In short
On-device transcription on a Mac works in one language per meeting. Speech in another language comes out as the nearest-sounding words in the chosen one, or is missed. Choose the language most of the meeting is in, and set the Mac's language before the meeting, not after.
On a Mac, on-device transcription works in one language per meeting. The recogniser listens for that language only. Speech in any other language comes out as the nearest-sounding words in the chosen one, as fragments, or not at all. So for a meeting held in two languages, choose the language that most of the meeting (or the part you need) is in, set it before the meeting starts, and plan for the other language separately.
This guide explains why a transcript handles one language at a time, practical choices for bilingual meetings, and how to fix the most common version of the problem: a transcript that came out in the wrong language.
Set up a meeting in two languages
- Decide which language matters most. Usually the one decisions are made in, or the one you need to quote.
- Check the Mac can transcribe it. Apple's on-device transcriber covers ten languages; which languages a Mac can transcribe lists them.
- Set the Mac's language to it. Open System Settings › General › Language & Region and put that language at the top of Preferred Languages.
- Restart the notetaker. In Notey, quit and reopen it so it picks up the new language.
- Record a short test in that language, and check the transcript looks right.
- Keep notes of the other language's parts by hand, or record them separately if they matter.
- Set the Mac's language back afterwards, if you changed it only for this meeting.
Why one language at a time
A speech recogniser is built around one language: its sounds, its words, how its words follow each other. When it hears speech it does not expect, it does what it always does and finds the most likely words in its own language. A Spanish sentence heard by an English recogniser becomes a string of English words that sound roughly similar and mean nothing.
Some cloud transcription services detect the language as they go, and some handle a switch between two languages in one recording. Even they find it hard when people switch within a sentence, which in many bilingual workplaces is the norm. On the Mac, Apple's on-device transcriber is given one language when it starts, and apps that use it, Notey included, choose that language up front.
What happens to the other language
| What was said | What the transcript usually shows |
|---|---|
| A whole section in the other language | Nonsense words in the chosen language, or gaps |
| A few words or a name from the other language | The nearest-sounding words, or the right word if it is common in both |
| A switch mid-sentence | Errors around the switch |
| Short phrases like "OK", "sí", "danke" | Often dropped or misheard |
Names and borrowed words sometimes survive, because they appear in both languages. Numbers often do not.
Practical choices
Choose the main language. If 80% of the meeting is in English and the greetings are in German, set English. The transcript will be good where it matters.
Split the meeting. If the meeting has two parts, one in each language, record them as two meetings and change the Mac's language between them. That is clumsy mid-meeting; it works for a planned break.
Keep your own notes for the other language. A few lines on what was decided in the other language are often enough.
Ask for one working language. For meetings where a record matters, some teams agree to hold the decision part in one language.
Use a cloud service when the language mix matters more than where the audio goes. If you need both languages transcribed from one recording, a cloud service with language detection may do better. The audio then leaves your computer, which is a trade you should make knowingly.
When the transcript is in the wrong language
The most common multilingual problem is not a bilingual meeting at all. It is a meeting held in one language, transcribed as another, because the transcriber was set to the wrong one. It shows up as a transcript full of real words that make no sense.
In Notey, the transcription language is the Mac's language. There is no language picker per meeting. So:
- Open System Settings › General › Language & Region.
- Under Preferred Languages, check which language is at the top. That is the Mac's language.
- Add or move the language you meet in to the top. macOS asks whether to use it as the primary language; accept.
- Quit Notey and open it again.
- Record the next meeting. It will be transcribed in the new language.
Changing the primary language also changes the language of menus and apps across your Mac. There is no way to change only the transcription language in Notey today.
A meeting already transcribed in the wrong language stays that way: Notey does not re-transcribe it in another language. If nothing appears at all, the language may not be supported or its speech model may not be downloaded yet; speech recognition not working on a Mac covers what to check.
Languages and captions
The same limit applies to live captions. macOS Live Captions, call apps' captions and notetakers each support their own set of languages, one at a time in most cases. Live captions for meetings on a Mac compares them.
Guides for specific languages
- Transcribing a meeting in French on a Mac
- Transcribing a meeting in Spanish on a Mac
- Transcribing a meeting in German on a Mac
- Transcribing a meeting in Japanese on a Mac
- Transcribing a meeting in Mandarin or Cantonese on a Mac
Notey and languages, in short
- Live transcription on your Mac in the languages Apple's on-device recogniser supports.
- One language per meeting: the Mac's language. Change it in System Settings › General › Language & Region and restart Notey.
- The after-meeting better transcript is English only. Meetings in other languages keep their live transcript, so it is the final one.
- Recording works in any language. Even when transcription cannot, the audio is recorded and kept on your Mac.
Frequently asked questions
Can a transcript handle two languages in one meeting?
On a Mac's on-device transcriber, no - it listens for one language at a time. Some cloud services detect languages as they go. With one language set, speech in the other comes out as nonsense words in the chosen language or is dropped.
Why is my meeting transcript in the wrong language?
The transcriber used the language it was set to, not the one spoken. In Notey that is the Mac's language. Change it in System Settings › General › Language & Region, restart Notey, and the next meeting uses the new language.
Can I re-transcribe a meeting in a different language afterwards?
Not in Notey today. A meeting is transcribed in the Mac's language at the time. The after-meeting improvement is for English meetings only and does not change the language.
What if people switch languages mid-sentence?
Automatic transcription struggles with that, even in tools that detect languages. Expect gaps and wrong words around each switch, and keep your own notes of what matters.
Which language should I choose for a bilingual meeting?
The one most of the important speech is in, or the one you need a transcript of. If the decisions are made in English and the small talk is in Spanish, choose English.