ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
All languagesAlfaaz asks in the Punjabi your family speaks at home, follows each answer on WhatsApp, and keeps every story in your parent's own voice.
To record your parents' stories in Punjabi, begin with a night or a place they can still see: the Lohri fire in the mohalla, the first day at a factory abroad, or the song Beeji sang at the spinning wheel. Alfaaz sends one such question on WhatsApp, follows the Punjabi answer, and keeps the recording in a growing family archive.
“ਤੁਸੀਂ ਦੱਸਿਆ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਲੋਹੜੀ ਵਾਲੀ ਰਾਤ ਸਾਰਾ ਮੁਹੱਲਾ ਧੂਣੀ ਦੁਆਲੇ ਇਕੱਠਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਸੀ, ਉਸ ਰਾਤ ਕਿਹੜੇ ਗੀਤ ਗਾਏ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਸਨ, ਤੇ ਰਿਓੜੀਆਂ ਕੌਣ ਵੰਡਦਾ ਸੀ?”Everyday Punjabi is not Hindi written in Gurmukhi letters, and it is not the Punjabi of a newsreader. ਤੁਸੀਂ, ਗੱਲ, ਯਾਦ, and ਦੱਸੋ ਜੀ make a warmer conversation than textbook words. Alfaaz is configured for the Punjabi a family speaks at home, and it keeps natural English words like factory or school when the elder uses them.
Alfaaz writes spoken questions in Gurmukhi script for reliable voice generation and always addresses the elder as ਤੁਸੀਂ, never ਤੂੰ and never the formal ਆਪ ਜੀ. It opens with ਕੀ ਹਾਲ ਹੈ ਜੀ, a greeting every Punjabi family shares, and never offers a religious greeting first. If your parent greets it with ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ or ਨਮਸਤੇ, it returns that greeting once.
Follow the memory
Specific questions unlock scenes. Relationship words keep every person in the right place.
“ਤੁਸੀਂ ਦੱਸਿਆ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਲੋਹੜੀ ਵਾਲੀ ਰਾਤ ਸਾਰਾ ਮੁਹੱਲਾ ਧੂਣੀ ਦੁਆਲੇ ਇਕੱਠਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਸੀ, ਉਸ ਰਾਤ ਕਿਹੜੇ ਗੀਤ ਗਾਏ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਸਨ, ਤੇ ਰਿਓੜੀਆਂ ਕੌਣ ਵੰਡਦਾ ਸੀ?”Open the Lohri night through its songs and whoever handed out the sweets.
Punjabi kinship names the side of the family. ਦਾਦਕੇ are the father's people and ਨਾਨਕੇ the mother's; ਤਾਇਆ and ਚਾਚਾ are a father's elder and younger brother, ਭੂਆ his sister, ਮਾਮਾ and ਮਾਸੀ the mother's brother and sister. A ਪੋਤਾ is a son's son and a ਦੋਹਤਾ a daughter's. ਬੇਬੇ or ਬੀਜੀ can mean mother in one family and grandmother in another, so Alfaaz reads the story around the word before linking it to a person.
A Punjabi memoir should keep the village and the journey: the ਪਿੰਡ and its well, a married daughter going home to her ਪੇਕੇ for ਤੀਆਂ, the house in Lyallpur before 1947, the first winter in Southall. Some of it reaches years that are still painful to talk about. Alfaaz uses only your parent's own words for those years, never offers one of its own, and never takes a side.
Your parent only speaks. Alfaaz carries the structure, memory, and archive.
1,347 real replies
93%
of elder replies arrived as voice notes
2.1×
more words from an emotional question than a factual one
797
people, places, events, and things remembered
Yes. Punjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ) is live in Alfaaz today. Your parent receives spoken questions on WhatsApp, replies with voice notes, and every answer is kept as original audio with a transcript and story summary.
No. Alfaaz is voice-first. Your parent listens to a WhatsApp voice note and answers by speaking. Typing is supported, but it is not required.
Yes. The original voice note stays attached to the story in the family archive. The transcript does not replace the recording.
No. The family member sets Alfaaz up. The parent only uses WhatsApp, with no Alfaaz account, password, camera, or new app.