Bilingual dictation on a Mac: French or Spanish and English
For bilingual dictation on a Mac, leave YappYapp's dictation language on Auto-Detect with the default Parakeet Ultra model: it covers English, French, Spanish and 22 other European languages and picks the language itself, so you can dictate an English email and then a French message without touching a setting. If you want to speak in your own language and paste English, turn on TRANSLATE TO, which translates on your Mac after transcription.
Three ways to handle two languages
- Let the model detect the language. Best when you switch often during the day.
- Fix the language per app. Best when each app has one language: English in Slack, French in Mail.
- Speak one language, paste another. Best when you are more precise in your first language but the text has to be in English.
You can combine them: Auto-Detect by default, an app profile for the app that is always in one language, and translation for the one place you write in English but think in Spanish.
Which models handle which languages
YappYapp ships three local speech engines. All of them run on your Mac.
| Model | Languages | Language choice |
|---|---|---|
| Parakeet Ultra (default) and Parakeet TDT v3 | 25 European languages, including English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Italian and Portuguese | Picks the language itself |
| Parakeet TDT v2 and Parakeet 110M | English only | English |
| Whisper multilingual models (Large v3 Turbo, Large v3, Medium, Small, Base, Tiny) | Many languages | Auto or a set language |
| Whisper English models (Medium English and smaller) | English only | Sets English automatically |
| Qwen3-ASR 0.6B and 1.7B | 52 languages and dialects, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and Hindi | Detects on Auto; a picked language is a hint |
The Parakeet v3 language list is on NVIDIA's model card, and the Qwen3-ASR list on the Qwen model card. For a French and English or Spanish and English pair, Parakeet Ultra covers both. Avoid the English-only models for a bilingual setup: they are built for English speech only.
During the first run, YappYapp asks which languages you speak. DETECT BEST MODELS uses that answer: if you list a language Parakeet does not cover, it proposes a model that does. SCAN MY MAC on the MODELS tab gives the same advice later. For speed differences between engines, see Whisper or Parakeet on a Mac.
Setting the dictation language
The dictation language lives in Setup > Dictation > DICTATION LANGUAGE, with five choices: Auto-Detect, English, Français, Español and Nederlands. A change applies from your next dictation. For quick switching, right-click the menu-bar icon: the menu has a language switcher.
Which one to pick:
- Auto-Detect if you move between languages. Parakeet decides on its own either way.
- A fixed language if you use a Whisper model and mostly dictate in one language. The repository's own guidance is that setting the language usually improves Whisper's speed and accuracy.
The interface language is a separate setting (Setup > App > App language: English, French, Spanish or Dutch). You can run the app in French and dictate in English.
One language per app
App profiles (Setup > App profiles) let an app use its own dictation language, cleanup mode, paste behavior, model and number style. A profile applies to the app where the dictation ends. Give Slack English, give Mail Spanish, and you stop thinking about the setting. VoiceOver reads the active profile, language and model on the indicator while you dictate.
Speak French or Spanish, paste English
Setup > Dictation > TRANSLATE TO translates every dictation into English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Chinese or Korean. It runs on your Mac after cleanup, with a pinned Hy-MT2 model:
- Hy-MT2 1.8B (about 1.1 GB, the default, quick on any supported Mac).
- Hy-MT2 7B (about 4.6 GB, the most accurate, best on Macs with 24 GB of memory or more).
With a Whisper model, Whisper's built-in translation to English is also available, with no extra download. The model downloads only when you choose a target. If it is missing or fails, your dictation goes out untranslated and YappYapp says why.
Two limits to know: translation applies to dictations, not to files transcribed on the FILES tab, and snippet text is translated along with the rest of the dictation.
What else follows your language
- Spoken commands ("new line", "new paragraph", "scratch that") work in English, French ("nouvelle ligne", "nouveau paragraphe", "efface ça"), Spanish ("nueva línea", "nuevo párrafo", "borra eso") and Dutch.
- Numbers (Setup > Dictation > NUMBERS) convert between words and digits in English, French, Spanish and Dutch. On Auto-Detect, the language of each transcript is detected on your Mac first; other languages are left as spoken.
- Filler removal drops "um", "uh" and the French "euh". Words like "este" or "eh" in Spanish are kept on purpose, because they often carry meaning.
- Your WORDS work in every language. Close misses of your saved names are fixed, but everyday words are never rewritten: with "Genial" saved as a company name, "¡qué genial!" stays as you said it.
Tips for mixed speech
Names and English tech terms inside a French or Spanish sentence are where bilingual dictation most often goes wrong. Add those terms to the WORDS tab with the spelling you want, and they are corrected after every transcription. For the most predictable result, keep each dictation mostly in one language and start a new dictation when you switch.
How Apple Dictation compares
Apple Dictation also handles several languages: if you set up more than one, you can switch while you dictate by clicking the language next to the cursor or pressing the Globe key, according to Apple's Dictation guide. The difference is that YappYapp can also pick the language without a click, set it per app, and translate. The full comparison is in YappYapp vs Apple Dictation.
Getting started
Download YappYapp, then follow the setup guide. When the first run asks which languages you speak, choose both of yours, and let DETECT BEST MODELS pick the model.
FAQ
Do I need to switch the language every time I change languages?
Not with Parakeet Ultra or Parakeet TDT v3 on Auto-Detect: they pick the language from what you say. Switch manually only if you use a Whisper model with a fixed language.
Does translation send my text online?
No. Translation runs on your Mac through a bundled local runtime. The model is downloaded once from a pinned source and checked before use.
Which model should a French and English speaker use?
Parakeet Ultra, the default. It covers both languages and detects them itself. If you also speak Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic or Hindi, use Qwen3-ASR for those.