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How to change the dictation language on a Mac.

Dictation on a Mac listens in the language you set for it, not necessarily the one your Mac’s menus use. Here is how to change it, add a second language, and switch between them — using the names in macOS Sonoma and Sequoia.

Change the dictation language

  1. Open System Settings → Keyboard.
  2. Scroll to Dictation and make sure it is on.
  3. Next to Languages, click Edit….
  4. Tick the language you want. For languages with regional variants — English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Chinese — pick the region that matches how you speak.
  5. Untick the languages you don’t need, so you don’t land in the wrong one by accident.

A newly added language may need to download before it works, so stay online for a few minutes after adding it.

Use more than one language

You can keep several languages added. While you dictate, the active language is shown next to the microphone indicator; click it to choose another. Apple’s dictation listens in one language at a time, so switch before you start speaking rather than mid-sentence.

Remember that the keyboard layout is a separate setting under System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input. Dictation in German with an English layout works, but you will want the German layout too for typing ä, ö, ü and ß yourself.

If the language is wrong or dictation types gibberish

  1. Check which language is active in the dictation indicator — the most common cause is dictating in one language while another is selected.
  2. Remove and re-add the language to force a fresh download.
  3. If dictation does nothing at all, the problem is usually elsewhere: see Mac dictation not working.

Dictating in several languages every day

If you switch languages often, the switching becomes the slow part. Dictami recognizes 28 languages at full speed on your Mac — including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese — on your Mac, with punctuation and capitalization. You hold a key, speak and release, and the text lands in whatever app you’re in; nothing is sent to a server, so it also works offline.

See the full language list. Dictami needs macOS 14 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac.

Questions

How do I change the dictation language on a Mac?
Open System Settings → Keyboard, find Dictation, and use Languages to add the language you want. With more than one language added, the active language is shown next to the microphone while you dictate, and you can click it to switch.
Can Mac dictation use two languages at once?
You can add several languages, but Apple's dictation listens in one of them at a time; you switch between them rather than mixing them in one sentence.
Why is my dictation language missing or greyed out?
Some languages have to be downloaded before they work, which needs an internet connection and a few minutes. Not every keyboard language is available for dictation, and availability can depend on your macOS version and region.
Does the dictation language follow my keyboard layout?
They are separate settings. Your keyboard input source controls what the keys type; the dictation languages control what speech is recognized. Set both if you write in more than one language.

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