Why dictating in German is its own discipline
Compound words, formal address, capitalization: German poses problems for dictation software that English tools never face.
by Nils Löchterfeld
Most dictation tools come from the English-speaking world and are built precisely for that. In German it shows quickly: not in recognizing individual words, but in everything that makes German German.
Compounds: a word that didn’t exist before
“Project closing meeting” is one word in German. An English model wants to make three. Good German dictation must understand when words belong together and when they don’t.
Formal or casual: please stay consistent
English only has “you”. In German, the form of address sets the tone of an entire email. Software that doesn’t hold it consistently produces awkward mixes: “Sie” here, “du” there in the same paragraph.
Capitalization carries meaning
In German, nouns are capitalized, and a model has to recognize when a verb becomes a noun. These subtleties decide whether dictated text is really finished or whether you end up correcting it anyway.
Our focus therefore isn’t “German too” but “German first”. That’s the difference you feel in daily use.
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