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How to Change the Dictation Language on a Mac, and Dictate in Two Languages

Apple's own steps to change and add dictation languages on macOS Tahoe 26, how to switch between them, and what helps when you write in two languages.

By Nelson, maker of Aurator

To change the dictation language on a Mac, open System Settings, click Keyboard, go to Dictation, and click the Edit button next to Languages. Choose a language and region there. If you choose more than one, you can switch while you dictate by clicking the language shown next to the cursor, or by pressing the Globe key if your keyboard has one.

That is the whole answer for most people, and it comes from Apple's own Mac User Guide for macOS Tahoe 26, checked on 7 October 2026. Below I go through it step by step. Then I talk about the harder part, which is living in two languages and switching by hand. I speak Spanish and English, and I dictate a lot every day, so this question matters to me. I make Aurator, so please read this knowing that.

How do I change the dictation language on macOS Tahoe 26

These are Apple's steps, in order.

  1. Choose the Apple menu, then System Settings.
  2. Click Keyboard in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down to find it.
  3. Go to Dictation. If it is off, turn it on, then click Enable.
  4. Click the Edit button next to Languages.
  5. Select the language and region you want. To remove a language, deselect it.

The region is part of the choice. Apple's Feature Availability page lists English (Australia) and English (United States) as separate entries, and Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain) and Spanish (Colombia) as well. So pick the one that matches how you actually speak.

Apple's guide for macOS 27 gives the same steps.

How do I add a second language and switch between them

You add it in the same place. In step 5, select more than one language. Apple says that once Dictation is set up for more than one language, you can switch as you dictate in two ways.

  1. Click the language next to the cursor. Apple shows it as a short abbreviation, or a character that stands for the language.
  2. Press the Globe key, if your keyboard has one, then choose the language you want.

So each change of language is a click or a key press. Apple's guide does not describe the Mac choosing the language for you.

Which languages can a Mac dictate in

Apple's macOS Feature Availability page, which now shows macOS 27 Golden Gate, lists 63 language and region versions for Dictation. It lists 48 for on-device dictation, and it notes that those need the speech models downloaded.

To see whether your own dictation is, in Apple's words, "processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers", look at the text below Dictation in Keyboard settings. Dictation has to be on for that text to show. Apple's note covers general text dictation, such as messages and notes, and not dictating into a search box.

Why is my Mac dictating in the wrong language

Apple's own troubleshooting page puts "Choose the correct language and region" near the top of its list. In practice, that comes down to a few checks.

  1. Look before you speak. Check the language shown next to the cursor, and click it to change it if it is not the one you are about to speak.
  2. Check the region. If you speak Australian English and chose English (United States), change it to the one that matches you.
  3. Remove what you never use. Every extra language is one more to click past when you switch.
  4. Check the connection. Apple says you may need an internet connection, and the text below Dictation in Keyboard settings tells you whether you do.

If the problem is the microphone, the shortcut or Dictation not starting at all, I go through those in Mac dictation not working.

The real problem when you live in two languages

Apple's steps work. But if you write in two languages every day, the switch is the part that wears on you. You write a message in Spanish, then an email in English, then back to Spanish. Each time, you need to remember to change the language before you speak. And when you forget, your Mac listens for the wrong language, and the text comes out wrong.

A dictation app can help in two ways. It can work out the language for you, or it can remember the language you use in each app.

How Wispr Flow and Spokenly handle two languages

Wispr Flow dictates in more than 100 languages. Its help centre says it detects one language per dictation, not per word. On a Mac you can turn on Auto-detect, so it chooses from every language it supports, or select only the languages you speak, so it chooses among those. Its data controls page says transcription always happens in the cloud.

Spokenly's home page says it dictates in more than 100 languages, detects the language, and can mix two languages in the middle of a sentence. Its documentation says it uses cloud models by default, with free on-device Whisper and Parakeet models as an option. Its home page also says quality varies by model and language.

Both of them cover far more languages than Aurator does, and I want to say that plainly.

How Aurator handles two languages

Aurator works in ten languages, English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese, in about thirty regional versions. The list comes from Apple's on-device speech transcriber, which is the engine Aurator uses for dictation on your Mac.

Aurator gives that engine one language to listen for before it starts. So Aurator's Automatic setting does something simple. It looks at the two languages you used most in the last 90 days, runs both of them side by side over the same recording, on your Mac, and keeps the transcript that reads as real words in its own language.

I want to be clear about the limit. Automatic picks one language per recording. It does not switch in the middle of a sentence. If you say half a sentence in Spanish and half in English, it keeps one of the two transcripts, and the other half may come out wrong. If you mix languages inside one sentence often, Spokenly says it does that, and Aurator does not.

The second way is to set a language for each app. In Aurator, every app can have its own dictation language, so you can set Spanish for WhatsApp and English for Mail and not touch a language menu again.

  1. Open Aurator's Settings.
  2. In Rules per app, click Add App and choose the app, WhatsApp for example.
  3. Change Language default to the Spanish you speak, such as Spanish (Mexico).
  4. Do the same for Mail, with your English.
  5. Under General, set Dictation language to Automatic, for every app without a language of its own.

"Spanish for WhatsApp" means the language you dictate in. It is not translation, and Aurator does not translate while you speak. If you do need a message in your other language, edit by voice can help. You select the text, say "put it in Spanish", and you see the new version before it replaces the old one. Edit by voice needs Apple Intelligence on your Mac, or Cloud with your own Anthropic key.

Once a language's speech model has downloaded, and with Cloud off, dictation in that language works with no internet. I wrote more about how Automatic compares across apps in What "Automatic Language" Actually Means in a Dictation App.

Two languages in three apps, side by side

Wispr FlowSpokenlyAurator
LanguagesMore than 100More than 100Ten, in about thirty regional versions
How it picks the languageAuto-detect, or only the languages you selectDetects the languageRuns your two most used languages side by side
Two languages in one sentenceOne language per dictation, its help centre saysYes, its home page saysNo, one language per recording
Where speech becomes textAlways in the cloudCloud models by default, free local models you downloadOn your Mac by default

Where each one is the better choice

  1. Apple Dictation, if you want nothing to install and nothing extra to buy. It comes with macOS, Apple's list has 63 language and region versions against about thirty in Aurator, and Apple's guide covers it on earlier versions of macOS too, such as Sequoia 15, while Aurator needs macOS 26 or later.
  2. Wispr Flow, if you speak a language Aurator does not cover, or switch between more than two, or you want the same app on Windows, iPhone and Android as well as your Mac.
  3. Spokenly, if you mix two languages inside the same sentence, since its home page says it handles that. Its Local Models plan is also free, with no usage limits, and it runs on Windows, Linux and iPhone too.
  4. Aurator, if your two languages are among its ten, you want each app to remember its own language, and you want your dictation to stay on your Mac by default.

I compared Aurator and Wispr Flow in more detail, on price, privacy and offline use, in Aurator and Wispr Flow, an Honest Comparison.

Try it with your own two languages

The fairest test is your own voice, in your two languages, in the apps you use every day. Start with Apple's steps above, since they cost nothing. If switching by hand is what slows you down, try Automatic and a rule per app in Aurator during the free week.

Aurator needs macOS 26 or later, and it is made for Macs with Apple silicon. Aurator is a native macOS app and is not affiliated with Apple. You can download it here or read more at tryaurator.app. Seven days free, with every feature, then US$29 once, with a full refund within 30 days if it is not for you.

Sources, all checked on 7 October 2026