matatau
1. (modifier) learned, experienced, well-informed, knowledgeable, competent, fluent, skilled.
He tangata matatau tana matua, ā, nāna i tohutohu a Te Rangi Hīroa kia aroha ki te reo me te whiti waiata (TTR 1996:10). / His father was a learned man who gave Peter Buck a love of language and poetry.
2. (verb) (-hia,-ria) to know, know well, be proficient, expert at, competent, fluent.
Ahakoa kāore i matatau rawa ia ki te kōrero Māori ā-kīwaha, i tua atu i te reo ā-tuhi, i kaha pū tonu a Pat ki te whakaū i te reo ā-waha, me ngā tikanga Māori anō hoki (TTR 2000:81). / Although she was not very fluent in colloquial Māori, Pat placed strong emphasis on the spoken as well as the written language and on cultural practices.
Synonyms: mōhio, mahara, hua, mātau, pūrangiaho, kaiaka, tohunga, ringa rehe, Kei a ... mō te ...
3. (noun) proficiency, competence, facility, mastery.
Ki tōna reanga, kāore i ārikarika te matatau o Taiaroa ki te mahi tōrangapū (TTR 1994:104). / To his contemporaries Taiaroa's proficiency in politics was outstanding.
Synonyms: tohungatanga, matatauranga
Hāwea, Wiha Mohi Penetito
1. (personal name) (?-2009) Ngāti Awa. A fluent speaker, translator and promoter of Māori language, Wiha was a teacher for 15 years at pioneering Huntly immersion school Te Wharekura o Rākaumangamanga. She was a contributor to the Māori language dictionary, He Pātaka Kupu and a lead translator on the Māori Google project. More recently she was a language coach on Vincent Ward's film Rain of the Children, which was co-produced by her husband Tainui Stephens. Also known as Wiha Te Raki Hāwea.
