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A project to use technology to help learners of te reo Māori will be highlighted at tomorrow’s TEDx conference in Auckland devoted to ideas worth spreading.
Among speakers including United Nations Development Programme administrator Helen Clark and innovative Otorohanga mayor Dale Williams is educator Sophie Tauwehe Tamati from Auckland University’s Te Puna Wānanga.
She’s talking about Hika, an app for computers and smartphones that translates cultural phrases and waiata from English into te reo Māori.
Ms Tamati says Hika makes te reo Māori accessible for most people and personalises it in a way that it reduces the fear and distress that often comes in the learning of another language.
As well as speakers, TEDx includes tāonga puoro expert Richard Nunns speaking and performing with Waimihi Hotere, the New Zealand String Quartet and King Kapisi.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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