians do not spell the long vowels like this with the accent above them - this is only a way to help you pronounce them correctly. Tahitians normally don't mark long vowels, and so a word like táua "we-two" is actually spelled taua. This will become clear as the lessons go on.
Consonants
There are eight consonants.....
| f | similar to the 'f' in "father", but softer, with less breath. | |
| h | similar to the 'h' in "happy" but softer. | |
| m | similar to the 'm' in "mother". | |
| n | similar to the 'n' in "not". | |
| p | similar to the 'p' in "speak", not the aspirated strong pronunciation of 'p' in "pot". At times it can sound like 'b'. | |
| r | a soft slightly trilled 'r', similar to how it is pronounced in Scotland. Not the English 'r', nor is it the strong trilled sound of Russian or Italian. | |
| t | similar to the 't' in "stop", not the aspirated sound of "tap". Before 'e' and 'i', the 't' sound is made by the tongue striking behind the teeth; before other vowels, it is slightly further back. | |
| v | similar to the 'v' in "vast", but a softer sound. | |
| ' | the glottal stop, similar to the sound between the vowels in the word "uh-oh". Also similar to the 't' sound commonly heard at the end of words in British English (particularly London) pronunciation. Compare American "cat" with English "ca'"! |
Note that Tahitians don't usually spell words with the glottal stop, as they know where it goes. In these lessons, we'll be spelling words with the glottal stop to help you pronounce words correctly.
Loan words
There are many loan words from English, and French, as well as other Polynesian languages, in Tahitian. Obviously, as English and French have more sounds than Tahitian, some sounds get changed. On top of that, English has lots of consonant clusters which Tahitian can't have, so vowels get interspersed between the consonants so that it can be said clearly in Tahitian.
| English sounds | Tahitian sounds | English words | Tahitian words | |
| b | p | broom / Britain | purúmu / Peretani | |
| d, j, s, z, k, c | t | coffee / Japan | taofe / Tapone | |
| l | r | hotel | hotera | |
| English sound | Tahitian sound | English word | Tahitian word |
Long Vowels and Glottal Stops
Now you might think that the long vowel and glottal stop aren't so important to think about, but if you ignore them, you'll probably end up saying things you didn't mean to. Look at the list below, and practice the pronunciation of these words.
| hó'é | "one" | hoe | "paddle" | |
| táua | "we two" | taua | "battle, war" | |
| mai | "come" | ma'i | "sick, ill" | |
| au | "I, me" | 'au | "swim" | |
| 'o | "name announcer" | ó | "of" |
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