| # Say It Back — recording + submission kit |
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| **Space:** https://huggingface.co/spaces/Tonykip/say-it-back |
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| ## Before you hit record (speed) |
| 1. Open the Space, let it fully load. |
| 2. Click **2–3 featured phrases once** to warm everything (they're instant after). |
| 3. Type one live phrase and run it once to warm the translate endpoint (~20s first time, fast after — it caches). |
| Then record. On camera everything will feel snappy. |
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| ## Demo video (~60–90s) |
| 1. **The why (10s):** "Kalenjin is fading in my family — my wife understands a little but thinks in English. I built a tool so she can just say a word in English and hear how to say it in Kalenjin." |
| 2. **Instant phrases (15s):** click **Thank you → _Kongoi_**, **Water → _Peek_**, **I love you → _achamin_** — each plays back in the Cheps voice immediately. |
| 3. **The live moment (25s):** click the mic, say **"Good morning, how are you?"** → it transcribes → shows **_Amunee karon?_** → speaks it back in Kalenjin. That's the wow. |
| 4. **The human close (15s):** your wife (or you) using it for real — that footage IS the Backyard-track story. |
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| ## Social post draft (edit freely) |
| > Kalenjin is slipping away between generations in my own family. So this weekend I built **Say It Back** 🗣️ — say a word in English, hear it spoken back in Kalenjin, in a fine-tuned Kalenjin voice. |
| > |
| > Whisper (ASR) → EN→Kalenjin translation → Cheps TTS, wired up in Gradio. |
| > Built for #BuildSmall (@huggingface × @Gradio). Models on @modal. 🇰🇪 |
| > |
| > Try it: https://huggingface.co/spaces/Tonykip/say-it-back |
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| ## Submission checklist |
| - [ ] Gradio Space public + working ✅ (this Space) |
| - [ ] Demo video recorded |
| - [ ] Social post published (tag HF, Gradio, Modal) |
| - [ ] Submit the Space link via the hackathon form / channel |
| - [ ] (Optional) ask org admins to add you as writer on `build-small-hackathon` if org-hosting is required, then duplicate the Space there. |
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