r/Hmong 22h ago

I've created webapp that works as an online Hmong course to help people read, write, and speak Hmong | Let me know what you think of it.

Thumbnail kawmhmoob.com
22 Upvotes

Hello r/Hmong !

I'm a software engineer who has single-handedly designed, built, and coded a comprehensive Hmong language learning web app called KawmHmoob.com.

I created it because the tools I needed to properly learn Hmong simply didn’t exist. So I decided to build them myself.

The app combines the best elements of Anki, Duolingo, and Natulang into one platform focused specifically on Hmong. It’s currently free to use while in early beta. Since I’m a one-person team handling everything (coding, audio recording, content, design, etc.), there are still some rough edges — your patience is greatly appreciated!

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What’s Currently Available:

  • Learn
    • 10+ structured lessons covering the Hmong alphabet (consonants, vowels, and all 8 tones), grammar, numbers, everyday phrases, and short readings.
  • Speak
    • A tone visualization tool that lets you record yourself speaking and compares your pitch curve to a native speaker’s. This is one of the most unique features — Hmong is a tonal language, and getting the tones wrong completely changes the meaning of words. No other Hmong app does visual tone feedback like this (though it’s still being refined).
  • Words
    • Nearly 440 vocabulary words with smart flashcards, spaced repetition, and comprehension quizzes.
  • Reference
    • Audio for every letter and tone, plus grammar cheat sheets with common phrases.

A quick note on the Speak feature: The recording + tone comparison is still a bare-bones implementation. It’s not always accurate yet, but I’m actively working to improve it because proper tone training is one of the biggest challenges for Hmong learners.

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Future Vision

I’m planning to add:

  • Practice conversations
  • Support for other dialects (starting with Hmong Leeg, then expanding)
  • Support for Pahawh and Nyiakeng Puachue scripts
  • Advanced reading & writing exercises
  • Sentence builders
  • More audio (both slow and natural speed)
  • An AI chatbot trained specifically on Hmong to help people with conversations and pronunciation.

I'm also planning on eventually pivoting the version of the app into becoming a mobile app and connect Hmong-American businesses with the platform, as well as monetizing the app.

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The Honest Part

I’m building this entirely alone and have reached the limits of what I can do without support. I need:

  • More high-quality native audio recordings
  • Annotated speech data for AI training
  • Help improving the pronunciation engine
  • Server/hosting costs to keep the app running

A lot of the audio is made entirely by me, myself - and I'm not the best Hmong speaker. I would really like some help with gathering accurate Hmong labels and audio, but I currently don't have the resources to do so.

That’s why I’m sharing it early. I’d much rather get honest feedback now than build the wrong thing.

If you’re Hmong: Does the language and content feel accurate and natural to you?
If you’re learning: What’s confusing, missing, or could be improved?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and feature requests. Even if it’s just “this part is good” or “this feels off,” every piece of feedback helps.

You can try the app here: KawmHmoob.com

Thank you for your time and support — I’m really excited to build something meaningful for our community.


r/Hmong 5h ago

My language game includes White Hmong (including Pahawh Hmong). Is my Swadesh list accurate?

5 Upvotes

The game (linguil) asks you to guess the language family, language and meaning of a random word in one of 64 of the world's most-spoken languages each day, and you use your knowledge of linguistics to work out the answer via multiple choice. Therefore, it's important my translations/transliterations are correct.

Each language (including White Hmong) includes each word on the 100-word Swadesh list, and where the primary script is Latin-based and an alternative script is available, each word's transliteration too (hence the inclusion of Pahawh Hmong).

Please can any White Hmong speakers verify the accuracy of my translations and transliterations? 🙏

Thanks!

Note: The Pahawh Hmong characters may not display correctly on mobile.

# English Hmong
1 I 𖬌𖬰𖬝 (kuv)
2 you (sg.) 𖬪𖬵𖬒 (koj)
3 we 𖬖𖬰𖬤 (peb)
4 this 𖬪𖬦 (no)
5 that 𖬔𖬶𖬝𖬵 (ntawd)
6 who 𖬖𖬰𖬭𖬌𖬵𖬞 (leej twg)
7 what 𖬖𖬰𖬚𖬜𖬟𖬵 (dabtsi)
8 not 𖬜𖬰𖬟𖬵 (tsis)
9 all 𖬌𖬰𖬦𖬜𖬟 (huv si)
10 many 𖬔𖬦𖬵 (ntau)
11 one 𖬜𖬰𖬖 (ib)
12 two 𖬪𖬰𖬖 (ob)
13 big 𖬪𖬵𖬭 (loj)
14 long 𖬖𖬰𖬦𖬵 (ntev)
15 small 𖬖𖬚 (me)
16 woman 𖬪𖬰𖬤𖬵𖬬𖬰𖬕𖬵 (pojniam)
17 man 𖬜𖬰𖬝𖬖𖬰𖬕𖬵 (txiv neej)
18 person 𖬖𖬰𖬕𖬵 (neeg)
19 fish 𖬖𖬰𖬝𖬵 (ntses)
20 bird 𖬪𖬰𖬦𖬵 (noog)
21 dog 𖬇𖬰𖬚 (dev)
22 louse 𖬌𖬰𖬝 (tuv)
23 tree 𖬪𖬦𖬵 (ntoo)
24 seed 𖬪𖬰𖬦𖬵 (noob)
25 leaf 𖬪𖬵𖬦𖬵 (nplooj)
26 root 𖬖𖬲𖬚 (cag)
27 bark (of tree) 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵 (tawv)
28 skin 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵 (tawv)
29 flesh 𖬇𖬵𖬦𖬵 (nqaij)
30 blood 𖬖𖬰𖬞 (ntshav)
31 bone 𖬪𖬰𖬤𖬵-𖬖𖬚 (pob-txha)
32 grease/fat 𖬪𖬵𖬤𖬵 (roj)
33 egg 𖬖𖬒 (qe)
34 horn 𖬌𖬰𖬝 (kub)
35 tail 𖬌𖬞 (tw)
36 feather 𖬔𖬰𖬦𖬵 (plaub)
37 hair 𖬔𖬰𖬦𖬵-𖬔𖬦𖬵 (plaub-hau)
38 head 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵-𖬔𖬦 (taub-hau)
39 ear 𖬪𖬰𖬤𖬵-𖬖𖬰𖬝𖬵 (pob-ntseg)
40 eye 𖬪𖬵𖬒-𖬪𖬰𖬦 (qhov-muag)
41 nose 𖬪𖬵𖬒-𖬌𖬵𖬞 (qhov-ntswg)
42 mouth 𖬪𖬵𖬒-𖬔𖬵𖬦𖬵 (qhov-ncauj)
43 tooth 𖬬𖬰𖬕𖬵 (hniav)
44 tongue 𖬇𖬵𖬦𖬵 (nplaig)
45 claw/nail 𖬔𖬝𖬵𖬖𖬰𖬤 (rau tes)
46 foot 𖬪𖬒-𖬔𖬝𖬵 (ko-taw)
47 knee 𖬔𖬰𖬦𖬪𖬰𖬦𖬵 (hauv caug)
48 hand 𖬖𖬰𖬤 (tes)
49 belly 𖬖𖬰𖬚 (plab)
50 neck 𖬖𖬲𖬚-𖬖𖬰𖬚 (caj-dab)
51 breast 𖬜𖬰𖬟𖬵 (mis)
52 heart 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵 (plawv)
53 liver 𖬬𖬰𖬕𖬵 (siab)
54 drink (v.) 𖬔𖬰𖬦𖬵 (haus)
55 eat (v.) 𖬪𖬵𖬤𖬵 (noj)
56 bite (v.) 𖬪𖬰𖬤𖬵 (tom)
57 see (v.) 𖬪𖬰𖬤𖬵 (pom)
58 hear (v.) 𖬪𖬰𖬦𖬵 (hnov)
59 know (v.) 𖬔𖬰𖬤 (paub)
60 sleep (v.) 𖬔𖬰𖬦𖬵𖬪𖬰𖬤𖬵 (tsaug zog)
61 die (v.) 𖬬𖬰𖬦 (tuag)
62 kill (v.) 𖬪𖬦 (tua)
63 swim (v.) 𖬪𖬦𖬪𖬰𖬦𖬖𖬰𖬚 (ua luam dej)
64 fly (v.) 𖬖𖬚𖬵 (ya)
65 walk (v.) 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵𖬖𖬝 (taug kev)
66 come (v.) 𖬪𖬵𖬦 (tuaj)
67 lie (down) (v.) 𖬌𖬞 (pw)
68 sit (v.) 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵 (zaum)
69 stand (v.) 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵𖬌𖬰𖬝 (sawv ntsug)
70 give (v.) 𖬪𖬰𖬦𖬔𖬝𖬵 (muab rau)
71 say (v.) 𖬇𖬰𖬦𖬵 (hais)
72 sun 𖬌𖬰𖬝 (hnub)
73 moon 𖬜𖬖 (hli)
74 star 𖬌𖬰𖬝𖬌𖬰𖬒 (hnub qub)
75 water 𖬖𖬰𖬚 (dej)
76 rain 𖬖𖬲𖬚 (nag)
77 stone 𖬪𖬰𖬤𖬵-𖬖𖬰𖬚 (pob-zeb)
78 sand 𖬪𖬰𖬦𖬵𖬖𖬰𖬚 (hmoov zeb)
79 earth/soil 𖬖𖬚 (av)
80 cloud 𖬪𖬰𖬦 (huab)
81 smoke 𖬪𖬤𖬵-𖬖𖬚 (ncho pa)
82 fire 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵 (taws)
83 ash 𖬔𖬰𖬦𖬵 (tshauv)
84 burn (brightly) (v.) 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵 (hlawv)
85 path 𖬖𖬝 (kev)
86 mountain 𖬪𖬰𖬦𖬵 (roob)
87 red 𖬬𖬰𖬕𖬵 (liab)
88 green 𖬪𖬰𖬦 (ntsuab)
89 yellow 𖬖𖬲𖬚 (daj)
90 white 𖬔𖬰𖬝𖬵 (dawb)
91 black 𖬌𖬰𖬝 (dub)
92 night 𖬔𖬰𖬦𖬵𖬌𖬰𖬝 (tsaus ntuj)
93 hot 𖬌𖬰𖬝 (kub)
94 cold 𖬪𖬦 (no)
95 full 𖬌𖬰𖬝 (puv)
96 new 𖬬𖬰𖬕𖬵 (tshiab)
97 good 𖬪𖬦𖬵 (zoo)
98 round 𖬖𖬰𖬟-𖬖𖬰𖬟 (kheej-kheej)
99 dry 𖬪𖬰𖬒 (qhuav)
100 name 𖬖𖬤 (npe)

r/Hmong 17h ago

Hmong 3 card poker "pai-kay"

2 Upvotes

I haven't played in such a long time since being kids. I forget the pokers hand you can win and its ranking. If someone can help share how that is played and what combination hands you can have that would be great!!! Thanks!!!