--- title: "Speak English, write German, French or Spanish: dictation for life abroad on a Mac" description: "Living or working where English is not the local language? Dictate in English and get German, French, Spanish, Italian or 16 other languages in any Mac app, translated on the device. Needs macOS 26." url: "https://speechbee.app/guides/speak-english-write-another-language-mac" --- # Speak English, write the local language The landlord writes in German. The school sends notes in French. Your new colleagues reply in Spanish. Your spoken German might get you through the bakery, but writing a proper email to the tax office is another thing. Here is how to say it in English and send it in theirs. By the SpeechBee team, who make SpeechBee. Checked on 24 October 2026. > ### The short version > > - **Free:** write in English, paste into a translator, copy the result back. Fine once a week. > - **In one step:** SpeechBee, which we make, translates what you say on your Mac and types it in the language you picked, in Mail, WhatsApp on the web, a landlord's contact form or a school portal. > - **What you need:** an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 26. The local language has to be one of the 20 Apple's on-device translation covers. ## The languages that work German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), plus English. Any two of them work together. If you moved to Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Greece or Czechia, Apple's on-device translation does not cover the local language yet, and SpeechBee cannot translate into it. It also works without English: speak German and get French, or speak Spanish and get Italian, if that is the life you live. ## How it looks **You talk the way you think; the message goes out in their language.** - English: Hi, the heating in our flat stopped working last night. Could someone come by this week? → Deutsch: Hallo, die Heizung in unserer Wohnung funktioniert seit gestern Abend nicht mehr. Könnte diese Woche jemand vorbeikommen? - English: My daughter is sick today and will stay home. → Français: Ma fille est malade aujourd'hui et restera à la maison. - Deutsch: Können wir den Termin auf Donnerstag verschieben? → Français: Pouvons-nous déplacer le rendez-vous à jeudi ? ## Set it up once 1. Click the SpeechBee icon in the menu bar and choose the local language under **Translate To**. 2. Download the language pair when SpeechBee asks. Apple provides it, and macOS keeps it. 3. Click into the email or form, hold your dictation key and say what you need in English. 4. Let go. The text appears in the local language at your cursor. When you want to write in English again, set Translate To back to Off. In the current Mac version you can also point at the dictation bar while you speak to switch the language for one dictation, which helps if you write to your family in one language and to the office in another. ## Write messages that land well - **Say whole sentences.** "Could someone come by this week to look at the heating?" translates better than "heating broken, come this week". - **Mind formal and informal.** Many languages have a polite "you" (Sie, vous, usted). Translation picks one from context. For official letters, check that it chose the polite form, or say it more formally in English. - **Keep names and reference numbers exact.** Add your street, your landlord's name or your customer number to SpeechBee's dictionary so they come through unchanged. - **Listen before you send.** Select the text and have SpeechBee read it aloud. Hearing it is a good check that the message says what you meant. ## Where it stops SpeechBee writes for you; it does not listen for you. It will not translate a phone call, a doctor's explanation or a parents' evening. For calls and messages, Apple's Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime and Phone is the tool to look at, where your Mac and language support it. See [voice translation on a Mac](https://speechbee.app/guides/voice-translation-mac). For anything legally binding, a lease or a contract, ask a person who speaks the language to check it. ## Private by default SpeechBee recognises your speech and translates it on your Mac. Your audio is never uploaded, and the text is not sent to a translation service. Letters to a doctor, a bank or a school stay between you and the person you send them to. ## Questions ### Can I speak English and type German on a Mac? Yes. In SpeechBee choose German under Translate To, speak English, and German text appears at your cursor in any app. It needs macOS 26 and a one-time language download from Apple. ### Which local languages are supported? The 20 languages of Apple's on-device translation: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek and Czech are not among them. ### Can I translate between two languages that are not English? Yes. Any supported pair works, for example German to French or Spanish to Italian. ### Does it work offline? Yes, once the language pair is downloaded. Both the speech recognition and the translation run on your Mac. ### Does it translate what other people say to me? No. SpeechBee translates your own dictation into text. For conversations, look at Apple's Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime and Phone. ## Keep reading - [Translate while you dictate on a Mac](https://speechbee.app/guides/translate-while-dictating-mac) - [Speak your language, write in English](https://speechbee.app/guides/speak-your-language-write-english-mac) - [Voice translation on a Mac](https://speechbee.app/guides/voice-translation-mac) - [Dictate in several languages on a Mac](https://speechbee.app/guides/multilingual-dictation-mac) ## More on dictation - [Every dictation guide and comparison](https://speechbee.app/guides/voice-typing-mac) - [What is dictation?](https://speechbee.app/guides/what-is-dictation) - [Dictation for clinicians](https://speechbee.app/guides/dictation-for-doctors) - [Turn off dictation on Mac](https://speechbee.app/guides/turn-off-dictation-mac) - [Voice texts on iPhone](https://speechbee.app/guides/voice-text-message-iphone) - [Dictate notes](https://speechbee.app/guides/dictate-notes-mac) - [Every read-aloud guide and comparison](https://speechbee.app/guides/read-text-aloud) ## Sources - [Apple: Translate text on Mac](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchldd8b3c15/mac) - SpeechBee facts from our [changelog](https://speechbee.app/changelog) and [privacy policy](https://speechbee.app/privacy)