How can you dictate in a language your device does not support?

You cannot make built-in dictation work in a language the device does not support. Apple says Dictation on iPhone may not be available in all languages or in all countries or regions, and that features may vary ¹. Your options are therefore to use a different tool whose list includes your language, to use a dedicated app, or to dictate in a language you can use and translate the result. Each has limits, covered below.

Built-in dictation depends on the device's own language list

Built-in dictation is limited to the languages the vendor has built for that device. Apple says Dictation on Mac is not available in all languages or regions, and that features may vary ². Windows gives the same kind of answer: when the current language is not supported, voice typing is not available, and Microsoft tells you to install a supported language ³.

So the first check is always the list on your own device. If your language is on it, the fix is in the guide to changing the dictation language. If it is not, read on.

Check whether another platform lists your language

Different vendors support different languages, so a language missing from one list may appear in another. Microsoft's Azure Speech table includes Bengali (India), a locale that Windows voice typing does not offer ⁴. That is a developer service, not a dictation app, so it needs a tool that uses it.

Google Cloud is another developer option. Its Speech-to-Text product page says the service supports over 125 languages ⁵. A count like this describes the service, not each feature or each app built on it, so check the language table for the exact model before you rely on it.

Open-source models give a third option. OpenAI's Whisper paper reports that 117,000 hours of its 680,000 hours of training audio cover 96 languages other than English ⁶. A broad training set does not mean every language is accurate, so test your own speech.

Coverage is uneven, so test accuracy too

A language on a list is not the same as a language that works well. A 2025 review of code-switching speech recognition found that a small subset of languages receives the most attention, and that there is a large disparity in the languages covered by datasets ⁷. Expect the most common languages to work best, and the rarer ones to need more checking.

Test with the words you use most. Dictate one sentence with names of people and places, then count the errors. If the output is in the wrong script or unreadable, the tool does not serve that language, however long its list is.

A dedicated app may list your language

A dedicated dictation app may support languages that the built-in list does not. Yap, which we make, is one such app for Mac and Windows, so check its own language list before you rely on it. Our overview of dictation software compares the options by need, and the guide to Whisper supported languages explains which models cover which languages.

Translate afterwards only when your own language is enough

If no tool covers your language, you can dictate in a language you can use, then translate the text. This is a second step with its own errors, so the final text can be wrong in two places: the dictation and the translation. Use it only when the text in your own language is enough for your purpose. The guide on speech to text with translation covers the steps and the limits.

What to do

1. Write down your exact language and region, because lists count each region separately.
2. Check the built-in list on your device, and add the language if it is there.
3. If it is not there, test one sentence with names on two or three other tools whose lists include it.
4. Pick a dedicated app or a translation route only after the test shows the output is good enough for your work.

For the built-in steps on every device, read how to change the dictation language on any device. For switching between languages you already have, see how to switch dictation languages quickly. If the message on your PC says voice typing is not available in the current language, see why dictation is not available in the current language. The wider topic is in our overview of dictation languages, accents and voice translation.