- Speech-to-Text: Dictation software for Mac OS X
- “Text to Speech” or “Speech to Text”?
- MacSpeech Dictate is highly recommended
- MacSpeech Dictate Instructional Videos
- How Can I Dictate In Other Languages?
- Dictating Well: Principles From A Master
- The Ultimate MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 Global Commands List
- Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.0 Announced
- Dragon Dictate 2.0 Review
- Make Your Own Macspeech Dictate Commands
[Last updated 18 October, 2009]
- US Spelling
- American
- American – Inland Northern
- American – Southern
- American – Teens
- Australian
- British
- Indian
- Latino
- Southeast Asian
- UK Spelling
- Australian
- British
- Indian
- Southeast Asian
Specialised versions – Dictate Medical and Dictate Legal – are available for dictating in these language areas, and Dictate International is now available and recognises speech in French, German, and Italian. MacSpeech have strongly hinted that Spanish language recognition is next on their agenda.
For Windows, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred supports Spanish and Dutch languages, but there is currently no way to recognise these using MacSpeech Dictate. If you want to dictate in Dutch or Spanish and don’t want to wait for Dictate International to include these languages, you can use Parallels or VM Fusion to run Windows XP or Vista on a “virtual machine” inside your OS X machine. Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred you can dictate into a document within the Windows virtual machine.
To get your text back into OS X you’ll need to select and copy it in the Windows program you’re using, switch back to OS X and paste it into a document, email message, or other OS X window. So this method won’t let you dictate directly into OS X documents or to control your OS X computer by voice, but if you need to dictate in other languages for writing documents it could be ideal. Dragon NS 10 has specific language editions for each language, and they all include English dictation as well as the language purchased. You’ll also need a copy of Parallels or VM Fusion and a licensed copy of Windows XP or Windows Vista for this method.
Thanks to Paul for the creative solution! I hope it helps others until MacSpeech Dictate is up to the task.
- Ricky Buchanan
If you are going to buy or upgrade any version of MacSpeech Dictate from the USA or UK.
stores, please consider using these links in this article. If you do, I'll get a commission - a small percentage of the sale price. It won't cost you anything and it will help to support me and ATMac.
Hi Ricky, you can dictate/command in other languages on a Macintosh it must have an Intel processor – it’s true you cannot do it in OS X. but you can use XP or Visto either in Boot Camp or in a virtual machine (Parallels or VM Fusion and Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred version.
What you need to remember is that you must have the foreign-language edition, in other words if you want to dictate in French and English you must purchase the French edition and you can create good profiles one for French and the other for English. It works great particularly with one of the virtual machines that run concurrently with OS X.
@Paul: That’s a great idea – a creative way out of the problem, even if it’s not OS X based. An intel processor is needed to run MacSpeech Dictate anyway, so those machines will all be able to run versions of Windows.
Do you know if there’s a list anywhere of all the languages that Dragon Naturally Speaking can be purchased in?
@Paul: I found the list and have updated the article to include your solution. Thank you again!
Here’s a link where you’ll find specs and other details including averrable languages:
http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/preferred.asp
Language Versions Available
Dutch – English – French – German – Italian -Spanish
Important note remember that each foreign language edition includes English and that you can use practically any microphone including Bluetooth but it probably works best with the same microphones as Dictate, i.e. USB-based microphones.
@Paul: Thanks for the additional information too.
Not a solution. It has already taken so long to add languages to macspeech.
It has to come soon.
@StarFire78: It seems that now we have MacSpeech Dictate International things are going pretty well – what’s your gripe?
Does anyone know how long it still will take before a Dutch version for de Mac will be available ? I wait for it already several years, mailed to several so called experts of Apple and Dragon and every time they say that they don’t know exactly when but that it wont last long anymore.
Nevertheless it still is not there.
there should be some kind of time table/ schedule/ planning ? Why nobody knows how long we still have to wait for a Dutch version ?