Koreguaje Speech to Text: Preserving an Indigenous Language with AI

Koreguaje (also spelled Coreguaje) is a Tucanoan language spoken by the Koreguaje people in the Amazon rainforest of southern Colombia. With fewer than 2,000 native speakers, it is classified as an endangered language. The community has adopted the Ethiopic script (Ge'ez) as a writing system, which adds a unique layer to transcription efforts. Speechyou offers a specialized speech-to-text solution that transcribes Koreguaje audio directly into this script, generating accurate text and subtitles.

Why Accurate Transcription Matters for Koreguaje

Language documentation is critical for preserving indigenous knowledge, songs, and oral histories. Without reliable transcription tools, much of this cultural heritage remains inaccessible to younger generations and researchers. Speechyou enables:

• Oral history preservation: Transcribe interviews with elders in their native tongue.
• Educational content: Create subtitled videos for bilingual schools.
• Media accessibility: Add captions to community radio broadcasts and podcasts.
• Linguistic research: Analyze speech patterns and dialectal variations.

Challenges in Transcribing Koreguaje

Koreguaje presents several challenges for automatic speech recognition:

• Tonal distinctions: The language uses high and low tones to differentiate words. For example, 'sɨ' with a high tone means 'water', while 'sɨ' with a low tone means 'snake'. Speechyou's AI is trained to detect these pitch differences.
• Ethiopic script adaptation: The Ge'ez syllabary must be adapted to represent sounds like the bilabial approximant /β/ and the palatal nasal /ɲ/. Speechyou uses a bespoke character mapping.
• Data scarcity: With limited digital corpora, the model relies on transfer learning from other Tucanoan languages and user-contributed audio to improve accuracy.

Use Cases for Koreguaje Transcription

Oral History and Documentation

Researchers working with Koreguaje communities can use Speechyou to transcribe lengthy interviews automatically. The tool supports long audio files and provides timestamps, making it easy to navigate recordings. This is invaluable for documenting myths, rituals, and traditional ecological knowledge.

Subtitle Generation for Videos

Community media producers can generate SRT and VTT subtitles for videos in Koreguaje. This helps share cultural content on platforms like YouTube, reaching a wider audience and supporting language revitalization.

Education and Literacy

Schools in the Putumayo region can create subtitled educational materials in Koreguaje. Speechyou's transcription helps produce reading materials for children learning to write in the Ethiopic script.

How Speechyou Helps

Speechyou is designed for low-resource languages like Koreguaje. It offers:

• Real-time transcription: Convert speech to text as you speak.
• Ethiopic script output: All transcriptions are in the Ge'ez writing system.
• Noise reduction: Works well with field recordings that have background sounds.
• Speaker diarization: Distinguishes between different speakers in a conversation.
• Export options: Download as SRT, VTT, or plain text.

Getting Started

To transcribe Koreguaje audio, simply upload your file to Speechyou and select the language. The AI will process the audio and produce a transcription in the Ethiopic script within minutes. You can then edit the text, add timestamps, and export subtitles. This tool empowers the Koreguaje community to document their language and share it with the world.

Speechyou is committed to supporting endangered languages. By providing accurate speech-to-text for Koreguaje, we help preserve a vital part of humanity's linguistic diversity.