PETALING JAYA, Aug 13 ― Malaysia’s Semaq Beri tribe is featured on Google Earth’s latest Voyager tour which spotlights indigenous languages from around the world.

The Semaq Beri people who predominantly live in Pahang and Terengganu are part of the Senoi tribe.

This Orang Asli community is believed to be one of Peninsular Malaysia’s original inhabitants with one of its oldest languages.

But their people are racing against time to preserve their dying native language.

The Semaq Beri language is spoken by 5,300 tribe members and is under serious threat because this native dialect is not taught in schools and is at risk of going extinct.

The community currently uses mobile phones to record as well as share songs and stories to keep the language alive for generations to come.

In Google’s new Voyager tour titled Celebrating Indigenous Languages, users are introduced to Semaq Beri matriarch Yebet Saman who is known for her vast knowledge of her people’s native forest and its medicinal and ritual plants.

Yebet continues to live in the forest she was born in despite many in her tribe who were resettled in the 1960s for security reasons.

In a photograph, she can be seen looking up an old durian tree in her customary land that was planted by her ancestors.

Users can listen to Yebet speaking her tribe’s native language from how to greet a person and introducing the language she speaks in.

It also features a traditional song in the Semaq Beri language called Beladoi which means "coming together for merriment”.

Google Earth’s latest Voyager tour ‘Celebrating Indigenous Languages’ showcases more than 50 indigenous languages from around the world. ― Screengrab from Google Earth

Sung at community singing sessions in times of merrymaking called sewangs or when their ancestors are summoned for help, the song also expressed the wish for peace, harmony and happiness in the community.

The interview in Malaysia was conducted in collaboration with the Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC).

The new Voyager tour features more than 50 indigenous languages and cultures from various indigenous communities around the world.

Users can click on a placemark on the globe to open up a panel of content that introduces them to an indigenous person, their language as well as audio clips of speakers in their native tongue.

"More important than what it is, is the potential impact this newly launched platform can have on preserving languages and cultures of indigenous communities,” Google said in a statement.

The tech giant also believes indigenous communities who typically pass their languages to the next generation via oral tradition can now share their culture-specific knowledge with the world through digital accounts like these.

Google Earth’s latest feature was launched in conjunction with 2019 being the International Year of the Indigenous Languages as declared by the United Nations.

According to the UN, there are 7,000 indigenous languages spoken today but four in 10 are at risk of disappearing.

Check out the Semaq Beri tribe on Voyager here.