He paku rerekē nei te tikanga mahi o te kaiwhakamārama reo ā-tuhi me te kaiwhakamārama reo ā-waha. Ko te kaiwhakamārama reo ā-waha ka whakamārama wawe i te kupu kī. Ko te kaiwhakamārama ā-tuhi ka mahi ki ngā tuhinga, me te aro ki te hopu i te tikanga o te kōrero.
Ko Tupaia rāua ko Kuki
Nō te whānau reo o Te Moananui-a-Kiwa te reo Māori. Nō konei ka noho te rangatira o Tahiti a Tupaia hei kaiwhakamārama reo mā Kāpene Kuki i tōna haerenga tuatahi ki Aotearoa i te tau 1769. I Tūranganui-a-Kiwa ka rokohangatia ngā Māori i runga i ngā waka e rua. Ka whakatata atu ki te kaipuke, ā, ka whakawhiti kōrero rāua ki a Tupaia. He mārama tonu ngā whakawhitiwhiti kōrero a te hunga nei.1
Te whiunga kupu a te Atua
Nō tētahi pō i te tau 1845, ka oho ake te mihinare a Robert Maunsell i te auau o te kurī. I tōna ohonga, e mura ana tōna whare, ā, ka wera hoki tāna whakamāoritanga o te Paipera Tawhito. 13 tau i muri mai, ka whakatau ake a Maunsell. ‘Kua oti te kupu a te Atua te tā ki te reo Māori … tiwhatiwha katoa te ao i ngā tau 13 ki mua, i te weranga o tōku whare, o ōku pepa me ōku tuhinga i roto i te haora me te hāwhe.’2
Ko Ruatara rāua ko Marsden
Nō te tīmatatanga o te noho a te Pākehā ki Aotearoa, me whakawhitiwhiti kōrero rātou me te Māori e puta ai te ihu. He tūranga hira tō te kaiwhakamārama reo ki ngā taha e rua. Ko te rangatira o Ngāpuhi ko Ruatara tētahi i whai i ngā mihinare pērā i a Samuel Marsden ki roto o Pēwhairangi i te tau 1814. Nāna i whakamāori te kauhau a Marsden i te Kirihimete i taua tau. ‘Ka kī atu ngā Māori ki a Ruatara, tē āro i a rātou te tikanga o aku kōrero. Ka whakahoki ia kia kaua rātou e māharahara, māna tonu e whakamārama ngā kōrero. I te mutunga o taku kauhau, ka whakamārama ia i aku kōrero ki te minenga.’3
Ko Dicky Barrett
Ko te hunga Pākehā i noho ki waenganui i te Māori, ā, i ako ki te reo i kīia he Pākehā-Māori. Ko tētahi o ngā Pākehā nei ko te kaihoko ko Dicky Barrett. E ai ki a Henry Williams ko ia te kauwaka kawe whakaaro i waenganui i te Kamupene o Niu Tīreni me te Māori’.4 Heoi ko te reo Māori a Barrett nā ngā kaipatu wēra i homai, ā, i ōrite ki te kūkū Ingarihi a ngā Hainamana’. Nāwai ka kitea e te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi he koretake a Barrett hei kaiwhakamārama reo, arā, i te tāpaetanga hoko o tētahi whenua, kīhai ia i whakamārama tika i ngā kōrero ki ngā Māori’.6
Te whakamārama i ngā Karaipiture
Nāwai ka taunga ētahi mihinare ki te reo Māori, ā, he nui ngā whiti o Te Paipera me ētahi atu tuhinga Karaitiana tapu i whakaputaina ki te reo Māori. Nō te tau 1837, kua oti kē i a William Williams te whakamāori i te Paipera Hou me te nuinga o te puka o ngā īnoi whānui. I kite a William Colenso i te uaua o te whakamāori i te kupu kōrero. E ai ki a ia he reo tohunga te reo Māori … ko tōna oro, ko tōna iere, ko ōna kupu whakawhāiti, ko tōna whānuitanga, he mea mīharo … e whai hua ana ngā tikanga maha i roto i te reo … tata tonu e kore e taea te whakamārama ki te reo Pākehā.’7
