The best voice dictation apps for non-English languages

The short answer: for dictation in Spanish, Bangla, Hindi, Arabic, French, or almost any language that isn't English, Lipo is the strongest option. Lipo runs on Mac. Wispr Flow, Willow Voice and Aqua Voice are all fast and clean in English. The difference shows up outside it: Lipo is the only one of the four that documents writing the English words inside your sentence in your own script, and the only one that translates into any language rather than into English only. Apple's free built-in dictation is still worth trying first. If your recordings must stay on your computer, look at an app like superwhisper, which runs Whisper on your own computer. Whisper is a free model made by OpenAI that turns speech into text, and many apps use it. Test it yourself before you decide.

Here is why this question needs a guide. If you dictate in English, you have many good options. Almost every dictation app works well with an American accent and everyday words. If you switch to another language, the results get much worse. Names are written wrong. Grammar breaks. The app quietly "corrects" your sentence into something you never said. Each tool below is genuinely good at something, and we will say clearly what each one does well. If you are not sure whether you want dictation, voice typing or a transcription service, start with the difference between voice typing, dictation and speech to text.

What actually matters in a non-English dictation app

A language appearing in an app's list of supported languages tells you very little. Many tools list sixty languages, but listing a language is not the same as working well in it. Before you pay for anything, judge it on five things:

• Accuracy in your language, not the demo language. Test it with real names, place names, and the way you really speak, with your own accent.
• What happens after transcription. When people talk, they often start a sentence, stop, and begin again, or say a word and then change it. A good tool removes those mistakes in your language. A basic tool gives you a raw transcript, which is exactly what you said, including every "um", pause and mistake, and you must fix it by hand. That removes most of the benefit of dictating.
• Speed. If you must wait ten seconds after every sentence, you will stop using the tool within a week.
• Translation. Many people who dictate in one language need to send the text in another. Almost every tool on this list fails at this.
• Privacy. Know where your recordings are sent and how long they are stored.

How the Mac dictation apps compare

Here is how we made this list. We dictated the same paragraphs through Lipo, Wispr Flow, Willow Voice, and Aqua Voice, first in English and then in Bangla and Spanish. We did not test the last three tools directly against Lipo. What we say about them comes from their own documentation and from what is known about the Whisper models they use. Check those tools yourself before you pay for one.

1. Lipo: built for non-English dictation first

Lipo exists because we kept finding the same problem: dictation apps that were excellent in English but weak in every other language. So we built Lipo with other languages as the first priority. Spanish, Bangla, Hindi, Arabic, French, and the rest of our 50+ languages are the main goal, not a small extra.

What that means in daily use:

• Cleanup that understands your language. Cleanup is a second step that removes filler words (like "um" and "uh"), adds punctuation and fixes grammar. If you say the wrong word and then say the right one, Lipo keeps only the right one. You get clean text, not a raw transcript, and this works in your language, not only in English.
• Translation as part of dictation. You can speak in Bangla and Lipo writes the email in English. Cleanup and translation happen together, so the text reads like something you wrote yourself. As of September 2026, none of the other tools on this list can do this properly. That is exactly why we built it.
• Realtime speed. Realtime means the words appear while you are still speaking. Lipo transcribes while you talk, so the text is ready almost as soon as you stop.
• A dictionary for your names. Teach it the people, products, and places you mention, and Lipo spells them correctly the next time you say them.

Lipo pastes the text where you are writing, in any app, and it keeps your history and recordings on your own computer. It also does a few things that the other tools do not try to do. You can take a screenshot while you are still dictating, and Lipo attaches it to what you are saying. You can bring back an earlier image or copied text from your history. You can crop a screenshot and draw on it before you send it. And with Visual Brief, you record your screen and explain a change out loud, and Lipo writes a clear, organized prompt for your AI coding tool.

Every plan includes all 50+ languages, translation and Visual Brief. Every new account starts with a free 7-day trial, no credit card needed. Plans and prices are on the pricing page.

2. Wispr Flow: polished, strongest in English

Wispr Flow is a well-made product with many fans, and for many people it was the first dictation app that felt modern. It built its reputation on English writing, and English is still where it is strongest. If you write mostly in English and only sometimes in another language, it may work well for you.

If your daily writing is in Bangla, Hindi, Arabic, or Spanish, test it with your own speech before you subscribe. Also note that it is not designed to translate your speech into another language.

3. Willow Voice: quick English dictation with a dictionary that learns

Willow is fast, and its English output is clean. It removes filler words, fixes punctuation, and its dictionary learns names and product terms as you keep using them. It has an offline mode, and the company advertises SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance, two security certifications that matter if your company requires them. Its marketing claims over 100 languages.

As of September 2026, it does not translate. If you speak Bangla, you get Bangla text. That is fine for your own notes, but it does not help when you need the email in English.

4. Aqua Voice: realtime dictation built around AI prompts

Aqua writes text while you talk and keeps improving it as you speak. This suits long AI prompts, which is its main purpose. It has a custom dictionary and an adjustable writing style, and it says it understands 49 languages, so its language coverage is similar to ours. There is a free plan limited to 1,000 words a month, with paid plans above it. As of September 2026, its word-by-word Realtime Mode is only included in the most expensive plan.

Aqua also does not translate. The question with Aqua is not how many languages appear on its list. The question is what you get when you dictate a paragraph in Hindi and need to send it in English.

The three tools above are the ones Lipo is usually compared with. The next three come up in almost every online discussion about dictation, so here is what they are and who they suit. Everything in this section comes from their own documentation.

5. Apple's built-in dictation: free, but no cleanup

Start here if you have never dictated before, because it is free and already on your Mac. For most of its languages it runs on-device, which means it processes your speech on your own computer and sends nothing over the internet, which is good for privacy. Twelve of its languages are not on that list, Hindi included, and those do send your voice to Apple. For short English notes it works well.

Its limits appear quickly in other languages. You get a raw transcript with no cleanup, so every "umm" and every unfinished sentence appears in your document. Whether you also have to say the punctuation depends on the language. Apple adds it for you in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Chinese, but not in Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Vietnamese, Polish or Greek. In those you say each mark: "I will call you tomorrow comma after lunch full stop" to get "I will call you tomorrow, after lunch." Accuracy varies a lot between languages, and there is no translation at all. It is fine for quick notes, but frustrating for real writing.

6. superwhisper: local models for offline transcription

superwhisper runs Whisper models on your own computer, so no audio is sent over the internet. Whisper covers many languages, and this setup gives strong privacy. If you must have offline processing, superwhisper is worth serious consideration.

This approach has some costs. The output is closer to a raw transcript than to finished writing, so you usually need to fix non-English text by hand. Whisper's built-in translation goes in one direction only, into English. And the quality of the models depends on your hardware. The larger, more accurate models need a recent, powerful computer.

7. MacWhisper: a tool for recordings, not live dictation

MacWhisper is a tool for transcribing recordings, not a dictation tool. It is at its best when you give it an audio file (a meeting, a lecture, a voice memo) and want a text version. It uses the same Whisper models, so it covers many languages.

It is not designed for dictating all day into whatever app you are working in, and you still need to fix the transcript by hand afterward.

How to test any of these in ten minutes

1. Dictate a real paragraph that you would really send, in your language, at your normal speaking speed.
2. Include two or three proper names: people, places, your company.
3. Correct yourself once in the middle of a sentence, the way you naturally do.
4. Count the edits you need before you could send it. That number is the only measure that matters.

The tool that leaves you with the fewest edits in your language wins. Run the test on Apple's dictation first, since it is already on your Mac, then on any tool you are thinking of paying for, including Lipo's free trial. Ten minutes with each tool tells you more than any list of features.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best dictation app for languages other than English?

It depends on which language you speak and what you need the text for. Lipo was built specifically for non-English dictation, with AI cleanup and translation across 50+ languages, and it offers a 7-day free trial so you can test it with your own voice. Apple's built-in dictation is a free starting point, and Whisper-based apps like superwhisper suit people who need offline processing. The right answer is whichever tool needs the fewest edits in your language.

Can Apple's built-in Mac dictation translate what I say?

No. Apple's dictation transcribes your speech in the language you selected, but it has no translation feature. If you want to speak one language and write in another, you need a tool with translation built into the dictation itself, such as Lipo, which translates into any of its 50+ supported languages.

Which Mac dictation apps can translate while you dictate?

As of September 2026, very few. Lipo translates between any two of its 50+ languages as part of the same dictation, so you speak Bangla and Lipo pastes English text where you are writing. Wispr Flow, Willow Voice, and Aqua Voice do not advertise translation, Apple's built-in dictation has none, and Whisper-based apps such as superwhisper and MacWhisper translate in one direction only, into English.

Do dictation apps work if I have an accent?

Quality varies a lot. Most speech models are trained mostly on standard accents, so cheap transcription often fails with regional accents and non-native English. The only reliable way to know is to test with your own voice: dictate a real paragraph with names and natural corrections, and count the edits you need afterward.

Which dictation app supports the most languages?

The number of languages is misleading, because a language being on the list does not mean the results are usable. Whisper-based tools list around a hundred languages with very uneven accuracy. Lipo supports 50+ languages and treats non-English accuracy, cleanup, and translation as the main goal, not a small extra. Judge any tool by how it handles your language, not by the length of its list.

Is voice dictation private?

It depends on the app. Local Whisper apps never send audio anywhere. Apple's dictation is on-device for many languages but not all, and several languages this article is about, Hindi among them, are not on Apple's on-device list. Lipo keeps your history and recordings on your own computer, sends only what is needed for each request to the companies that process it for us, and never sells your content or uses it to train AI models. Whatever you choose, read how the app handles recordings before you dictate sensitive material.