Guides

Dictating in two languages on a Mac: switch as you talk, or set it per dictation

By Ryleigh Newman · Published October 5, 2026

To dictate in two languages on a Mac with Apple Dictation, add both in System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation, then switch while you dictate by clicking the language next to the cursor or pressing the Globe key. YapToText, the free app I built, works differently: it fixes the language when each dictation starts, and gives you three ways to change it between dictations, with Auto-detect, a language per app, or a language per shortcut.

I built YapToText because my hands make typing difficult, and I dictate every day. I have not tested any pair of languages myself, so this page sticks to what each setting does. Translation is a different job from dictation, and the section on translation is plain about what YapToText does and does not do. The full language lists are on the Mac dictation languages page.

Download for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

Steps

1. Open YapToText's AI Models page and choose Auto-detect language in the Language picker, or keep one language as your default.
2. On the Modes page, duplicate a mode or choose New Mode under the plus button for your second language.
3. In that mode's Recording & language card, set its language.
4. Under Apps that use this mode, add the apps you write in that language.
5. Optionally, record an Activation shortcut in the mode's Basics card to start a dictation in that language from anywhere.
6. In History, click Show pipeline details and check the Language line.

Two ways to handle two languages

Apple Dictation and YapToText both type more than one language, and the difference between them is when the language is decided. Apple decides as you talk; YapToText decides once, when each dictation starts.

Checked October 3, 2026, on Apple's own pages, and against YapToText's help pages.

If you change language in the middle of a sentence, Apple Dictation is the one built for that. If you write each message, email or note in one language at a time, YapToText's three options keep the right language ready without touching a setting, and your voice stays on your Mac. The Mac dictation languages page lists every language both apps offer.

Switch languages while you dictate with Apple Dictation

Apple lets you set up several Dictation languages and switch between them in the middle of a dictation. Add both languages once, then switch from the cursor or the Globe key while you talk.

Step 1: Add both languages

• You: Choose Apple menu, System Settings, then Keyboard. Go to Dictation, click Edit next to Languages, and select each language and region you speak. Deselect one to remove it.
• macOS: Adds them to Dictation.
• Check: Both languages are selected in the list.

Step 2: Switch while you dictate

• You: Start dictating. To change language, click the language shown next to the cursor, or press the Globe key if your keyboard has one.
• macOS: With more than one language set up, it shows the current language next to the cursor, as an abbreviation or a character.
• Check: The indicator shows the language you are about to speak before you speak it.

Apple keeps its list of Dictation languages on its macOS Feature Availability page, and says Dictation is not available in all languages or regions and that its features vary, so check both of yours there. Dictation stops by itself after 30 seconds without speech, and the text below Dictation in Keyboard settings says whether your voice is processed on the Mac or sent to Siri servers. How to use dictation on a Mac covers the rest of Apple's setup.

Let YapToText detect the language

The least setup in YapToText is one choice in one picker. With Auto-detect, Whisper decides the language of each dictation by itself.

• You: Open YapToText's AI Models page. In Your defaults, under the dictation model, open the Language picker and choose Auto-detect language.
• YapToText: Lets Whisper decide the language of each dictation from then on. Out of the box the picker uses your Mac's system language, not Auto-detect, so this is a change you make.
• Check: Dictate one sentence in each language, then open each in History and click Show pipeline details. The Language line shows what that dictation used.

Two things to know. Auto-detect picks one language for the whole dictation, and YapToText does not switch languages in the middle of a sentence. And it can guess wrong; if it does for you, set the language by hand, or use one of the next two methods, which take the guessing away. OpenAI's own README says Whisper's performance varies widely depending on the language, so try each of your languages with a few real sentences. I have not tested any pair of languages myself.

Whatever the language, the speech model has to hear it. The bundled Whisper Large v3 Turbo (Q5) is multilingual, but Whisper Tiny, Base and Small with (English) in the name hear English only. The AI models guide lists every model.

Give each app its own language

If one language goes to some apps and the other to the rest, a mode can carry the language for you. Say your email is in Spanish and your team chat in English: a Spanish mode tied to Mail does the switching when you change apps. A mode with its own language overrides the picker, in every app you give it.

Step 1: Make a mode for the second language

• You: On the Modes page, right-click a mode that is close, such as Clean Up, and choose Duplicate, or press the plus button and choose New Mode. Give it a name you will recognize in the Basics card.
• YapToText: Opens the new mode's editor.
• Check: The new mode appears in the list on the Modes page.

Step 2: Set its language

• You: In the mode's Recording & language card, choose the language.
• YapToText: Uses that language for dictations in this mode, instead of the default in the Language picker.
• Check: The card shows the language you chose.

Step 3: Add your apps

• You: Under Apps that use this mode, press Add app and pick a running app, or Choose App for any other.
• YapToText: Dictation in those apps then uses that mode's language.
• Check: Dictate in one of those apps, then look at the Language line in that dictation's pipeline details in History.

One catch, from the modes guide: while Auto mode is on, Auto decides how each dictation is written, so a mode you gave an app shapes the writing only when Auto is off. The Language line in History is the quickest way to confirm which language a dictation in that app used. The Auto mode guide explains what Auto does with the words.

Give each language its own shortcut

If you switch languages inside the same app, a key is faster than a setting. An Activation shortcut starts a dictation in that mode and its language, from anywhere.

• You: In the mode's editor, in the Basics card, record an Activation shortcut. If you want a key for your main language too, give that language a mode with its own shortcut.
• YapToText: Starts a dictation in that mode and language whenever you press the shortcut, in any app; press it again to stop.
• Check: Start a dictation with the shortcut and look at the Language line in History.

Starting a dictation this way makes that mode the selected mode, which also switches Auto mode off until you choose Auto again, on the Home page or in the Auto row on the Modes page. Pick a combination no other app uses; YapToText's keys covers how to record one.

Press the shortcut before you speak, not partway through. A mode's number key works while you talk, but the modes guide is clear about what it changes: a new mode's cleanup applies to the dictation in progress, while its speech model and language apply from the next one. So a number key cannot switch the language of a dictation already running; stop it, then start the next one with the shortcut.

Translation is a separate step

You may hope to speak one language and get text in the other. YapToText does not do that. YapToText does not translate as you speak; Quick Edit translates a selection when you ask.

• Dictation. Whisper types what you said in the language you said it, and Clean Up is told to keep your language and not translate.
• The model. OpenAI's README notes that the turbo model, the kind YapToText ships, is not trained for translation tasks.
• Quick Edit. Select text in any app, tap the Quick Edit key and ask for the language you want. The translation replaces the selection.
• Translate to English. It is one of the built-in AI Actions. Run it on selected text from Regenerate in the capybara's menu bar panel, or on pasted text in the Utility page's AI action on text card.

Step 1: Select the words

• You: Highlight the sentence or paragraph you want in the other language, in any app.
• YapToText: Nothing yet.
• Check: The words are highlighted.

Step 2: Tap Right Option and say the language

• You: Tap Right Option, the Quick Edit key by default, and say what you want.
• YapToText: Opens the Quick Edit card, which shows your instruction in quotes as it hears it.
• Check: The card shows your instruction.

Say: With an English paragraph selected, after tapping Right Option.

translate it to Spanish

What happens: Tap Right Option again. The cleanup model on your Mac writes the translation, the card says Done, and the translation replaces your selection. Press Esc while the card says Applying your edit to cancel and keep your text as it was.

The translation comes from a small cleanup model on your Mac, so read a long one before you send it, and I have not checked its quality in any language pair. Quick Edit needs Accessibility, and it cannot read a selection in a password field. The Quick Edit guide covers the rest, and the menu bar guide shows where Regenerate lives.

If the wrong language comes out

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

1. See what ran. In History, click Show pipeline details on that dictation. The Language line names the language and the Mode line names the mode.
2. Check the picker. The Language picker on the AI Models page sets the default, and a mode with its own language overrides it.
3. Check the app. An app listed under a mode's Apps that use this mode uses that mode's language, if the mode sets one.
4. Check the model. A model with (English) in its name hears English only. Switch back to Whisper Large v3 Turbo (Q5) or another multilingual model.
5. Start a new dictation. The language holds for the whole dictation, and a change applies from the next one. Stop, then start again in the right language.
6. Try the other setting. If Auto-detect guesses wrong, fix the language by hand or use a mode's shortcut; if a fixed language gives odd results, try Auto-detect.
7. Tell me. Open an issue on GitHub with both languages, a sample sentence and the Language line.

For Apple Dictation, check that both languages are selected under Edit next to Languages, and watch the language shown next to the cursor before you speak. The guide to dictation with an accent helps when the language is right and the words are still wrong.

What each one cannot do

• Apple Dictation. Apple says it is not available in all languages or regions and that its features vary, so one of your two languages may have fewer features than the other. It stops after 30 seconds without speech, and whether your voice leaves the Mac depends on what Keyboard settings says.
• YapToText. It does not switch languages in the middle of a dictation, and it does not translate as you speak. A mode tied to an app shapes the writing only while Auto mode is off. Its screens are in English only, and its default spoken commands are English phrases, which you can change on the Commands page. Only the 29 languages in the picker are claimed, and it needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later.
• This page. I have not tested any pair of languages, in either app, so it describes settings, not results.

All of YapToText's side runs on your Mac in every language on its list; offline dictation covers what that means with Wi-Fi off. Switching mid-sentence is Apple's strength; keeping every language on your Mac is mine.

The short version

• Apple Dictation. Add both languages under Edit next to Languages, then switch while you talk from the cursor or the Globe key.
• YapToText, least setup. Auto-detect language in the Language picker on the AI Models page.
• YapToText, no guessing. A mode per language, tied to its apps or started with its own Activation shortcut.
• Translation. Not while you dictate; select the text and ask Quick Edit afterward.

Choose the language before you speak, and translate only when you mean to.

If one of your languages misbehaves, or a mix of two trips it up, open an issue on GitHub with both languages and a sample sentence. Every one gets read.

Download for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Related

• Mac dictation in other languages, and in more than one
• Dictation modes: the same words, shaped for where they are going
• Quick Edit: select text anywhere and say what you want changed
• Dictation with an accent on a Mac, or in English as a second language
• The Whisper and cleanup models YapToText runs on your Mac
• Spanish dictation on a Mac: set it up in Apple Dictation or YapToText

Sources

• https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-dictation-mh40584/mac (checked 2026-10-03)
• https://www.apple.com/macos/feature-availability/ (checked 2026-10-03)
• https://github.com/openai/whisper (checked 2026-10-03)
• https://github.com/ryleighnewman/YapToText (checked 2026-10-03)
• https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yaptotext/id6786382289 (checked 2026-10-03)

Questions