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Voice typing in Google Translate

Translate has voice input, and it is built for phrases rather than paragraphs. Typally types what you say straight into Google Translate — hold a key, talk, let go — so you can dictate anywhere Google Translate lets you type.

Disclosure: Typally is our product. We have tried to describe what Google Translate already does without talking you out of using it.
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In short

  • Google Translate's own dictation: Voice input and conversation mode, designed for short spoken exchanges.
  • What Typally does instead: types into the focused window, so it works in Google Translate and everywhere else you write.
  • Best used for: composing the source text to be translated

Does Google Translate have built-in dictation?

Voice input and conversation mode, designed for short spoken exchanges. It transcribes and translates in one step.

Why dictate in Google Translate at all?

Its voice mode is optimised for travel-sized utterances. Translating a long email or a document means composing a paragraph in your own language first, and that composition is where the typing happens.

In practice people use it for: Composing the source text to be translated, long messages to international contacts, and drafting in a second language.

How to dictate in Google Translate

You do not configure anything in Google Translate. The hotkey works wherever your cursor happens to be:

1

Get Typally running

Install, sign in, and it waits in the tray.

2

Open Google Translate and click where you want the text

Text goes wherever Google Translate has focus. One click first saves undoing a paragraph in the wrong box.

3

Speak with the key held down

Push to talk, say your piece, release to transcribe.

4

Read it before you move on

Translate's own voice input transcribes and translates together, so you never see the source text. Dictating into the box separately lets you check what you actually said first.

What Typally adds in Google Translate

Typally lets you compose and check the source text before translating, which Translate's own voice mode skips entirely — it transcribes and translates in one step, so a mishearing becomes a mistranslation you never see. Speak into the box, read it, then translate. Whisper-based transcription also detects which language you are speaking.

What this looks like in practice

Someone writing to a supplier abroad speaks the full message in their own language, corrects two words, and only then translates. The supplier stops replying with clarifying questions caused by a mistranscribed phrase.

One habit that makes it work better

Dictate the full source text in your strongest language, read it, then translate. Translating a well-formed paragraph beats translating a fragment you typed under time pressure.

What to watch out for in Google Translate

Translate's own voice input transcribes and translates together, so you never see the source text. Dictating into the box separately lets you check what you actually said first.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google Translate have voice input?

Yes, aimed at short spoken phrases and conversations rather than long text.

Why dictate into the box instead of using voice mode?

Because you can read and fix the source text before translating. Voice mode translates whatever it heard, mistakes included.

Can I dictate in a language other than English?

Whisper-based transcription supports many languages and Typally detects which one you are speaking.

Try it in Google Translate

Free plan: 100 minutes of dictation a month, no card. Pro is $7.99/month if you want more.

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Also dictate in: ChatGPT · Skype · Gmail · Poe · see all apps