موآنا

Maui, shapeshifter—demi-god of the wind and sea—

I am Moana of—

Hero of men.

What?

It’s actually, Maui, shapeshifter, demi-god of the wind and sea – hero of men.

I interrupted. From the top. Hero of men. Go.

I am—

Sorry, sorry, sorry. And women.

Men and women. Both. All. Not a guy, girl thing. You know, Maui is a hero to all.

You’re doing great.

What? No! I’m here to—

Of course. Yes, yes, yes.

Maui always has time for his fans.

When you use a bird to write with –

It’s called tweeting.

I know, not every day you get a chance to meet your hero.

You are not my hero. And I’m not hero so you can sign my oar!

I’m here ‘cause you stole the heart of Te Fiti!

And you will board my boat – and sail across the sea and put it back!

Um—Yeah, it almost sounded like you don’t like me— which is impossible because – I got stuck here for 1,000 years— trying to get the heart as a gift for you mortals.

So you could have the power to create life itself.

Yeah. So what I believe you were trying to say is, “Thank you.”

Thank you?

You’re welcome.

Maui, shapeshifter—demi-god of the wind and sea—

Someone who has less power than a God but more power than humans is a demi-god.

It is very common to sea the presence of demi-gods in different types of mythology, such as the Greek one.

As you can see here, Maui is a demi-god, and for this reason he has special abilities that humans don’t have, such as shapeshifting, try to guess the meaning of this word by watching the following clip:

So, as you can see, a shapeshifter is someone who has the ability to change their physical form at any moment they choose.

I interrupted. From the top. Hero of men. Go.

From the top is an expression used to say, “From the beginning”.

As Maui interrupted Moana in order to introduce himself, he used this phrase to ask her to start her introduction again.

I am—

Sorry, sorry, sorry. And women. Men and women. Both. All. Not a guy, girl thing.

By saying this Maui means that he makes no distinction between genders, as he “is a hero to all”.

When you use a bird to write with –

It’s called tweeting.

In this line there is a pun intended.

He explains that tweeting is using a bird to write with, but we all know that tweeting is actually using Twitter (which has a bird as its logo).

You are not my hero. And I’m not here so you can sign my oar!

And oar is a pole with a flat blade, used to row a boat through the water.

Maui thinks that the reason why Moana is here is for him to sign her oar, but this is not actually true.

It almost sounded like you don’t like me— which is impossible because – I got stuck here for 1,000 years— trying to get the heart as a gift for your mortals.

If you’re stuck it means that you can’t move from a certain place.

According to myth, Maui spends a millennium [1,000 years] trapped on the island after stealing the heart of Te Fiti.

Demi-Gods and Gods are immortal creatures, meaning they don’t die.

On the other hand, men and women can be called mortals because they are unable to live forever.

But why did you leave me on Earth?

Didn’t you want me?

Of course, we did.

Your mother and I loved you with all our hearts.

Someone stole you from us and turned you mortal, and only gods can live on Mount Olympus.

Ok, ok, I see what’s happened here

You’re face to face with greatness, and it’s strange

You don’t even know how you feel

It’s adorable!

Well, it’s nice to see that humans never change

Open your eyes, let’s begin

Yes, it’s really me, it’s Maui: breath it in!

I know it’s a lot: the hair, the bod!

When you’re staring at a demi-god

What can I say except you’re welcome

For the tides, the sun, the sky

Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay

You’re welcome

I’m just an ordinary demi-guy Yeah. So what I believe you were trying to say is, “Thank you.”

Thank you?

You’re welcome.

Ok, ok, I see what’s happened here

You’re face to face with greatness, and it’s strange

You don’t even know how you feel

Greatness is the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance.

In other words, you could use this noun to refer to someone of great importance, fame, power or success.

If you’ve watched this movie, you probably know that Maui has really high self-esteem, as he thinks that he is better than everyone else.

You don’t even know how you feel

It’s adorable!

Adorable is a great adjective to use when you want to say that someone is charming and easy to love.

Let’s see some examples of this word:

And right behind them, Tom Thumb and Thumbelina!

Oh, aren’t they adorable!

Joy! Yes, Joy. You’ll be in charge of the console.

Keeping Riley happy all day long.

And may I add, I love your dress, it’s adorable.

Oh, this old thing. Thank you so much. I love the way it twirls.

Open your eyes, let’s begin

Yes, it’s really me, it’s Maui: breath it in!

In Hawaiian mythology, Maui is considered to be a hero and an ancient chief.

Disney took inspiration from him for the creatin this character.

As we previously mentioned, in this movie Maui has a really swollen [big] ego, and by saying, “Breathe it in” he is assuming that Moana can’t believe that she is meeting him, while actually she is quite indifferent towards his presence.

In this sentence we have a good example of connected speech, which is the way that native connect and link their words together.

Open your eyes, let’s begin

Yes, it’s really me, it’s Maui: breath it in!

In English, we stress some words and unstress other words.

Furthermore, when we do this, we often connect the unstressed words, also known as function words, to the stressed words, content words. This is called connected speech

In this phrase, BREATHE and IN are content words. We can hear them clearly.

The pronoun “it” is a function word. So what happens here is that it hooks onto the following word, IN.

What is more, here we can hear an American T, as the IT is between two vowel sounds, so it morphs into a soft D.

So, instead of hearing

Breathe it in

We get:

Breathe-idin

In American English it is extremely common to hear these types of sound morphing, and knowing connected speech is crucial in order to speak fluently and also understand natives.

Let’s see some more examples of the American T, which as I said, is the T that morphs and sounds like a soft D.

I’m asking you to wait with the kids.

And I’m telling you not a chance. You’re my husband. I’m with you for better or worse.

What’s the point? I’ll never learn to get around!

You better! If you can’t do it in here you’ll never do it out in the ocean.

Now really focus, okay?

I know it’s a lot: the hair, the bod!

When you’re staring at a demi-god

Bod is a short, informal way of saying body.

If you stare at someone you look at that person for a long time with your eyes wide open.

What can I say except you’re welcome

For the tides, the sun, the sky

Twice a day the sea happens to rise and fall, this is called tide.

As I mentioned, according to Hawaiian mythology Maui the creator of all these things, and he is showing this off.

Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay

You’re welcome

I’m just an ordinary demi-guy

Something ordinary is the exact opposite of extraordinary. So, it is another way of saying normal.

Here Maui is showing some fake humility by saying that he is just an ordinary demi-guy, note that here he replaced the word god for guy, to show that he is not special.

But by knowing his character we all know that this is not what he really thinks.

Maui, shapeshifter—demi-god of the wind and sea—

I am Moana of—

Hero of men.

What?

It’s actually, Maui, shapeshifter, demi-god of the wind and sea – hero of men.

I interrupted. From the top. Hero of men. Go.

I am—

Sorry, sorry, sorry. And women.

Men and women. Both. All. Not a guy, girl thing. You know, Maui is a hero to all.

You’re doing great.

What? No! I’m here to—

Of course. Yes, yes, yes.

Maui always has time for his fans.

When you use a bird to write with –

It’s called tweeting.

I know, not every day you get a chance to meet your hero.

You are not my hero. And I’m not hero so you can sign my oar!

I’m here ‘cause you stole the heart of Te Fiti!

And you will board my boat – and sail across the sea and put it back!

Um—Yeah, it almost sounded like you don’t like me— which is impossible because – I got stuck here for 1,000 years— trying to get the heart as a gift for you mortals.

So you could have the power to create life itself.

Yeah. So what I believe you were trying to say is, “Thank you.”

Thank you?

You’re welcome.

What? No, no, no!

I didn’t — I wasn’t—

Why would I ever say that?

Okay, okay.

I see what’s happened here

You’re face to face with greatness, and it’s strange

You don’t even know how you feel

It’s adorable!

Well, it’s nice to see that humans never change

Open your eyes, let’s begin

Yes, it’s really me, it’s Maui: breath it in

I know it’s a lot: the hair, the bod!

When you’re staring at a demi-god

What can I say except you’re welcome

For the tides, the sun, the sky

Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay

You’re welcome

I’m just an ordinary demi-guy