A public test · Aotearoa New Zealand
Can an AI voice speak te reo Māori properly?
We put the voice inside Nova 5 through six tests: vowel length, the sounds that trip voices up, place names, numbers, coaching and a whakataukī. Everything you hear is AI generated. Listen and judge for yourself.
- Six tests, two minutes
- Macrons, wh and ng, place names and numbers
- The same voice that coaches learners in Nova 5
What the test covers
Six things most AI voices get wrong in te reo.
Each one is a place where an English-trained voice usually slips. The film plays them in order, so you can hear each for yourself.
Keke, or kēkē?
The macron changes the word, not just the sound. One is a cake, the other an armpit. Ko te keke tēnei, ehara i te kēkē.
The sounds that trip voices up
Whānau, whenua, Whanganui. Ngā. Two sounds English speakers and English-trained voices soften or skip.
Tāmaki Makaurau to Taumata
Tāmaki Makaurau, Ōtautahi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Paraparaumu, and the 85-letter hill in Hawke's Bay, Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
Tahi to tekau, and beyond
Counting to ten, then compound numbers like rua tekau mā whā. The kind of thing a learner hears in every assessment brief.
The two jobs the voice does in Nova 5
Short coaching lines a learner hears mid-activity, such as Ka pai tō mahi. Me ngana anō koe ki te pātai tuarua, and narration for a lesson.
Where rhythm matters
Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro, nōna te ngahere. Ko te manu e kai ana i te mātauranga, nōna te ao. A proverb only sounds right if the phrasing does.
Why we tested it
If learners are going to hear an AI voice, it has to say their words right.
Te reo Māori is an official language of Aotearoa, and for many providers it's part of everyday teaching: place names, learner names, greetings, karakia and the language of the standards themselves. A voice that flattens a macron or skips a wh isn't a small slip. It gets the word wrong, and learners notice.
Nova 5 builds practice in your learners' language, so before we said "including te reo Māori" on the Nova 5 page, we wanted to show you what that sounds like rather than ask you to take it on trust.
Tell us what you hear
If you speak te reo, we'd like your ear on it.
Where the voice gets it wrong, we want to know, with the word and the time in the film. That feedback goes straight to the people building Nova 5.
Hear it on your own programme.
Bring a standard you deliver and we'll build the practice for it, in the language your learners use, on a demo call.