Change the app's language, and the language you speak

By Published

Since 1.5.4, YapToText's own screens come in 27 languages. That is a separate setting from the language you dictate in, which sits with the speech model and can be detected for each dictation. You can have the app in German and dictate in English, or the other way round.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreThis 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.

Steps

  1. Open YapToText Settings on the General tab.
  2. In the Language card, pick a language, or Same as the system.
  3. Press Restart Now, or wait for the next launch.

Change the language of the app

The Language card in Settings, General lists every language the app is translated into, each in its own name. Same as the system follows the language set in System Settings on your Mac. A new choice shows after YapToText restarts, and a Restart Now button appears beside the menu to do that at once.

The 27 languages are English, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

Set the language you speak

The language you speak is set on the AI Models page, in the Your defaults card, right under the dictation model, because it is the hint every speech model gets. Auto-detect language, at the top of the list, lets the model work it out each time. Naming your language saves it the guess, and Auto-detect suits people who switch.

A language for each mode

A mode can carry its own language, set in the mode editor. That is the tidy way to dictate in two languages: one mode for each, switched with the number keys while you talk. Bilingual dictation covers it in more detail.

About the author. I am Ryleigh Newman, and I make YapToText. My hands do not work well enough to type for long, so I dictate nearly everything, and I built this app because I needed it. More about me and the app.

Sources

Questions

Is YapToText available in Spanish, German or Japanese?

Yes. Since 1.5.4 the app's screens come in 27 languages, Spanish, German and Japanese among them. Pick one in Settings, General, Language.

Does changing the app's language change the dictation language?

No. The dictation language is set separately on the AI Models page, or detected automatically.

Why did the language not change right away?

The new language shows after the app restarts. Press Restart Now in the Language card to do it at once.