Punawai Leo

We are building the first natural-sounding Hawaiian-language computer voice — one that pronounces every ʻokina and kahakō correctly, and sounds like a real person.

Your phone can read a text aloud in English, Japanese, dozens of languages. Not in Hawaiian. No phone, no Google, Apple, or Amazon can speak ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi properly. Punawai Leo is changing that.

Why it matters

For keiki and learners — a patient voice that says any Hawaiian word correctly, any time.
For kūpuna and the blind — there is no Hawaiian screen reader today. This would give them one.
For our stories — the vast written Hawaiian record could finally be heard, not only read.
For dignity — of ~7,000 world languages, fewer than 100 have a real computer voice. Hawaiian belongs among them.

The technical foundation is built. The training software runs on our own hardware. A 144-utterance recording script is written and verified — it covers every sound in the language. The path from recording to a working model is 18–24 weeks. We are working with Bishop Museum to secure the reading materials and archival audio.
See how it works →

Ke ʻimi nei mākou i nā mānaleo

Na kou leo e aʻo i ke kamepiula i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. No laila, ke ʻimi nei mākou i ka poʻe i kamaʻāina i ka ʻōlelo — ʻaʻole ma ke kaha wale ʻana o ka ʻokina a me ke kahakō, akā ma ka lohe ʻana a me ka hā ʻana.

E hoʻopaʻa i kou leo

E heluhelu i nā laina 144 ma kahi mālie. 5 minuke wale nō. E wehe i ka record.html ma kou polokalamu kele pūnaewele — ʻo ia wale nō.

E hoʻoponopono i nā transcript

E hoʻolohe i nā leo i hoʻopaʻa ʻia a e hoʻoponopono i nā ʻokina a me nā kahakō i hewa. Ma kou manawa ponoʻī.

Pehea ʻoe e kōkua mai ai?

ʻAʻohe koi — he kōkua wale nō i kou wā e hiki ai.

Why it matters

Ke ʻimi nei mākou i nā mānaleo

E hoʻopaʻa i kou leo

E hoʻoponopono i nā transcript

Pehea ʻoe e kōkua mai ai?