Windows Dictation Languages: Voice Typing and Voice Access

Windows 11 voice typing supports 46 languages and regional variants ¹. Voice Access, the command feature that also writes text, supports 15 languages and dialects ². Windows 10 dictation covers 12 variants for basic text ³. Each tool has its own list, and none of Microsoft's Windows lists includes Bangla or Urdu. Arabic appears only in Microsoft Word's dictation preview list.

This guide puts the Windows lists side by side as they stood on October 16, 2026. It then shows how to add a voice typing language, why your display language does not have to match, how Voice Access downloads its language files, and which tool to try when your language is on none of the lists.

Voice typing, Voice Access and Windows 10 dictation each support a different set of languages

The three tools use different lists, so a language on one list is not automatically on another. A language on the Voice Access list, for example, is not automatically on the voice typing list, and Windows 10 dictation has its own short section on Microsoft's voice typing page. The table gives each list as Microsoft published it. We read each page on October 16, 2026, copied the lists and counted the entries by hand. We count each regional variant separately, so English (Australia) and English (Canada) are two entries.

The chart shows the length of each list, not how accurate each language is. Voice typing lists about three times as many languages as Voice Access ¹⁰. Microsoft does not say why the lists differ. The tools recognize speech in different ways: voice typing uses online speech recognition ⁴, while Voice Access downloads language files for on-device recognition ¹¹. Each Voice Access language is a separate download to your PC, which is a bigger commitment than online recognition.

Windows 10's basic-text list is shorter than Voice Access's, and it covers basic text only. Speech Recognition, the shortest list here, is the older tool that Voice Access replaced in newer versions of Windows 11.

You add a voice typing language from Language and region settings

To use a language for voice typing on Windows 11, install it as a Windows language first. Microsoft's steps start in Settings. The route is the same for every language, and the voice typing guide covers the shortcut that starts the feature.

1. Select Start, then Settings, then Time & language, then Language & region.
2. Find Preferred languages and select Add a language ¹².
3. Search for the language you want, select Next, and install it.

Once a language is installed, switch to it from the language switcher in the corner of the taskbar, or by pressing Windows key + Spacebar on a hardware keyboard ¹³.

If the current language has no voice typing support, voice typing does not start. Microsoft's error message reads "Voice typing isn't available in the current language" ¹⁴, so install a supported language and switch to it. Step-by-step help for changing the language is in our answer to how to change the voice typing language in Windows 11.

Your voice typing language can differ from your Windows display language

You do not need Windows itself to be set to your language. Microsoft says you can use a voice typing language that is different from the one you chose for Windows ¹⁵. That matters if you keep Windows in English but dictate in another language, or the reverse.

Voice Access works the same way. If your display language is not supported, you can still choose a language from the list on the setup screen and use it ¹⁶. The display language and the dictation language are two separate settings in both tools.

Voice Access needs a downloaded speech pack for each language

During setup, Voice Access downloads the language files for the language you select, and those files power on-device speech recognition ¹¹. The first setup needs an internet connection ⁶. After the download, Voice Access controls the PC and writes text by voice without an internet connection ¹⁷.

To set up Voice Access, follow Microsoft's setup page. In outline:

1. Select Start, search for Voice access, and open it.
2. On the welcome screen, choose your language and select Agree and continue. Voice Access starts downloading the language files for that language.
3. Wait for the download to finish. It needs an internet connection ¹¹.
4. On the Setup microphone screen, confirm that the microphone you want is selected.

If Voice Access does not open, check your Windows version first, as the Voice Access guide explains.

Each speech pack is for one language, so a language you have not downloaded cannot be used. To change languages later, open Voice access settings and select Languages ¹⁸. The setup steps and the troubleshooting for failed downloads are in our guide to setting up Voice Access in Windows 11.

Microsoft's own pages give different Voice Access lists

Microsoft's Voice Access pages give language lists that do not match. The setup page is the most detailed. It names 15 languages and dialects, including six English variants, two Spanish, German, two French, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Italian ². The command list says the feature is currently available in six languages ¹⁹. The FAQ says four languages ²⁰.

We treat the setup page as the working list, because it is the only one tied to the download step. The language list on the setup screen of your own PC is the best check, because it is the list you download from. Our answer to which languages Voice Access supports explains the differences in more detail.

Commands and spoken punctuation change with the language you dictate in

Microsoft's command tables for voice typing are set per language: change the dropdown to your language to see the phrases that work in it ²¹.

Windows 10 is stricter. Its dictation commands work only in US English ²², while its basic-text list includes other languages for letters, symbols and numbers. So a Windows 10 user dictating in German gets text, but not the editing commands. For the full phrase lists, see our guide to Windows voice typing commands. For how punctuation words differ across languages in general, see dictation punctuation in other languages.

Fluid dictation is available for English locales on Copilot+ PCs

Microsoft says fluid dictation is a Copilot+ PC feature and is available in all English locales ²³. If your language is not an English locale, fluid dictation is not listed for it, so you get standard voice typing.

Fluid dictation needs a Copilot+ PC and is covered in our guide to fluid dictation on Copilot+ PCs and Windows on Arm. The fluid dictation term explains what the feature changes in the text.

Windows 10 dictation covers fewer languages, and Windows 10 no longer gets updates

Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025 ⁷. After that date, Microsoft no longer provides feature updates or security updates for Windows 10, so the list above describes that version as it shipped and was last maintained. A Windows 10 PC will not gain a language from a feature update, which is one more reason to plan for the Windows 11 lists if you are choosing a new computer. Its basic-text list has 12 variants: Simplified Chinese, four English variants, two French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and two Spanish ³. The basic-text list does not name US English, so this guide counts only the variants it names.

Our answer to which languages Windows 10 dictation supports gives the full list. Windows 10 dictation also needs an internet connection ⁸.

The older Windows Speech Recognition tool has its own list of 11 variants: English in five regional forms, French, German, Japanese, two Chinese forms and Spanish ⁹. Voice Access replaced it in Windows 11 version 22H2 and later in September 2024, and Speech Recognition remains available in older versions of Windows ²⁴. Our guide to Windows Speech Recognition and its replacement covers the switch.

Bangla, Urdu and Arabic: what the built-in Windows tools cover

None of Microsoft's Windows lists includes Bangla or Urdu. Those languages are absent from the 46 voice typing languages ¹, from the 15 Voice Access languages ² and from the 11 Speech Recognition variants ⁹. Windows 10's basic-text list has no Bangla or Urdu either ³. Hindi, by contrast, is on the voice typing list, along with Marathi ²⁵.

Arabic is not on the voice typing ¹, Voice Access ² or Speech Recognition ⁹ lists. Microsoft Word's dictation page does list three Arabic variants, for Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in its preview group ²⁶. Microsoft says languages in that group may have lower accuracy or limited punctuation support ²⁷. Word dictation works in Microsoft 365 with a microphone and a reliable internet connection ²⁸. For comparison, our guide to Mac dictation languages covers Apple's own list.

For Arabic dictation, the Arabic speech to text guide covers the options in more detail. If you need Bangla or Urdu, plan for the gap now: test a browser or third-party tool with a short passage of your own speech before you rely on it, because a list shows support but not how well a language works. Our answer to whether you can voice type in Bangla, Urdu or Arabic on Windows gives the short version.

When Windows does not support your language, browser and third-party tools fill the gap

A Windows list is not the only option, but each alternative has its own language list. Google Docs voice typing works in the latest versions of Chrome, Edge and Safari, and the browser controls the speech-to-text service ²⁹. Its language support is set by Google, and we could not load Google's language page to check Bangla or Urdu, so check that page before you rely on it.

Open speech models such as Whisper cover more languages than these lists. OpenAI's Whisper was trained on 680,000 hours of audio, and 117,000 of those hours cover 96 languages other than English ³⁰. A dictation app built on Whisper supports whatever languages that app enables, so check its list. Our guide to Whisper supported languages explains how accuracy varies by language.

Dedicated dictation apps are the other route. Yap, which we make, is an on-device dictation app for Windows. Check its language list on our download page before you choose it, because the list is the thing to verify for your language.

Be aware of where the audio goes. Windows voice typing uses online speech recognition powered by Azure Speech services ⁴, so a language on that list is an online feature. Voice Access, once its language files are downloaded, works without the internet ¹⁷. Our guide to offline speech to text on Windows explains which tools work offline. For what the online services do with audio, read Windows dictation privacy.

Check your language in this order before you choose a tool

To check your own PC, start with the list for your Windows version. On Windows 11, open Settings, then Time & language, then Language & region, and look under Preferred languages. In Voice Access, the setup screen and Voice access settings show the languages it offers. Then use this order to decide which tool to try.

On Windows 10, use the Windows 10 list instead, and remember that commands work only in US English. If your language is on none of the lists, no built-in Windows tool will dictate in it, and you need one of the alternatives above. The lists change as Microsoft updates its pages, so treat the counts in this guide as the ones published on October 16, 2026, and repeat the checks above before you rely on a list. Our overview of dictation on Windows puts these tools side by side, and our guide to dictation in Windows apps covers Word, Outlook and browsers in more depth. If voice typing will not start even in a supported language, our guide to Windows dictation not working lists the fixes.

A listed language is supported, not guaranteed accurate. Accuracy depends on more than the list, including your accent and your microphone. If a supported language gives poor results, read our guide to accents and speech recognition accuracy and work through the troubleshooting steps for dictation not working. To mix two languages in one piece of writing, the multilingual dictation guide explains the options.