Introducing Kupu, a Spark-sponsored app that uses the camera in your phone to instantly translate objects into te reo Māori.

Powered by Google technology and knowledge from the Te Aka Māori Dictionary, Kupu provides a new way to experience the language. It’s really easy to use – just take a photo of an everyday object (or upload your own) and see it translated in real time. You can save the translated image, share it or have another go.

As Kupu relies on the latest Machine Learning technology it may not get it right every time, but we’re working hard to improve it. You can help us by using the Translation Feedback feature to log any translations that don’t seem right.

We hope you enjoy using Kupu to explore the world of te reo Māori.

For a more comprehensive te reo Māori learning experience, check out http://maoridictionary.co.nz

Te Aka Māori Dictionary is a product of the life’s work of Professor John C. Moorfield (1943 – 2018). A humble and unassuming man of Pākehā descent, Prof. Moorfield was highly respected in the Māori community, and was affectionately known as Te Murumāra. Without John’s advocacy and dedication to the revitalisation of the Māori language we would not have such a comprehensive and rich resource to draw on.