Korean and English Speech-to-Text: How to Test Mixed-Language Dictation

If your work messages combine Korean sentences with English product names, test that exact pattern before choosing a speech-to-text configuration. Support for Korean and support for English are useful starting facts. Your real question is whether a specific tool preserves the combination you intend to write.

A good test also specifies the destination. Do you want a Korean message with English names unchanged, a transcript that preserves every language switch, or an English translation? Those targets require different review criteria.

Read language support at the right level

Microsoft's MAI-Transcribe documentation lists Korean and English and describes automatic language detection. Its Azure offering is in public preview. This establishes documented language coverage, not a measured guarantee for your mixed-language recording. Microsoft MAI-Transcribe documentation.

Google's supported-language table organizes coverage by location, language code, model, and feature. Check the combination your application uses rather than assuming every model exposes the same options. Google supported languages.

Treat those tables as a compatibility check. They do not replace listening to your own recording and reviewing the result. An app's language menu can also differ from the underlying provider's full language list.

Build examples from the way you actually speak

Use a short set with several distinct patterns. Start with an ordinary Korean sentence, then an ordinary English sentence. Add a Korean update containing an English project name, an English update containing a Korean name, and a sentence with numbers or dates. Finally, include a spontaneous sentence with a natural pause.

Here are invented test prompts; they are not model outputs:

오늘 Sonicribe 테스트 결과를 Slack에 공유해 주세요.
금요일 오후 세 시까지 API 문서를 확인해 주세요.
Please keep 민지's project name unchanged in the update.

Before recording, write the expected treatment of important tokens. Decide whether “Sonicribe,” “Slack,” and “API” should remain in Latin characters. Decide whether the time should appear as words or digits. Decide how to represent the person's name. These are editorial choices for your test, not universal rules for bilingual writing.

If you have an established team spelling, use it consistently in the reference. Do not mark an output wrong because you changed your preference after reading it.

Compare language settings without changing everything else

Run the same test with automatic language detection and, where available, an explicit main-language setting. Preserve the microphone, recognizer, vocabulary, and formatting choices during that comparison. If the application cannot reuse an audio clip, repeat the sentence and record that the audio differs between attempts.

Use a review sheet that distinguishes the failure types:

Keep presentation errors separate from meaning errors. A spacing edit may take a moment; an incorrect recipient or deadline can make the message unusable. Record both, so a polished-looking result does not hide a consequential mistake.

Separate recognition from translation

Selecting the language of the incoming speech and requesting an English draft are different operations. For a translation test, first establish what was said. Then check whether the translated draft preserves names, quantities, politeness, qualifications, and commitments.

For example, a Korean update expressing that a review may finish Friday should not become a definite English promise that it will finish Friday. Write a clear instruction about preserving uncertainty, and check that property independently of grammar.

If your goal is a bilingual transcript, avoid asking the writing stage to translate everything. Preserve a recognized version when your workflow allows it, so you can identify whether a mistake began in recognition or in the subsequent transformation.

Apply the test in Sonicribe

Sonicribe offers Settings → Listening → Speech language, with Auto-detect or an explicit language. A mode's Language setting can override the global choice. Follow the Speech language guide when comparing these settings.

Use Words for recurring names and terms, while remembering that hints are provider-dependent and do not force the spelling. Exactly as spoken skips the AI formatter; translation requires a separate formatting instruction. See the user guide for the current workflow, then use the accuracy evaluation method to keep a repeatable record.

Sources reviewed October 8, 2026. The prompts and review sheet are original proposed test materials.