Google Maps launches New Zealand voice that correctly pronounces Māori placenames

New Zealand finally gets a Google Maps tool that correctly pronounces Māori placenames

Language commission hails normalisation of te reo Māori after years of work in identifying frequently mispronounced words For years, Māori placenames have been distorted into nearly unrecognisable sounds by Google Maps in New Zealand. For those with attuned ears, it can be grating or offensive. Now the Māori language commission - Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori - has collaborated with Google to fix it, launching a New Zealand-accented voice for its navigation tool that can correctly pronounce Māori words. It is the culmination of a project that has been years in the making. "We can't underestimate just how important this is in terms of normalising te reo Māori [Māori language]," Ngahiwi Apanui-Barr, the commission's chief executive, told the Guardian. "When everybody who is learning te reo Māori, or who speaks the language, hears those placenames being used, their language journey is being supported." While the government is pushing policies to limit the language in the public service, te reo Māori has undergone a major resurgence in the past decade. There are extensive waiting lists for classes, Māori songs often top the charts and Hollywood studios are releasing versions of movies in Māori. Māori is the second most widely spoken language in New Zealand, after English, according to the 2023 census. Between 2018 and 2023, there was a 15% increase in the number of Māori speakers. Apanui-Barr said he "giggled with glee" when he listened to the placenames being pronounced properly. "It just spoke directly to my heart, to hear my language being pronounced properly on an app ... this is the future of my language, is one of the foundations we need to have in place, because if people hear the language being pronounced properly, they are going to say it properly too." The project was an example of how a public organisation can work with a private sector company to do a "really good job", Apanui-Barr said. The Google project has prioritised cities, towns and certain street names for its launch, with the goal of expanding into more roads and regions. In 2017, Google and telecommunications company Vodafone (now One NZ) launched a campaign, with support from the language commission, calling on the public to pinpoint which Māori names were being mispronounced. Google said it would correct the tool by the end of that year. More than 60,000 corrections were submitted but technological hurdles led to delays. Advancements in AI text-to-speech models have now enabled the project to get off the ground, said Caroline Rainsford from Google New Zealand. The model is not bilingual - it is English - but draws on the data of sounds and names, guided by the commission and publicly available New Zealand Geographic Board data. A voice actor was hired to record a large script of te reo Māori sounds, which then feeds the model. The commission retains guardianship of that data, to ensure Māori academics, researchers and communities can access the lexicon. A number of other countries are on the waitlist for voice capture of their Indigenous languages, and projects are under way in Australia and the US. Rainsford said technology plays an important role in the use and advancement of te reo Māori, and she was proud New Zealanders would now hear "a Kiwi voice" during navigation. "And [they] are going to be able to hear really incredible pronunciation of our very sacred placenames in New Zealand."

Google Maps Launches A New Zealand Voice To Improve Pronunciation Of Te Reo Māori Towns

Google and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission) have announced the launch of an Aotearoa New Zealand voice in Google Maps. From almost to authentic - today, New Zealanders can hear Aotearoa place names the way they should sound. New Zealand's Google Maps users will experience a new AI-powered Text to Speech (TTS) model that speaks English with a Kiwi accent and can correctly pronounce cities and towns with te reo Māori names. Caroline Rainsford, Country Director of Google New Zealand said, "I'm incredibly excited for New Zealanders to experience this new local voice in Google Maps. "Two things have been critical to the success of this update: Advancements in AI have enabled our Text to Speech model to pronounce te reo Māori place names in an English sentence. And importantly, this would not have been possible without our years-long partnership and deep collaboration with Te Taura Whiri. We're so proud to be able to launch this voice in New Zealand because we know how important it is to pronounce our local place names correctly." Ngahiwi Apanui-Barr, Chief Executive of Te Taura Whiri said, "This exciting tool secures a future for te reo Māori in the digital age. We are proud to partner with Google to make New Zealand's unique language visible, valued and voiced. "Like all other languages, Māori placenames carry stories that connect us to our histories, people and achievements. The first step to unlocking those stories is correct pronunciation. If we can hear the words said correctly, we can say the words correctly. This is an important step forward in making te reo Māori a normal, everyday language." As Aotearoa prepares to celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori under the theme 'Te Reo Towns', this technology offers real-time guidance on how to hear and say Māori place names correctly", Ngahiwi says. Māori data sovereignty and Google's AI Principles have been central to the development of this Text To Speech model. The pronunciation rules the voice uses for Māori place names have been guided by Te Taura Whiri and publicly available New Zealand Geographic Board data. Initially Te Taura Whiri will be kaitiaki of the Māori lexicon. Long term, the plan is to establish a group of interested parties for the kaitiakitanga of the Māori data. The goal is to ensure Māori academics, researchers and communities would have the ability to access this data, share the benefit and contribute to the evolution of this kaupapa. This is the second project to come out of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two organisations in 2023. A special localised Chromebook that offers a reo Māori keyboard empowers New Zealanders to more easily use te reo in the digital space. This update will roll out over the next two weeks for Google Maps users, but the technology may not get every te reo Māori word correct from the start. For launch, the partnership has focused on te reo Māori cities and towns and we'll look to update more streets and roads moving forward. "E te iwi, if you come across te reo Māori place names and street names that aren't being pronounced correctly, we want to hear from you so we can teach the technology the right way to say the word," Ngahiwi says. People can submit words for review via the Te Taura Whiri website: https://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/google-maps