In short
Apple's on-device transcriber on macOS 26 lists Chinese for China mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Cantonese for China mainland. To use one in Notey, make that language your Mac's primary language in System Settings › General › Language & Region, restart Notey, and test with a short recording first.
Apple's on-device transcriber in macOS 26 lists four Chinese locales: Chinese for China mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Cantonese for China mainland. That is what macOS 26.6 reported to apps when we asked on 25 September 2026. To transcribe a meeting in one of them with Notey, make that language your Mac's primary language, restart Notey, and record. Because there are several variants and two scripts, make a short test recording first and check you get the language and characters you expect.
This guide covers the variants, the steps, what to check, and the limits, including that Notey's improvement after a meeting is for English only.
Set your Mac up to transcribe Chinese
- Open System Settings › General › Language & Region.
- Add the language. Under Preferred Languages, click + and choose the Chinese or Cantonese entry you need. macOS lists simplified and traditional forms separately. Click Add.
- Make it the primary language. Accept when macOS asks, or drag it to the top of the list.
- Restart if macOS asks.
- Quit Notey and open it again.
- Download the model while online. The first time the Mac transcribes this language, macOS fetches the speech model from Apple. Record a short test with a connection.
- Check the test transcript: is it the spoken language you used, in the characters you expect? If not, try a different language entry in step 2 and test again.
Menus and apps across the Mac follow the primary language too. To go back, move your usual language to the top and restart Notey.
The Chinese variants Apple lists
| Language | Variant (as macOS reports it) | Locale |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese | China mainland | zh-CN |
| Chinese | Hong Kong | zh-HK |
| Chinese | Taiwan | zh-TW |
| Cantonese | China mainland | yue-CN |
Apple's list names languages and regions; it does not say which spoken variety each regional model expects beyond "Chinese" and "Cantonese". Which languages a Mac can transcribe has the full list for all ten languages.
Test before you rely on it. Notey transcribes in the Mac's language, and we have not confirmed which combination of Mac language and region selects each of these four variants, especially Cantonese. The one-minute test in step 7 answers it for your Mac.
What to expect from a Chinese transcript
- Homophones. Many characters share a sound. The recogniser chooses from context; in short or unclear phrases it may choose wrongly.
- Names. Personal and company names are the most common errors, as in every language, and with Chinese names the same sound can be written with different characters.
- English terms. Meetings often mix in English words and brand names. Some come through; others become characters that sound similar.
- Numbers. Amounts using 万 and 亿 can be written as digits or characters. Check figures against the recording.
- Punctuation. Added by the recogniser from pauses and intonation; treat it as a guide.
- Other Chinese languages. Hokkien, Shanghainese, Hakka and others were not on Apple's list in September 2026. Speech in them will not be transcribed correctly.
A close microphone, headphones and one person speaking at a time help most. Why meeting transcripts get names and numbers wrong explains the general patterns.
The live transcript is final
After an English meeting, Notey reads the recording again on your Mac and keeps the words the recognisers agree on. That step is English only. A Chinese meeting keeps its live transcript. Correct names and figures soon after the meeting, and play any doubtful line from its timestamp.
Mixed-language meetings
Meetings that switch between Mandarin and English, or Cantonese and English, or Mandarin and Cantonese, are hard for any transcriber. The Mac's on-device transcriber listens for one language per meeting. Choose the one the important discussion is in. Transcribing a meeting held in two languages covers the options.
Live captions in Chinese
macOS Live Captions has its own list. Apple's feature availability page listed Mandarin Chinese (China mainland, Taiwan) and Cantonese (China mainland, Hong Kong) when we checked in September 2026. Live captions for meetings on a Mac compares the options for captions on screen.
Before you record
Recording a meeting to transcribe it means the people in it should know, and the rules differ between places. Tell everyone at the start. How to ask for consent to record has wording you can adapt.
Switching languages between meetings
If you meet in Mandarin, Cantonese and English in the same week, keep each language you need in Preferred Languages and change the order.
- Before the meeting, open System Settings › General › Language & Region and drag the language you need to the top.
- Quit and reopen Notey.
- Afterwards, drag your usual language back to the top and restart Notey.
Do it between meetings, not during one. A meeting keeps the language it was transcribed in, and changing the Mac's language afterwards does not re-transcribe it.
A quick check after a Chinese meeting
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| Names | Same-sounding characters; correct them by hand |
| Figures with 万 and 亿 | A slip changes an amount by a factor of ten thousand |
| English product and company names | May come out as similar-sounding characters |
| The script | Simplified or traditional, depending on the variant |
| Dates and times | Deadlines said quickly are easy to mishear; check any date you will act on |
| Short confirmations | "对", "好", "可以" may be dropped or merged; check commitments at their timestamp |
Notey and Chinese
- Transcribed on your Mac, live. Audio never leaves the Mac; recording and transcription need no account and no network.
- Your side and theirs come from two separate tracks, your microphone and what your Mac plays, in any language.
- The Mac's language decides the transcript's language. Set it before the meeting and test once.
- No after-meeting improvement for Chinese.
- Recording works in any language. If the Mac cannot transcribe a language, the audio is still recorded and kept on your Mac.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Mac transcribe Mandarin on the device?
Yes. Apple's on-device transcriber listed Chinese for China mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan on macOS 26.6 in September 2026. The model is downloaded once and then works offline.
Can a Mac transcribe Cantonese?
Apple's on-device transcriber listed Cantonese (China mainland) on macOS 26.6. Make a short test recording with your Mac's settings before relying on it for a meeting.
Will the transcript be in simplified or traditional characters?
That follows the variant the recogniser uses, which follows the Mac's language settings. Check a test recording; if the script is not what you want, change the language setting and try again.
Does Notey improve Chinese transcripts after the meeting?
No. The after-meeting pass is English only. A Chinese meeting keeps its live transcript.
What about Hokkien, Shanghainese or other Chinese languages?
Apple's list did not include them in September 2026. Recording works in any language, but the Mac will not transcribe those.
Can I switch between Mandarin, Cantonese and English meetings?
Yes. Keep the languages in Preferred Languages, drag the one you need to the top before a meeting, and restart Notey. Test each once, and switch between meetings, not during one.
Can I transcribe a Chinese meeting offline?
Record a short test in that language while online, a day or so before. macOS downloads the speech model for the language the first time it is used, and after that transcription works with no connection, on a train or a plane.