Use Flow with multiple languages
Last updated: July 4, 2026
Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Dictate in 100+ languages and switch between them across sessions. Configure your active languages once in Settings, and Flow detects which one you're speaking at the start of each session.
Note: If Flow is transcribing in a different language than the one you're speaking, see Flow is transcribing in the wrong language. Most cases are fixed by turning off Auto-detect and selecting only the language you're dictating in.
What it is
Multi-language support covers 100+ languages, including regional variants such as British English, Canadian English, Swiss German, and Simplified or Traditional Chinese. Flow detects which language you're speaking at the start of each dictation and transcribes accordingly.
When to use it
Use this feature when you want to:
Dictate in a language other than English
Switch between two or more languages across sessions
Use region-specific spelling (e.g., British English, Canadian English, or Swiss German)
Dictate in a code-switched language like Hinglish
How it works in Flow
Overview
Flow picks a language at the start of each dictation session and transcribes the whole segment in that language. Selecting only the languages you actually use narrows the set Flow chooses from, which improves accuracy. Auto-detect lets Flow choose from all supported languages instead.
Key behaviors
Detection happens per session: Flow picks a language at the start of each session, not per word. If you switch languages mid-sentence, Flow transcribes the entire segment in one language.
Changes apply instantly: Language updates take effect on your next dictation — no restart needed.
Selections sync across devices: Languages you configure on one device sync to your others. On iOS, existing local selections are never overwritten by a sync.
Code-switching has limits: Flow works best when you speak primarily in one language with occasional words from another, rather than alternating sentence by sentence. With Chinese and English together, Flow may transcribe English words in Chinese characters or vice versa.
French typographic spacing: When dictating in French, Flow automatically inserts a narrow space before ; : ? ! and » and after «, matching standard French typography.
Chinese and Japanese spacing: Flow does not insert extra spaces around Chinese or Japanese text, including after full-width punctuation (。！？、).
Language display: Most languages appear with their English name followed by the native name in parentheses (e.g., "Spanish (Español)"). Single-name languages such as English, Hinglish, and Afrikaans show only the English name.
Quick language switching (desktop): The Flow Bar includes a language widget that opens a menu of your selected languages. You can toggle which are active for the current session, use "Enable all" or "Add more" shortcuts, or jump to language settings.
Canadian English discovery prompt (desktop): If your OS region is set to Canada and you're dictating in English, Flow shows a one-time prompt suggesting Canadian English. Tapping Switch adds Canadian English and removes any conflicting English or British English selections.
Language variants and orthography
Some languages have regional variants with different spelling conventions.
German – Swiss: Uses Swiss orthography, replacing ß with "ss" (e.g., "Straße" becomes "Strasse"). Users in Switzerland and Liechtenstein have this selected automatically during onboarding.
English – British: Uses UK spelling conventions (e.g., "colour", "centre"). Selected automatically during onboarding for users in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and (on desktop) Ireland and South Africa. On iOS, Canadian users also get British English.
English – Canadian: Uses Canadian spelling conventions. Available on desktop only. Selected automatically during onboarding for users in Canada on desktop.
Hinglish: A code-switched blend of Hindi and English commonly spoken in India. With Hinglish selected, Hindi speech is romanized into Hinglish and English speech is formatted as normal English. Select this if you naturally mix both languages.
Chinese – Simplified (简体中文): Available as a separate option from Chinese – Traditional. On iOS, Flow pre-fills the variant based on your iOS region (China or Singapore pre-fills Simplified; Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau pre-fills Traditional). On desktop, Malaysia is also treated as Chinese Simplified.
Cantonese (粵語): Supported as a distinct language option, separate from Chinese – Simplified and Chinese – Traditional.
Best practices
Select only languages you actually use. Fewer languages means more accurate detection.
If Flow transcribes in the wrong language, narrow down to just one. Turn off Auto-detect and select only the language you're dictating in. Swap the selection manually when you switch languages.
Avoid Auto-detect if you code-switch frequently. Manually selecting 2–3 languages gives better results than letting Flow choose from 100+.
Choose one variant per language. The following pairs are mutually exclusive — selecting one automatically deselects the other:
Hindi ↔ Hinglish
Chinese – Traditional ↔ Chinese – Simplified
German ↔ German – Swiss
On desktop, English – American, English – British, and English – Canadian are all mutually exclusive. On iOS and Android (which don't offer Canadian English), English – American and English – British are mutually exclusive.
Search the picker by either name. Searching for "hindi" or "romanized" also surfaces Hinglish. On desktop, English, Spanish, and Chinese Simplified appear at the top of the picker as common languages.
How to set your languages
Note: During onboarding, Flow pre-fills your languages from your system settings. If you configured languages on another device, those selections are synced and applied automatically on iOS at sign-in when no local selection exists.
Mac and Windows
Click the Flow icon in your menu bar (Mac) or system tray (Windows), then click Settings.
Go to General → Languages.
Select the languages you speak most frequently, or enable Auto-detect. You must have at least one language selected or Auto-detect on.
Click Save and close. Your changes take effect on your next dictation.
Tip: Auto-detect chooses from all 100+ supported languages. For best accuracy with 2–3 languages, select them manually instead.
Note: When Auto-detect is on, the search field and language grid are disabled. If you toggle Auto-detect back off before closing the dialog, your previously selected languages are restored.
iOS
Tap Settings.
Go to General → Set Language.
Use the search field at the top of the sheet to filter the list, if needed.
Select the languages you speak most frequently, or choose Auto-detect.
Back out of the language screen to close the sheet. Your changes take effect on your next dictation.
Note: On iOS, each tap saves immediately — there is no explicit save step. Removing all languages enables Auto-detect automatically.
Android
Tap Settings.
Tap Languages.
Tap a language in your list to deselect it, or tap Add more to search for and add languages.
Tap Save to confirm. Backing out without tapping Save discards your changes.
Important: Android does not offer Auto-detect. You must select at least one specific language before Save becomes available.
Note: The Android Languages screen has two levels. In Edit Mode, back exits Edit Mode and keeps your in-progress draft. In View Mode, back exits the Languages screen and discards any unsaved changes. Tap Save in View Mode to persist your selection.
Examples
Dictating in English with Auto-detect on
You say: "Send the quarterly report to the team by Friday"
Flow types: Send the quarterly report to the team by Friday
Auto-detect identifies English and transcribes normally.
Switching from English to German between sessions
Session 1 — You say: "Schedule a meeting for tomorrow morning"
Flow types: Schedule a meeting for tomorrow morning
Session 2 — You say: "Bitte den Termin auf nächste Woche verschieben"
Flow types: Bitte den Termin auf nächste Woche verschieben
With both English and German selected, Flow detects the language at the start of each session.
Using Swiss German orthography
You say: "Die Strasse ist gesperrt"
With German – Swiss selected, Flow types: Die Strasse ist gesperrt
With standard German selected, Flow types: Die Straße ist gesperrt
French typographic spacing applied automatically
You say: "Quoi? C'est vrai!"
Flow types: Quoi ? C'est vrai !
Flow inserts a narrow space before ? and ! to match standard French typography.
Switching to Canadian English via the discovery prompt
Scenario: You're in Canada, dictating in English, and see a "Try Canadian English" prompt.
You tap: Switch
Result: Canadian English is added to your language settings, and any previously selected English or British English is removed. Your next dictation session uses Canadian English spelling conventions.
Common issues
Signing in on iOS used device default languages instead of my chosen languages
If you configured your languages on desktop and then signed in on iOS, Flow previously skipped the language setup step but still used the device's default languages for dictation instead of your saved selections. Fixed in the latest version. Update Wispr Flow and sign in — your languages will now be applied automatically and appear in Settings → General → Set Language.
Extra spaces appearing when dictating in Chinese or Japanese
Dictating in Chinese or Japanese could produce unwanted spaces in two situations: after full-width punctuation (。！？、), and at the start of a dictation when the cursor was immediately after a Chinese character, hiragana, or katakana. Both issues are fixed in the latest version. Update Wispr Flow to resolve them.
Pre-fill bugs fixed in recent updates
Several onboarding pre-fill issues were caused by incorrect locale mapping. All were fixed in recent versions. Update Wispr Flow to get the corrected behavior:
Wrong Chinese variant pre-selected on iOS: Onboarding now correctly reads your iOS region to pick Simplified or Traditional.
iOS onboarding language order changed each time: Languages now appear in the same order as your iOS Settings → Language & Region preferences.
Hawaiian or Cantonese not recognized on iOS: Less common languages now map correctly when pre-filling from iOS settings.
Note: After updating, re-run onboarding or manually confirm your selection in Settings → General → Set Language (iOS) or Settings → General → Languages (desktop).
Non-English dictation on iOS pasted raw code instead of text
This was caused by a formatting bug that pasted transcribed text as raw code instead of plain text when dictating in non-English languages such as Dutch. Fixed in the latest version. Update Wispr Flow to resolve it.
The app crashed while browsing the language list
This was caused by duplicate entries appearing in the language list. Fixed in the latest version. Update Wispr Flow to resolve it.
FAQs
Flow is outputting the wrong language — how do I fix it?
Turn off Auto-detect and select only the language you're dictating in. Swap the selection manually when you switch languages. For a full walkthrough with platform-specific instructions, see Flow is transcribing in the wrong language.
Flow transcribes my English words in Chinese characters
Remove Chinese from your language list, or select only English. Chinese and English code-switching is one of the hardest combinations for Flow, so a single-language setup is the most reliable fix.
I speak Hinglish but Flow only transcribes in Hindi or English
Select Hinglish explicitly from the language list, rather than Hindi or English alone. With Hinglish selected, Hindi speech is romanized into Hinglish and English speech is formatted as normal English.
Do languages show country flags in the picker?
No. Country flag emojis were removed because languages don't map cleanly to countries. Most languages appear with their English name followed by the native-language name in parentheses (e.g., "Spanish (Español)"); single-name languages such as English, Hinglish, and Afrikaans show only the English name.
I'm dictating in French and seeing extra spaces before punctuation — is that a bug?
No — this is intentional. Flow applies French typographic spacing, inserting a narrow space before ; : ? ! and » and after «, which is standard in French writing.
Why aren't product names like Scratchpad and Meeting Recorder translated?
Certain product names — including Scratchpad, Meeting Recorder, and Transforms — are kept in English across all languages. This keeps them consistent and easy to reference in support documentation and community discussions.
Will signing in on iOS overwrite my existing language settings?
No. If you already have language selections on iOS, they are never overwritten by a sync from another device. Synced languages are only applied when no local selection exists on the iOS device.
I'm in Canada and saw a "Try Canadian English" notification — what does it do?
This is a one-time prompt that appears on desktop when Flow detects you're in Canada and dictating in English. Tapping Switch adds Canadian English to your language settings and removes any conflicting English or British English selections. If you dismiss the prompt, your settings are unchanged and the prompt won't appear again. You can always add Canadian English manually in Settings → General → Languages.
Limitations and notes
Flow does not support rapid language switching within a single sentence. English paired with Spanish, French, or German performs better than English paired with Chinese or Japanese.
Non-English transcription is not yet as accurate as English.
French typographic spacing does not apply to colons in times (12:30), ratios (1:1), or URLs (https://), and is skipped in code editors and developer tools such as VS Code, Cursor, Xcode, Terminal, and IntelliJ.
Text Styles require English (American or British) as a selected language on iOS. Personalized styles only apply when dictating in English across all platforms.
Broader UI localization has not yet rolled out — most of the Flow interface is still in English regardless of your dictation language.
On iOS, language pre-fill from system settings happens on first launch only — returning to the language screen later does not re-detect.
Language sync from another device applies on iOS at sign-in only when no local language selection already exists on the device.
English – Canadian is available on desktop only. On iOS, Canadian users receive British English during onboarding. On iOS, Ireland and South Africa users do not get British English pre-filled; on desktop they do.
The Canadian English discovery prompt appears on desktop only and is shown at most once per user.
Still need help?
Reach out to support if:
Flow consistently outputs the wrong language even with only one language selected.
You see transcription in a language you never added to your settings.
Language settings don't save after restarting the app.
In the Flow desktop app, click the ? icon, then select Talk to support. Include your platform, your selected languages, and a brief example of what you said versus what Flow transcribed. Most language issues are resolved in one reply.