Chinese dictation on a Mac: how to set it up, and where your voice is processed

By Ryleigh Newman · Published October 11, 2026

To dictate in Chinese on a Mac, add Chinese to Apple Dictation in System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation, by clicking Edit next to Languages. Or choose Chinese (China) in the Language picker on YapToText's AI Models page. Either way you speak Chinese and Chinese text lands at your cursor, in any app. The two differ in where the speech is processed, and for Chinese Apple's own lists make that easy to check.

I built YapToText, a free dictation app that runs Whisper on your Mac, because my hands make typing difficult. I have not tested Chinese dictation myself, so this page sticks to what each setting does and what Apple's own pages list, and makes no accuracy claims.

This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.

On this page: 9 sections

1. What Apple lists for Chinese
2. Set Apple Dictation to Chinese
3. Where Apple processes it
4. Punctuation
5. Set YapToText to Chinese
6. Two things that stay in English
7. If Chinese comes out wrong
8. The short version
9. Questions

What Apple lists for Chinese

Apple's columns are from its macOS Feature Availability page, read October 11, 2026. Apple says Dictation is not available in all languages or regions and that features vary. YapToText from its own settings.

Set Apple Dictation to Chinese

1. Choose Apple menu, System Settings, then Keyboard.
2. Go to Dictation and turn it on if it is off.
3. Click Edit next to Languages and select Chinese, with your region where Apple offers more than one.
4. Start dictating. With more than one language set up, macOS shows the current language next to the cursor.
5. If another language is showing, click it, or press the Globe key, to switch to Chinese.

Apple lists these for Dictation: Cantonese (China mainland), Cantonese (Hong Kong), Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), Mandarin (Taiwan) and Shanghainese.

Where Apple processes it

Apple's On-Device and Modeless Dictation list includes Cantonese (Hong Kong), Cantonese (Simplified, China mainland) and Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), with a note that it requires a download of speech models. So on a Mac with Apple silicon, Chinese dictation can be processed on the Mac once that download is done. Keyboard settings says, under Dictation, whether your Mac is doing it on the device.

Punctuation

Apple's Auto-Punctuation list includes Cantonese (China mainland), Cantonese (Taiwan), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) and Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan), so commas, periods and question marks can be added for you.

The auto punctuation page explains the setting.

Set YapToText to Chinese

1. Open YapToText's AI Models page.
2. In Your defaults, open the Language picker and choose Chinese (China).
3. Click into any text field, tap Right Command, speak Chinese, and tap again.

Out of the box YapToText uses your Mac's system language, not Auto-detect, so if your Mac runs in English this is the step that makes it listen for Chinese. The default model, Whisper Large v3 Turbo, is multilingual and is inside the App Store build. A model with (English) in its name hears English only. Everything runs on the Mac, so nothing you say in Chinese is sent anywhere.

One caution about YapToText and Chinese: its Language picker has a single Chinese entry, Chinese (China). I make no promise about Simplified or Traditional output, or about Cantonese, which Apple lists separately.

Two things that stay in English

YapToText's own screens are in English only, and its default spoken commands are English phrases such as question mark. You can add your own Chinese phrases to any command on the Commands page, and keep the English ones beside them. The spoken punctuation help page shows how.

If Chinese comes out wrong

• Check the picker. It starts on your Mac's system language, not Chinese.
• Check the mode. A mode with its own language overrides the picker.
• Check the model. A model with (English) in its name hears English only.
• Read the raw transcript. History shows what Whisper heard before any cleanup.
• Two languages in one day. The bilingual dictation guide covers switching.

The language guide lists all 29 languages YapToText offers. Guides for other languages include Korean, Russian and Spanish.

This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.

The short version

• Apple Dictation. System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation, Edit, add Chinese.
• On the Mac with Apple. Yes, after a model download.
• Automatic punctuation with Apple. Listed.
• YapToText. AI Models, Language, Chinese (China). On the Mac, free.
• Not tested by me. Settings only, no accuracy claims.

If Apple changes what it lists for Chinese, open an issue on GitHub and I will update this page. Every one gets read.

This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. 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
• Dictating in two languages on a Mac: switch as you talk, or set it per dictation
• Spanish dictation on a Mac: set it up in Apple Dictation or YapToText
• Korean dictation on a Mac: how to set it up, and where your voice is processed
• Russian dictation on a Mac: how to set it up, and where your voice is processed
• How to use dictation on a Mac: turn it on, talk, and stop
• Apple Dictation privacy: what stays on your Mac, what goes to Apple, and how to check
• Mac dictation auto-punctuation: turn it off, or make it behave

Sources

• https://www.apple.com/macos/feature-availability/ (checked 2026-10-11)
• https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-dictation-mh40584/mac (checked 2026-10-11)
• https://github.com/ryleighnewman/YapToText (checked 2026-10-11)
• https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yaptotext/id6786382289 (checked 2026-10-11)

Questions