Can you voice type in Bangla, Urdu or Arabic on Windows?

Not with the built-in Windows tools. Microsoft's voice typing list has 46 languages and regional variants, and it includes neither Bangla nor Urdu ¹. Arabic is not on that list either. Arabic appears only in the preview group of Microsoft Word's dictation, which needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, a microphone and a reliable internet connection. For Bangla or Urdu, you need a third-party or browser tool, and you should test it with your own speech before you rely on it.

None of the built-in Windows lists includes Bangla or Urdu

Windows has four voice tools with their own language lists: voice typing, Voice Access, Windows Speech Recognition and Windows 10 dictation. None of them includes Bangla or Urdu. Check the language list on your own PC as well, because it is the list you install from.

The lists do include other South Asian languages. Hindi is on the voice typing list, along with Marathi and other Indian languages. So a Hindi or Marathi speaker has a built-in option, and a Bangla or Urdu speaker does not.

Arabic appears only in Word's preview group

Microsoft Word's dictation list names three Arabic variants, Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in its preview languages group ². Microsoft says languages in that group may have lower accuracy or limited punctuation support ³.

That is a limited option for three reasons. It works only in Word, not in every app. It needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, a microphone and a reliable internet connection. And it covers three regional variants, not Arabic as a whole. Test Arabic dictation in Word on a passage of your own before you depend on it, and see our Arabic speech to text guide for the wider options.

Microsoft's developer service lists Bengali and Urdu, but that is not Windows support

Microsoft's Azure Speech service has a speech to text table of locales, and it lists both languages for India: Bengali (India) and Urdu (India) ⁴.

This does not mean you can dictate in Bangla or Urdu on Windows. Microsoft says Windows voice typing is powered by Azure Speech services ⁵, but its voice typing language menu is a separate list, and neither language is on it. Microsoft does not say the two lists match. The Azure table is for developers who build speech into their own software, so it is not a guide to what a Windows user can select.

Whisper covers all three languages, with uneven accuracy

OpenAI's open speech model, Whisper, includes Urdu and Bengali in the language table of its source code ⁶, and it includes Arabic too ⁷. That shows the open model was built to accept all three languages.

A language in the table is not a guarantee of quality. OpenAI says Whisper's performance varies widely depending on the language ⁸, and it publishes a per-language error chart for the models. Check the chart for the model you plan to use before you choose a language. An app built on Whisper can choose which of these languages it exposes, so the app's own list is the one that matters to you.

Browser voice typing depends on Google's list, which we could not check

Google Docs has its own voice typing, and whether it covers Bangla or Urdu depends on Google's language list. We tried to load Google's current help page for that list, but it returned a verification challenge, so we did not confirm either language there. Check the page yourself, and do not assume a language is there because the tool works in English.

What to do if your language is Bangla, Urdu or Arabic

1. Arabic in Word: if you have Microsoft 365 and can accept the preview caveats, try Dictate in Word on a short passage.
2. Bangla or Urdu: choose a tool that lists the language itself, such as a browser tool or an app built on Whisper, and check its list before you install it.
3. Test any tool: dictate two or three minutes of your own speech, then count the errors you would need to fix. A list shows support, but not how well a language works.
4. Check where audio goes: Windows voice typing sends speech to an online service, so read the privacy terms of any tool before you dictate private material.

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

Related answers

For the steps to switch languages in Windows 11, read how to change the voice typing language in Windows 11. For the other Windows lists, read which languages Voice Access supports and which languages Windows 10 dictation supports. Our guide to Windows dictation languages puts the lists side by side, and offline speech to text on Windows covers tools that work without the internet. The voice typing term explains the feature, and our overview of dictation on Windows compares the options.