Rotorua pronunciation needs attention according to new online tool

The pronunciation of Rotorua and Taupo are among the most 'pinned' places identified as needing attention on the 'Say it Tika' website. Photo/File

More than 54,000 New Zealanders have taken up the opportunity to pin incorrectly pronounced te reo Maori place names on an online platform developed by Vodafone and Google Maps.

The most 'pinned' places identified by Kiwis on the 'Say it Tika' website as
needing attention were Rotorua, Tauranga, Waikato, Taupo, Manurewa, and Whangarei.

"Say it Tika", which launched during Te Wiki O Te Reo Maori last week, gave Kiwis an important role to enhance the local pronunciation of global platform Google Maps.

The campaign has been endorsed by Rotorua actor Temuera Morrison through a tongue-in-cheek video calling for New Zealanders to help Google "Say it Tika" when pronouncing te reo Maori place names.

Vodafone New Zealand consumer director, Matt Williams, said they were overwhelmed by how many New Zealanders had got involved with the initiative in the first week.

"We're proud of how New Zealanders have responded to correcting te reo Maori place names with more than 8900 places pinned on Google Maps, 870,000 views of the video with Temuera Morrison and 13,000 sharing it on Facebook."

The Maori place names pinned by Kiwis had created a priority list to be updated first.

Vodafone and Google, in consultation with Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori, the Maori Language Commission, will now start to work through the list to enhance the pronunciation of these place names.

Correct place names are set to be heard on millions of mobile devices from late this year.

While these names are being updated, New Zealanders can continue to pin incorrectly pronounced names on the Say it Tika website.