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Speech Commands

Text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and text translation — all running locally.

vllama tts — Text to Speech

Convert text to speech using a local TTS engine. Audio plays through your system speakers.

Syntax

vllama tts [--text <text>]

Examples

# Speak a string directly
vllama tts --text "Hello from Vllama. This is a test."

# Interactive mode — enter text at the prompt
vllama tts
# Enter text: Hello world

vllama stt — Speech to Text

Transcribe speech from your microphone or an audio file using Google Speech Recognition.

Syntax

vllama stt [--path <audio_file>] [--language <lang_code>]

Parameters

Parameter Default Description
--path microphone Path to an audio file to transcribe
--language en-US Language code for recognition

Examples

# Transcribe from microphone
vllama stt
# Output: Listening... Speak now!
# Output: Transcribed: Hello world

# Transcribe from file
vllama stt --path recording.wav

# Specify language
vllama stt --language hi-IN   # Hindi
vllama stt --language te-IN   # Telugu

Notes

  • Microphone input requires a working audio input device
  • Uses Google Speech Recognition under the hood — requires internet for the actual transcription
  • --path supports WAV and other common audio formats

vllama translate — Text Translation

Translate text between languages using a local NLLB (No Language Left Behind) model from Meta. Runs entirely offline after the first model download.

Syntax

vllama translate --text <text> [--src <lang>] [--tgt <lang>] [--model <model_id>]

Parameters

Parameter Short Default Description
--text required Text to translate
--src en Source language code
--tgt fr Target language code
--model NLLB default HuggingFace model ID to use

Examples

# English to French
vllama translate --text "Hello, how are you?" --src en --tgt fr

# French to English
vllama translate --text "Bonjour le monde" --src fr --tgt en

# English to Hindi
vllama translate --text "Good morning" --src en --tgt hi

# English to Telugu
vllama translate --text "Welcome to Vllama" --src en --tgt te

Language Codes

NLLB uses BCP-47 style codes. Common ones:

Language Code
English en
Hindi hi
Telugu te
Tamil ta
French fr
Spanish es
German de
Chinese (Simplified) zh
Arabic ar
Portuguese pt

For the full list, refer to the NLLB language list.