Use Flow with multiple languages

Last updated: May 22, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android

Dictate in 100+ languages and switch between them across sessions. Configure your languages once in Settings, and Flow detects which one you're speaking at the start of each session — including regional variants like British English or Swiss German.

Hitting the wrong language in your output? If Flow is transcribing your speech in a different language than the one you're speaking, see the dedicated guide: 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.

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 or Swiss German)

  • Dictate in a code-switched language like Hinglish

How it works in Flow

Overview

Flow detects which language you're speaking at the start of each dictation session and transcribes accordingly. Selecting only the languages you actually use narrows the set Flow chooses from, which improves accuracy. You can also enable Auto-detect to let Flow choose from all supported languages.

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: When you update your languages in Settings, they take effect at your next dictation session — no restart needed.

  • 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. This applies only when French is in your selected language list.

  • Language display: Languages appear with their English name followed by their native-language name in parentheses (e.g., "Spanish (Español)"). On iOS, Auto-detect appears as a language entry with a 🔍 icon. On desktop, Auto-detect is a toggle at the top of the language dialog and shows a globe icon with "100+ languages" when enabled.

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"). Standard German users keep ß. Users in Switzerland and Liechtenstein have this selected automatically during onboarding based on system locale.

  • English - British: Uses UK spelling conventions (e.g., "colour", "centre"). Selected automatically during onboarding for users in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and (on desktop) Ireland and South Africa. Text Styles are fully supported.

  • 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). If no region is detected, Flow defaults to Simplified. 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 is transcribing in the wrong language, narrow down to just one. When you're hitting the wrong-language problem, the most reliable fix is to turn off Auto-detect and select only the single 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 guess from 100+.

  • Choose one variant per language. The following pairs are mutually exclusive — selecting one automatically deselects the other:

    • English - American ↔ English - British

    • Hindi ↔ Hinglish

    • Chinese - Traditional ↔ Chinese - Simplified

    • German ↔ German - Swiss

  • Search the picker by either name. Searching for "hindi" 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. On desktop, your system language is selected by default; if detection fails, Flow defaults to English.

Mac and Windows

  1. Click the Flow icon in your menu bar (Mac) or system tray (Windows), then click Settings.

  2. Go to General → Languages.

  3. Select the languages you speak most frequently, or enable Auto-detect.

  4. Click Save and close. Your changes take effect on your next dictation.

Note: If you try to save with no languages selected and Auto-detect off, you'll see an error: "Please select at least one language or turn on auto-detect."

Tip: Auto-detect chooses from all 100+ supported languages. For best accuracy with 2–3 languages, select them manually instead.

iOS

  1. Tap Settings.

  2. Go to General → Set Language.

  3. Select the languages you speak most frequently, or choose Auto-detect.

  4. 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

  1. Tap Settings.

  2. Tap Languages.

  3. Tap a language already in your list to deselect it, or tap Add more to search for and add languages.

  4. 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.

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.

Common issues

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 the latest version 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 (e.g., {"content":"..."}) 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 during data syncing. Fixed in the latest version. Update Wispr Flow to resolve it.

FAQs

Flow is outputting the wrong language — how do I fix it?

The fastest fix is to turn off Auto-detect and select only the language you're dictating in. Swap the selection manually when you switch languages. For a step-by-step walkthrough with platform-specific instructions and common scenarios (English→Chinese, Spanish→Italian, Hinglish, etc.), 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.

Auto-detect keeps picking the wrong language

Turn off Auto-detect and manually select only your 2–3 most-used languages, or just the single language you're dictating in right now. A narrower set gives Flow more accurate detection.

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 from the language picker because languages don't map cleanly to countries. Languages now appear with their English name followed by the native-language name in parentheses (e.g., "Spanish (Español)"). Auto-detect on iOS appears with a 🔍 icon; on desktop it's a toggle showing "100+ languages" when enabled.

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 are some product names like Scratchpad and Meeting Recorder not translated in my language?

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.

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.

  • Some product names — including Scratchpad, Meeting Recorder, and Transforms — are kept in English and are not translated, regardless of your app language setting. Broader UI localization has not yet rolled out.

  • On iOS, language pre-fill from system settings happens on first launch only — returning to the language screen later does not re-detect.

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.