Northeast Ohio software engineer builds Tahanan, a Tagalog app pairing AI practice with Filipino coaches

Filipino American software engineer Luke Patterson built Tahanan, an app that helps Filipinos learn Tagalog to speak with their families, combining an AI practice partner with coaches based in the Philippines, Ideastream Public Media reported.

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Luke Patterson, a Filipino American software engineer from Northeast Ohio, built Tahanan, an app for Filipinos learning to speak Tagalog with their families, Ideastream Public Media reported on 15 October. Tahanan means "home" in Tagalog.

Patterson told Ideastream he started the app for himself. "For a lot of Filipino families, it's very embarrassing to try to speak," he said, so he built an AI language partner he could practise conversations with. He described wanting a "judgement-free zone to practice."

Mabuhay Canada reported on 18 October that Patterson's mother immigrated to the United States from Laguna, Philippines, in the 1980s but never taught him or his siblings Tagalog, and that he began studying the language at 29 with a Filipino tutor, whom he later hired to develop the app's curriculum.

In the app, learners work through lessons, practise with the AI partner and send voice recordings to Filipino coaches in the Philippines for feedback on pronunciation and phrasing. Patterson told Mabuhay Canada he received about 300 applications within 12 hours of posting a coaching position online.

Tahanan's website says Bisaya is coming soon as the first regional Philippine language to be added. "As I got older, I realized how much more important it was for me to try to connect with my heritage," Patterson told Ideastream.