How Can I Dictate In Other Languages?

By Ricky Buchanan • January 23, 2009

This entry is part 8 of 22 in the series Speech-to-Text Compilation

[Last updated 18 October, 2009]

MacSpeech Dictate is currently the only speech-to-text program under development for OS X. Thirteen English dialects/accents are supported, and US and UK spelling options. These are:

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.

Series Navigation«MacSpeech Dictate Instructional VideosVoice-Activated Mouse Clicks with MacSpeech Dictate»

Categories: Information, OS X, Speech to Text, Users
Tags: dictation, dictation to text, dragon for mac, language other than english, languages other than english, minimize typing, non english, speech commands, speech recognition, Speech to Text, talk to your mac, transcribe, voice commands, voice recognition, voice to text

About the Author

Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan is 34 years old and the founder and main writer for ATMac. She's bedridden with severe CFS/ME or perhaps a primary mitochondrial disorder - the doctors are not sure. When she's not working on ATMac or her other websites she composes music, listens to audio books, does other disability advocacy, watches TV with her flatmate, and enjoys her cat.

7 Comments For “How Can I Dictate In Other Languages?”

atmacjournal (Ricky Buchanan) Jan 23rd, 2009 at 9:50 am

New post: How Can I Dictate In Other Languages? http://is.gd/gW7W (Really is posted this time - honest!)
Paul Alphandery Jan 25th, 2009 at 2:17 am

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.
atmacjournal (Ricky Buchanan) Jan 25th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

I’ve updated article http://is.gd/gW7W Dictating in languages other than English. An astute commenter noticed a way using Parallels/Fusion!
Ricky Buchanan Jan 26th, 2009 at 12:41 am

@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?
Ricky Buchanan Jan 26th, 2009 at 12:54 am

@Paul: I found the list and have updated the article to include your solution. Thank you again!
Paul Alphandery Jan 26th, 2009 at 1:05 am

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.
Ricky Buchanan Jan 26th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

@Paul: Thanks for the additional information too.

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