Chinese and English voice typing on Mac, mixed in one sentence.
"Let's align on the scope of this PRD, and sync the roadmap in Notion with design." Plenty of people talk this way, switching between Chinese and English inside one sentence, while most voice typing defaults to one language at a time.
Short answer:Yes, with no language to pick first: hold Right Option, say Chinese and English in one breath, release. Local typography then adds spaces between Chinese and English and fixes brand-name capitalization. It fits Chinese with English terms best; test long English passages with your own accent first. The free plan works.
Where voice typing usually breaks
Apple Dictation needs each language you use added to its Languages list, and while mixing you have to click the language indicator next to the cursor or press the Globe key to switch. Doing that while you are still working out what to say interrupts the flow. Details are in Apple's "Use Dictation on Mac" guide, summarized in our dictation checklist.
How it works in VoiceInput
Put the cursor where the text should go, hold Right Option, say the whole thing in Chinese and English, and release. You do not choose a language first.
After recognition a local typography pass adds half-width spaces between Chinese and English or digits, fixes the case of common brand names such as GitHub and Claude, and tidies full-width and half-width characters and punctuation. It runs on your Mac and calls no API.
If a person's name or product name keeps being misheard, add it to My Words in Settings. Local recognition and AI Tidy will then use your spelling.
Who runs into this
- Product, operations and design people at multinational or overseas-facing teams.
- Engineers writing docs and review comments full of API, token and endpoint.
- Researchers and investors who read English sources, take notes in Chinese, and quote terms in the original.
When you want English output
The default Tidy style does not translate: the output is in the language you spoke. AI Tidy also offers Translate and Bilingual styles, the first outputting the target language and the second laying out the original and translation paragraph by paragraph. Both need an AI connection set up first, and suit English emails and talking with overseas colleagues.
Limits to know
- Chinese with English words and short phrases mixed in is the main case. For long stretches of pure English, try a few sentences with your own accent on both engines before you commit.
- Cloud engines send audio to the cloud. To keep it on your Mac, use a local engine; see offline dictation on Mac.
- The free plan includes 60 minutes of cloud recognition a month and 50 AI Tidy uses a day.
FAQ
Do I have to switch languages when I mix Chinese and English?
Not in VoiceInput. Hold the hotkey and say the whole sentence, Chinese with English terms mixed in. Apple Dictation needs both languages added to its list, and you switch with the language indicator next to the cursor or the Globe key.
Are spaces between Chinese and English added automatically?
Yes. After recognition, local typography rules add half-width spaces between Chinese text and English or numbers, and correct the case of common brand names such as GitHub and Claude.
Can it turn my spoken Chinese into English?
AI Tidy also has Translate and Bilingual output styles, and they need an AI connection set up first. The default Tidy style does not translate: the output stays in the language you spoke.