Kia ora ra e te iwi! I have a Patreon where I hope to add some additional value. If you'd like the kaupapa, and you appreciate this mahi, you can give a koha here:
Whakatauki: Erangi te iti i te kore rawa - Little is better than nothing at all. [Murdoch Riley, Maori Sayings and Proverbs, 36-5]
Kia ora e te iwi! I came across an old recording of myself when I first started on my journey to improving my reo. Such a stark difference in the sound of my speech. I'm happy and proud with the progress I am making.
The main things I've done is, read Te Wiremu, listen to old recordings, speak aloud anything I read, and do this podcast (this rapidly improved my speech, you can probably here the difference between the earlier episodes, and this one.)
I also answer the question of imitation, and mimicry, as I've been asked in the past if I'm from the North, or from the Coast because the way I speak.
Ultimately, you sound like what you are exposed to right? I've spent hours and hours listening to old recording of tupuna from different iwi, and it so happens that these tupuna are from those areas.
I relate this experience to my generation's kids. My little cousins have an American sound now to their speech because of their constant exposure to Youtube, Cinema, basically the entire entertainment industry is dominated by American media.
I hope you find this episode insightful.
Kia kaha te reo!