Tua o te Pae: The Te Reo Voice Project

$8,392 of $800,000 goal

Given by 102 generous donors in one year

Wahanga Tū Kōrero, TalkLink Trust wishes to provide non-speaking tāngata whaikaha access to Te Reo Māori. Join our waka to make this happen!

Nationwide

Tua o te Pae is a kaupapa that aims to see all non-speaking tāngata whaikaha Māori (disabled Māori) be given the opportunity to communicate in Te Reo Māori through the creation of a synthetic voice that is compatible with speech generating devices. Current available technology does not enable this community of people to speak in Te Reo Māori and because of this, they experience exclusion from participating in Te Ao Māori. We want to change that!

Geneva is the project lead for Tua o Te Pae, but this kaupapa has a much deeper meaning for her. Eager to learn her reo, Geneva is studying Te Reo which has posed significant challenges for her who relies on technology to communicate. Geneva cannot speak in her native tongue and in Te Reo speaking environments despite her knowledge and understanding of Te reo, she is left wahangū (silent). She does not want others like herself to have to continue to experience exclusion in Te Ao Māori and be robbed of the opportunity to kōrero i te reo.

Voice Keeper, a text-to-speech company, wants to support us with our kaupapa. They want to respect the indigenous culture and don’t want any ownership over the voice once developed. The process will cost around $800K NZD. Once created, the voice will be free for ALL who wish to have Te Reo on their device.

Awhinatia mai rā, awhinatia atu mātou ki ngā tāngata e hiahia ana ki tēnei - Help us to help people who need this!

About us

TalkLink Trust are a nationwide service who work with people of all ages, who have a disability and have difficulties with speech, written communication, learning or controlling their environment.

Use of funds

Constructing a synthesized voice using Voice Keeper, a text-to-speech company who respects Tikanga Māori and will not have ownership over the voice. This costs around $800k NZD and the voice will then be free for all to use Te Reo on their device.

Latest update

January 2023 update 23 January 2023

Kia ora koutou,

Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou katoa i te tautoko mai! E mōhio ana mātou nā te aroha i tukuna ēnei koha.

Thank you so much for your support! We know that these koha have been sent with love!

This is just a brief update from Tua o te Pae.

The funding:

• Thank you for your generous generations! Every contribution means the world to us and is going towards giving people a voice.

• We excited to say that we are receiving $100,000 funding that puts us on track to reaching our goal! The amazing organization who is providing this tautoko will be announced in due course.

• We are also working closely with Te Puni Kōkiri who are seeking further Collaborative Funding.

The plan:

• We are seeking to commission two companies who specialize in this mahi (one based in Aotearoa and one based offshore) to bring their expertise together to develop te reo Māori AAC.

• Before beginning the software development, we are considering what the development would mean in terms of protecting intellectual property and upholding Kaitiakitanga.

• We continue to grow and strengthen our advisory rōpū as well spread the word about the need for tangata whaikaha Māori to be able to speak Te Reo and engage with Te Ao Māori in a mana-enhancing way.

Ngā mihi maioha,

Te rōpū o Tua o te Pae

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