Which languages does VoiceInk support?

VoiceInk supports whichever languages your chosen model supports. There is no one list for the app. Each local model has its own, and the language picker in a Mode shows the real choices for the model selected ¹. Parakeet V3 covers English and European languages ², Cohere Transcribe covers 14 languages ³, and Whisper covers the most. These are the facts as documented on October 27, 2026, for VoiceInk 2.x. The wider picture is in our VoiceInk guide.

Each model has its own language list

Two further sets sit outside this table. Apple's own model, offered on macOS 26 or later, uses language assets that macOS manages, and Apple limits how many languages can be reserved at once ¹⁰. Cloud providers such as Deepgram, ElevenLabs or Mistral have their own lists, which depend on your provider account.

VoiceInk's model guide adds a warning: a model being multilingual does not mean it supports every language, so check the picker before you download or connect anything ¹¹.

German works well on Parakeet V3, and on several other models

For German, the default model is a good start. In our October 2026 tests on a Mac with an M2 Pro, run directly outside VoiceInk, Parakeet V3 had a 4.84 percent word error rate on German speech ¹² and Whisper Large v3 Turbo had 5.08 percent ¹³. That is a small difference, so either is usable. Nemotron Latin and Cohere Transcribe also list German.

For German punctuation commands and tips, see the question on how to dictate in German.

Support is not the same as accuracy

A language on the list can still be much worse than English. The same tests show the spread: Parakeet scored 4.48 percent on English ¹⁴ but 22.02 percent on Maltese ¹⁵, and Whisper scored 72.35 percent on Maltese ¹⁶, which is close to unusable. Greek showed the opposite pattern: Whisper reached 11.96 percent ¹⁷ and Parakeet 31.66 percent ¹⁸. So the right model can depend on the language, and the guide to speech recognition and accents explains why results differ between speakers too.

How to change the language in VoiceInk

The language is a setting of the Mode, next to the transcription model ¹⁹.

1. Open Modes and select the Mode you use (or create a new one).
2. Under Transcription, choose a Model that supports your language.
3. Set the Language in the same section. The picker lists only what that model supports.
4. To switch languages quickly, make one Mode per language and give each its own shortcut or app trigger.

If a language is missing from the picker, the model does not support it. Download another model from AI Models, then Local, and look again.

When VoiceInk is the wrong tool for your language

You mix two languages in one sentence. A model picks one language per Mode; switching mid-sentence is code-switching, which most local models handle poorly. Use separate Modes and switch between them.

Your language is not in any list above. Try Whisper, then check cloud providers. Superwhisper and Wispr Flow both advertise more than 100 languages through cloud or Whisper models ^{20 21}, which matters if you need a rare one. The questions on VoiceInk vs Superwhisper and VoiceInk vs Wispr Flow compare them, and the question on which model to use in VoiceInk helps you choose between the local options.

You are on an Intel Mac. Local models are unreliable there, and the maker recommends cloud transcription ²².

For the built-in alternative, see how Mac dictation handles languages, and for the bigger picture read the guide to Whisper's languages.