Spark, Colenso, Te Aka Māori Dictionary and Google Announce Kupu Collaboration

To coincide with Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, Spark and Te Aka Māori Dictionary have launched Kupu, an interactive mobile app powered by Google.

Kupu lets users see the te reo Māori translations for pictures they take on their phone. It serves up the most likely translation, then other options for what it detects in the image.It also lets the user input words, meaning the app is constantly learning and iterating.

“Bite-sized language learning that fits our daily habits is the benefit,” says Mike Davison – Creative Director at ColensoBBDO. “But the long-term collaboration with the best technology, Māori language and digital platform experts our country has; that’s what has made this project humbling and memorable.”

Kupu uses Google Cloud Vision and Google Translate API’s, supported by Te Aka Māori Dictionary data.

Dr. Dean Mahuta, Senior Lecturer at AUT and Māori language researcher at Te Ipukarea the National Māori Language Institute has been a key advisor on the Kupu project.

“There are some amazing resources for learning te reo Māori, including books, websites, apps. However, this is the first learning tool to translate pictures in real-time. It’s an evolution of the resources that are out there.”

Lisa Paraku, Spark Business Manager – Māori, says, “Spark wants to get more people engaged and using Te Reo Māori every day. We’d love every New Zealander to have a tool in their pocket to help them learn Te Reo Māori.

“We see the Māori language and culture as special and unique to New Zealand, so we want to play a small role in helping Te Reo Māori to prosper through the use of digital platforms.”

Spark, Colenso, Te Aka and Google have launched the app to support the revitalisation of Te Reo Māori, showcasing how digital platforms that are accessible, interactive and fun for all New Zealanders can be truly useful for our national language.

“We aim to inspire New Zealanders to explore Te Reo Māori and encourage them to add more Māori words to their everyday vocabularies,” said Tara McKenty, Creative Director at Goo.