JustSpeak

A Virtual English Tutor for those who cannot speak the language.

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Here’s a full write-up for JustSpeak, following your structure — great for a hackathon submission, Devpost, or project showcase:

Inspiration

Growing up in Sri Lanka, we’ve seen firsthand how the stigma around English fluency limits opportunities. Many Sinhala-speaking individuals understand English, but lack the confidence or speaking environment to practice. We built JustSpeak to break that barrier. With AI, we wanted to provide a safe, interactive, and gamified way to learn English — anytime, anywhere.

What it does

JustSpeak is a virtual English-speaking tutor designed for Sinhala speakers. It features two AI tutors:

  • Noah with an American accent
  • Lucas with a British accent

Users can:

  • Practice real-life scenarios (ordering food, job interviews, casual chats)
  • Receive real-time feedback on pronunciation, fluency, and grammar
  • Stay motivated through daily challenges, streaks, and leaderboards**

It’s Duolingo meets your personal speaking coach — with a local twist.

How we built it

We integrated a set of powerful tools to bring JustSpeak to life:

  • ElevenLabs for natural, emotive text-to-speech (Lucas & Noah)
  • Pica to generate expressive avatar animations for each tutor
  • Bolt for flow logic and modular lesson navigation
  • LingoDotDev for Sinhala-English interface toggles

We built the frontend on Bolt.New and tied everything together using a lightweight backend on Supabase.

Challenges we ran into

  • Getting the voice tone and pacing just right to sound natural
  • Translating feedback from AI into simple, non-intimidating messages
  • Syncing avatar animations with speech in real time
  • Designing an experience that feels friendly without feeling childish

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Creating two fully-functional, emotionally expressive AI tutors
  • Crafting a fully Sinhala-accessible experience for low-English users
  • Making language learning feel fun and empowering, not remedial
  • Building a usable MVP in record time for hackathon standards

What we learned

  • Users respond best when they feel safe and unjudged — tone matters.
  • A lot can be done with open tools and APIs if you orchestrate them smartly.
  • Sinhala-to-English learning requires local cultural context, not just direct translation.

What’s next for JustSpeak

  • Introducing voice input so users can speak back and get live corrections
  • Adding more avatars and regional accents (e.g., Australian, Indian)
  • Creating structured exam prep modules (IELTS, OET, etc.)
  • Launching a mobile app with gamified challenges and offline practice mode

JustSpeak isn’t just a tool — it’s a mission to build confidence, one voice at a time.

Built With

  • bolt
  • elevenlabs
  • lingo
  • pica
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