TVNZ's weatherman Dan Corbett praised for his "amazing" attempt at Te Reo

After a rocky start to Māori language week for TVNZ’s weather presenter Daniel Corbett, he’s proved persistence is key, coming back to nail it last night.

Celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Dan incorporated the language into his weather segment during the news bulletin on Monday night but found himself suffering a “brain freeze” and stumbling over a few words.

His amazing efforts earned him praise from Kiwis however, and Dan gave it another go last night, this time delivering his weather introduction in te reo Māori with ease.

Viewers were impressed to see him come back on night two and put his language skills to the test again.

“Dan the @tvnz weatherman has made my day!” wrote one person on Twitter. “Such learning, such mahi, tau kē!”

“Weatherman Dan is my Te Reo idol,” wrote another.

Taking to Facebook to offer support to the presenter, one viewer wrote “Dan, your korero to open up the presentation was tino pai.

“Being Māori it makes me proud to hear an Englishman give it 100% to his pronunciation. A true testament to practice makes perfect. Tino pai o te reo Māori.

“More should attempt. Ka mau te wehi! You keep trying - that’s what matters.”

Dan was amazed at the support he received after Monday night and had said he was definitely going to give it another go last night.

“I have been taking te reo classes over the winter and this year I thought I would really give it a go during Māori language week. I wrote out the weather forecast in Māori and had one of the Te Karere presenters check it through.

“Having done so many weather broadcasts over the years I don’t normally think twice about what I say, it comes naturally from knowing the daily weather maps. I was in the re reo part of my weather forecast and that is where my brain froze up!

“I will definitely be giving it another go tonight and for the rest of Māori language week, but I might put some of the Māori words in the autocue just to help me along!”

We’re so pleased you did Dan! Ka mau te wehi!

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is reproduced here with permission.