Apple Dictation Languages on Mac: The Full List

Apple's Dictation on a Mac supports 63 language and regional variants on macOS 27 ¹. Fewer of them run on your Mac itself (48, ²), fewer add punctuation automatically (33, ³), and Voice Control covers 20 ⁴. The advanced dictation model in macOS 27 covers 9 English variants and no other language ⁵. The table near the end checks every variant against each of these features. For the steps to add and switch languages, see how to change the Dictation language on a Mac.

Apple Dictation supports many languages and regional variants, but not every feature in each

The main Dictation list has 63 entries, and it counts each region separately. English alone has 15 entries ⁶, so the number of distinct languages is well below 63. Apple says Dictation "is not available in all languages or regions, and features may vary" ⁷.

The figures here are a snapshot for macOS 27, as checked on 16 October 2026 ¹. The counts come from Apple's macOS feature availability page, so check that page again after each macOS update.

Treat each feature as its own filter. A language on the main list is not automatically on the on-device list, does not necessarily get automatic punctuation, and may not work in Voice Control. The chart shows how each list shrinks from the main list.

Each language is added separately and you switch with the Globe key

You add each dictation language yourself. Apple's steps: go to Dictation, click Edit next to Languages, then select a language and region ⁸. Those steps sit in System Settings, under Keyboard ⁹, as described in our guide to using Dictation on a Mac.

To check whether your own language is set up, follow these steps on macOS 27:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar.
2. Go to Dictation, then click Edit next to Languages.
3. Select your language and region, then compare it with its row in the table below.

With more than one language set up, you switch while you dictate. Apple says you can click the language next to the cursor, or press the Globe key if your keyboard has one, and then choose the language you want ¹⁰. Apple's guide describes switching between languages, not speaking two languages in one sentence. That distinction matters, and it is covered in the question on using two languages at once, along with the term code-switching.

If Dictation types in the wrong language, check that the language you are speaking is the one selected. Apple's troubleshooting checklist says to choose the correct language and region when Dictation does not work as expected ¹¹. The full set of causes is in why Mac dictation types in the wrong language and in why Mac dictation is not working.

Some languages are processed on the Mac, others still go to Apple's servers

On Apple's on-device and modeless list, 48 variants are listed, and that list requires a download of speech models ². That is 76 percent of the main list ¹². A language that is missing from the on-device list is not listed there as processed on the Mac, so check its Keyboard setting before you rely on privacy. Apple's Mac Help says you can check whether general text Dictation, such as messages and notes, is processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers ¹³.

That check applies to general text only. Apple's guide gives messages and notes as examples of general text Dictation, and says dictating in a search box is not part of that example ¹⁴, so a search field may behave differently from a note.

Russian is on the on-device list ¹⁵. Mandarin Chinese (China mainland) is too ¹⁶, and so are two Cantonese entries ¹⁷. Mandarin (Taiwan) is not on the on-device list.

Keep one caution in mind. The list is Apple's reference, but the Keyboard setting on your own Mac is the only proof for that Mac. Check it after you add a language.

Auto-punctuation covers fewer languages than basic dictation

Automatic punctuation is available in 33 variants ³, about half of the main list ¹⁸. In those languages, Dictation inserts commas, periods and question marks for you as you dictate ⁹. You can switch the setting off from Keyboard settings, under Dictation, in the same place as the language list.

The effect is smaller in English. English has 11 auto-punctuation variants ¹⁹, against 15 on the main list ⁶. The auto-punctuation list also has three entries that the main list does not use: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) and Cantonese (Taiwan) ²⁰. Russian has no entry in this list at all, so Russian dictation on a Mac does not add punctuation for you. For the other marks, such as colons and brackets, see our list of Mac dictation commands.

The macOS 27 advanced dictation model is English only

Apple lists the More advanced Dictation model for 9 English variants ⁵. That is 60 percent of the English entries on the main list ²¹. Apple lists no other language for it.

The model also has a hardware requirement. In the footnote to its Dictation accuracy feature, Apple's Apple Intelligence page lists "Mac models with M3 and later and at least 12GB of unified memory" ²². Intel Macs cannot get it. macOS Tahoe 26 is the last macOS version that still lists Intel Macs, and macOS 27 lists only Apple silicon Macs ²³. For the version history, see how Mac dictation changed by macOS version and the macOS 27 dictation changes.

Voice Control supports fewer languages than Dictation

Voice Control lists 20 variants ⁴, about a third of the main Dictation list ²⁴. Voice Control is not a separate typing setting. When it is on, you dictate through Voice Control, and standard macOS Dictation is not available ²⁵. Voice Control is a different feature from Dictation, and it is covered in our guide to Voice Control on a Mac and in the Voice Control term.

Spelling mode, which enters text letter by letter, is also limited. Apple says it "isn't available in all Voice Control languages" ²⁶, but the page does not list which ones lack it. Russian is on the Voice Control list, written as Russian with no region ²⁷.

A table of every language and what works in it

The table combines Apple's Dictation, on-device, auto-punctuation, Voice Control and macOS 27 advanced model lists from the macOS feature availability page, as checked on 16 October 2026 ¹. Each row is one of the 63 main-list variants, with three extra rows for the auto-punctuation labels that do not match the main list. Yes means the variant appears on that list. No means it does not. Unclear means Apple's list does not say which variant it covers.

How the table was built. Apple writes some names differently from one list to the next. The on-device list writes the mainland Cantonese entry as "Cantonese (Simplified, China mainland)" and Norwegian as "Norwegian Bokmål (Norway)", and both are matched to the main-list row. Voice Control writes Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Turkish without a region, and each is matched to the one region on the main list. The on-device list has a single entry, "Arabic", with no region, so both Arabic rows are marked Unclear. The totals match Apple's counts: 63 main ¹, 48 on-device ², 33 auto-punctuation ³, 20 Voice Control ⁴ and 9 advanced English ⁵.

Chinese and Russian, in short

For Chinese, the main list has Mandarin Chinese (China mainland) and Mandarin (Taiwan) ²⁸. Mainland Mandarin is also on the on-device list ¹⁶. The auto-punctuation list uses the separate labels Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional) instead ²⁰, so it is not clear which Mandarin row they match. The step-by-step version is in how to dictate in Chinese on a Mac.

For Russian, the main list and the on-device list both include Russian (Russia) ^{29 15}, and Voice Control includes Russian ²⁷. Russian is not on the auto-punctuation list. The table above shows each of these as a row you can check.

If your language is missing

If your language is not in Apple's list, Apple's own Dictation features will not cover it. Voice typing in other apps may still work. our guide to changing the dictation language covers the options outside Apple's list. Yap, which we make, is one dictation app for Mac and Windows. Its current language support is on the download page, where you can check it before you install.

Related reading: how to use dictation on a Mac, the Mac dictation commands, Apple dictation privacy, and punctuation for other languages. The overview is dictation on Mac.