--- title: "Voice translation on a Mac: translate speech, conversations and your own dictation" description: "Three kinds of voice translation on a Mac and the right tool for each: macOS Translate for selected text, Live Translation for calls and messages, and on-device translated dictation into any app with SpeechBee." url: "https://speechbee.app/guides/voice-translation-mac" --- # Voice translation on a Mac "Voice translation" covers three different jobs: understanding someone who speaks another language, holding a conversation across two languages, and writing in a language you do not write well. A Mac can do all three, with different tools. Here is which one fits. By the SpeechBee team, who make SpeechBee. Checked on 24 October 2026. > ### The short version > > - **To understand a text:** select it, Control-click and choose **Translate**. It is built into macOS and can play the translation aloud. > - **To translate calls and messages:** Apple's Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime and Phone, on Macs with Apple Intelligence and supported languages. > - **To write in another language by speaking yours:** SpeechBee, which we make. Hold a key, speak, and the translated text appears at your cursor in any app. On the device, on macOS 26. ## Which kind of voice translation you need | You want to | Use | Where the text ends up | |---|---|---| | Understand a text someone sent you | Translate in the Control-click menu | In a small pop-up, or replacing the text | | Talk with someone across languages | Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime or Phone | On screen or spoken aloud | | Write an email, chat or document in another language | SpeechBee translation | At your cursor, in any app | | Translate a recording or a video | A transcription app with translation | In a file | ## Translate in macOS macOS can translate any text you select. Control-click it, choose **Translate**, pick the languages, and you can play the translation, copy it, or replace your own text with it. It is free and works in most apps. Download languages in System Settings, under General, Language & Region, Translation Languages, to translate on the device. It works on text, not on your voice: to write by speaking you would dictate first, then translate, then replace. ## Live Translation in calls and messages On Macs with Apple Intelligence, macOS 26 and later add Live Translation to Messages, FaceTime and Phone for supported languages and regions: messages are translated as they arrive, and calls get translated captions or spoken translations. Check Apple's page for which languages your Mac supports. ## Write in another language by speaking: SpeechBee **Dictation goes in one language and comes out in another, at the cursor.** - Deutsch: Danke für das Treffen heute, die Unterlagen folgen morgen. → Français: Merci pour la réunion d'aujourd'hui, les documents suivront demain. - Español: Llego diez minutos tarde, empezad sin mí. → Italiano: Arrivo con dieci minuti di ritardo, iniziate senza di me. - English: Let's keep this short and decide on Monday. → Deutsch: Lass uns das kurz halten und am Montag entscheiden. The tools above help you understand. SpeechBee helps you write. It is a dictation app: you hold a key, speak, and the text appears where your cursor is. Turn on translation and that text arrives in another language, in Mail, Slack, Notion, Word, a browser form or anywhere else you can type. 1. In the menu bar, click the SpeechBee icon and choose a language under **Translate To**. 2. Download the language pair when SpeechBee asks. Apple provides it once. 3. Click where you want the text, hold your dictation key, and speak. 4. Let go. The translation is typed in for you. SpeechBee recognises your speech on the Mac, removes filler words, then uses Apple's on-device translation. Nothing goes to a cloud translator, and once a pair is downloaded it works offline. ### The languages 20 languages, in any direction Apple supports: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. Both the language you speak and the one you want must be on this list. It is not limited to English: German to French and Spanish to Italian work too. To dictate in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Turkish or Vietnamese, turn on SpeechBee's optional Whisper model in Settings first (about 600 MB, also on the device). ### What it does not do SpeechBee translates your own dictation into text. It does not translate other people's speech, calls, meetings or audio files, and it does not speak the translation aloud as you go. You can select the translated text and have it read aloud afterwards. Translation needs macOS 26 and an Apple silicon Mac. ## Questions ### Is there a voice translator built into the Mac? macOS translates selected text from the Control-click menu, and Live Translation translates Messages, FaceTime and Phone calls on Macs with Apple Intelligence. Apple Dictation itself types only the language you speak. To get translated text into any app as you speak, you need a dictation app with translation, such as SpeechBee. ### Can I translate speech to text in another language on a Mac? Yes. With SpeechBee you speak in one language and the text appears in another, in any app. It runs on the device on macOS 26 and covers Apple's 20 translation languages. ### Does voice translation work offline on a Mac? macOS can translate selected text offline once you download the languages in System Settings. SpeechBee works offline once the language pair is downloaded, because both speech recognition and translation run on your Mac. ### Can a Mac translate a meeting or a phone call live? Live Translation covers calls and messages in supported Apple apps and languages. SpeechBee does not translate meetings or calls; it translates what you dictate. ## 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) - [Speak English, write the local language](https://speechbee.app/guides/speak-english-write-another-language-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) - [Apple: Live Translation and Apple Intelligence features](https://support.apple.com/en-us/121115) - SpeechBee facts from our [changelog](https://speechbee.app/changelog) and [privacy policy](https://speechbee.app/privacy)