Sprecho recognises the language of every dictation by itself. You do not switch a mode before you speak German instead of English — you just speak, and the text comes back in the language you used, punctuated according to that language's rules.
This article covers where the language settings live, how switching works in practice, and what to expect from quality across languages.
Where the language settings live
Open Settings → Dictation Languages. The screen has two parts:
- Auto-detect language, on by default.
- Selected languages — the list of languages you speak, with a searchable picker underneath. A dozen popular languages sit at the top under Popular; the rest are under All Languages.
Search matches the name you see, so on a German interface you find German by typing Deutsch, not only German.
Recording the languages you actually speak keeps the app honest about who you are. It is not a switch you have to flip before every dictation.
Switching language mid-session
Nothing to do. Dictate a German paragraph, then dictate an English one right after it, into the same document. Each dictation is handled separately, and each one comes back formatted for the language you spoke.
That also means the sensible unit of switching is one dictation. Speaking half a sentence in German and finishing it in English is the case that produces the weakest result, because there is one answer to give for the whole clip.
If you routinely write in two languages, dictate in whole sentences and let the key go between them. A clean break between languages is worth more than any setting.
What to expect per language
Recognition quality is not uniform, and it helps to know where you are:
| Group | What to expect |
|---|---|
| English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch | Strongest results, including on technical vocabulary |
| Polish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Czech, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish and similar | Very usable; occasional errors on names and abbreviations |
| Less widely spoken languages | Works, but expect more corrections, particularly on proper nouns |
Two things improve every language equally:
- Recordings of at least three seconds. Very short clips give the model less to work with. A full sentence beats two words.
- The personal dictionary. Names, company terms and jargon that are unusual in any language get spelled correctly once you add them — see Teach Sprecho your words with the dictionary.
Interface language is a separate setting
Do not confuse the two:
- Dictation language — what you speak. Handled per dictation.
- Interface language — the language of the Sprecho app itself: menus, buttons, settings. Change it under Settings → System → Interface Language.
You can run a German interface and dictate in English, or the other way round. They are independent.
Accented and non-native speech
Sprecho is trained on a wide range of speakers, so a strong regional accent or speaking a language as a second language is normally fine. What hurts more than accent is background noise and a distant microphone — see Choose the right microphone.