# Multilingual workflows. Dimmy Help.

> Multilingual workflows. Step-by-step help for Dimmy, the native voice dictation app for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Source: https://dimmy.app/help/use-multilingual/

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Use Cases

# Multilingual workflows

Switch languages mid-dictation. Translate as you speak. Use auto-detect when you really alternate, pinned when you mostly stay in one.

## Pattern 1: mix-and-match

If you genuinely alternate languages clip by clip (Italian to your team, English to a client), keep Language on Auto-detect. Whisper picks the dominant language per clip.

## Pattern 2: translate on the fly

Stay in your native language, output a different one. Use a Custom prompt:

text

`Translate the input to English. Keep proper nouns, brand names, and technical terms verbatim. If the input is already English, leave it unchanged. Output the translation only.`

* Speak Italian, paste English.
* Speak English, paste German.
* Speak whatever, get a single target language out.

## Pattern 3: Italian humour

Style: Imbruttito. Speaks Italian, paste rewritten in the Milanese grumpy style. It is a humour style; not for client emails.

tip

If auto-detect picks the wrong language on a short clip, the result is gibberish. Pin the language (Settings → General) for short utterances in one language.

## Pattern 4: keyboard layout independence

Dimmy is keyboard-layout agnostic. You can be on a QWERTY laptop in a French AZERTY environment and dictation still works: the hotkey listens for modifier keys by hardware position, not by layout.

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## In this category

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Last updated: 2026-05-22

On this page

1. [01 Pattern 1: mix-and-match](#pattern-1-mix-and-match)
2. [02 Pattern 2: translate on the fly](#pattern-2-translate-on-the-fly)
3. [03 Pattern 3: Italian humour](#pattern-3-italian-humour)
4. [04 Pattern 4: keyboard layout independence](#pattern-4-keyboard-layout-independence)