How To Build a Japanese Pronunciation Checker With Python and Wit.ai

A simple way to test pronunciation skills in a foreign language

Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash

As a foreign language lover, I’ve always wanted to learn Japanese on a basic level. I think that Japanese pronunciation can be a bit difficult, especially for European people. It’d be nice to have a pronunciation checker that could provide feedback for learners. There are many useful resources like Duolingo which are great for self-studying, but they don’t focus on speech.

In this article, I’m excited to show you how to implement a Japanese pronunciation checker with the help of Python and Wit.ai. The model can be easily modified to fit almost any other language.

As an optional step, we’ll see how to share our app with the world using Streamlit.

Let’s get started!

The Speech-Evaluation Approach

First, let’s understand how our app is going to work.

There are various ways to evaluate pronunciation. For example, with the help of complex-speech software like Praat, you can check how much your speech deviates from the native one.

Although tools like that are more accurate, it’s time-consuming to collect data and analyse the speech…