Sounding like a local...

My previous post about kumera reminded me about a conversation I had with Ben the other day. We were talking about what Naomi was eating for lunch, which included kumera/sweet potato. I used both words, as when we lived in Australia we called in sweet potato, but here it is always referred to as kumera. Ben then pipes up "That's because Kumera is the Maori word for potato." Now this probably doesn't sound ground breaking...what was shocking to me was the way he said Maori - he said it like he had been speaking Maori his whole life, with the right little inflection in the middle of the word that neither Peter and I can do - even if we try. So maybe next time we are back in Oz visiting, he might not just sound like a kiwi (like many of you commented last year), he may even sound like a Maori!