langlearn-tts
A Claude Desktop extension that gives Claude the ability to speak. Ask Claude to pronounce words, generate audio flashcards, or run a full language lesson with audio — in 70+ languages.
Status (2026-02-21)
- Core CLI and MCP surfaces are working with ElevenLabs, OpenAI TTS, and AWS Polly.
- Provider defaults and audio variants (word + example) are still being standardized.
- Claude Desktop directory submission is pending external review.
Roadmap
See ROADMAP.md.
Quick Start
1. Get a TTS API key
You need an account with at least one text-to-speech provider:
- ElevenLabs — best quality, 70+ languages, 5,000+ voices. Free tier: 10K chars/month. (Recommended)
- OpenAI TTS — good quality, easiest setup, 57 languages, 9 voices.
- AWS Polly — better quality, 41 languages, 100+ voices, difficult setup (setup guide).
2. Install in Claude Desktop
Download punt-langlearn-tts.mcpb and double-click to install. Claude Desktop will prompt you for your API key and an output directory.
3. Set up a tutor project (optional)
langlearn-tts ships with 28 tutor prompts — one for each combination of 7 languages and 4 levels. Setting up a project gives Claude a tutor persona that generates audio during lessons.
- In Claude Desktop, click Projects in the sidebar
- Click Create Project and name it (e.g., "German with Herr Schmidt")
- Open the project, click Set custom instructions
- Copy a prompt from the prompts directory and paste it into the Instructions field
- Start a new conversation within that project
| Language | High School | 1st Year | 2nd Year | Advanced |
|---|
| German | Herr Schmidt | Professorin Weber | Professor Hartmann | Professor Becker |
| Spanish | Profesora Elena | Profesor Garcia | Profesora Carmen | Profesora Reyes |
| French | Madame Moreau | Professeur Laurent | Professeur Dubois | Professeur Beaumont |
| Russian | Irina Petrovna | Professor Dmitri | Professor Natasha | Professor Mikhail |
| Korean | Kim-seonsaengnim | Professor Park | Professor Kim | Professor Yoon |
| Japanese | Tanaka-sensei | Yamamoto-sensei | Suzuki-sensei | Mori-sensei |
| Chinese | Laoshi Wang | Professor Chen | Professor Zhang | Professor Wei |
Each prompt is calibrated to the student's level, based on Mollick & Mollick's "Assigning AI" framework.
4. Try it out
In any Claude Desktop conversation, try:
"Say 'Guten Morgen' in German"
"Create an audio flashcard: 'good morning' in English, then 'Guten Morgen' in German"
"Synthesize these Spanish words as a merged audio file: hola, gracias, por favor, de nada"
"Generate pair flashcards for these German vocabulary words: strong/stark, house/Haus, book/Buch"
Audio plays automatically after each request. Files are saved to your output directory (~/langlearn-audio by default).
Features
- Pronounce anything — ask Claude to say a word or phrase and hear it spoken aloud
- Audio flashcards — Claude creates an MP3 with English first, then the target language, with a pause between them
- Vocabulary lists — give Claude a list of words and get back individual or merged audio files
- 70+ languages — German, Spanish, French, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and many more
- Tutor mode — 28 built-in tutor personas that teach with audio throughout the lesson
- Multiple voices — each provider offers a range of voices; ask Claude to use a specific one by name
- Adjustable speed — audio defaults to 90% speed so learners can hear pronunciation clearly
Troubleshooting
If something isn't working, ask Claude to run a health check:
"Run the doctor command to check if everything is set up correctly"
Logs are written to ~/.langlearn-tts/logs/langlearn-tts.log (never contains the text you synthesize). See PRIVACY.md for details.
Developer Reference
Everything below is for developers using the CLI, integrating with other MCP clients, or contributing to the project.
Claude Code / CLI
