Dictate in Swedish

Dictation means speaking and having what you say written down word for word, and is a common phenomenon in many professional fields. It is used particularly frequently by authors and journalists, who in some cases prefer to dictate their novels and articles instead of writing them by hand.

The reasons why people choose to dictate instead of write are multifaceted. Physical barriers and pain can pose an obstacle to manual writing. Some also experience that their creative flow improves when they speak compared to when they write, which can lead to higher quality in the produced material.

When dictating, transcription is required, the process where speech is converted to text, either manually or automatically. Manual transcription can be performed by having someone listen while the speaker talks and writes down what is said. Alternatively, one can record the dictation and transcribe it afterwards.

There are also several possibilities for automatic transcription with different AI solutions, and some word processing programs have built-in dictation functions.

Manual transcription

For those who want to dictate in Swedish and have it transcribed, there are different alternatives. A costly but effective method is to hire a professional transcription agency. This means recording the audio and sending it to the agency for transcription. It should be noted that this can be an expensive service, especially if dictating longer texts like an entire novel.

A more cost-effective but demanding method is to hire a freelancer or someone within one's network for manual transcription. However, this requires significant time investment from the person performing the work.

Dictate in Word

If you use Microsoft Word, there is a built-in dictation function available for Swedish users. To use it, a stable internet connection and a Microsoft 365 subscription are required. Additionally, the device must have a working microphone.

To dictate in Word:

1. Open a new document and select "Home > Dictate" to activate the dictation functions.
2. Wait until the dictation function is active.
3. Start speaking and see the text appear on the screen.
4. Turn off the dictation function when you're done.

Dictate in Google Docs

Just like Microsoft Word, Google Docs has the ability to dictate in Swedish.

To use the function, you need to follow these steps:

1. Open a document in Google Docs with a Chrome web browser.
2. When you click on "Tools > Voice typing" a microphone will appear.
3. You are now ready to start dictating.
4. To deactivate the dictation function, click on the microphone again.

Dictate on iPhone

iPhone offers a built-in dictation function that allows users to speak instead of using the keyboard. This function supports dictation in Swedish and several other languages. Like the Word function, it requires an active internet connection, and there may be costs for data usage.

To use the dictation function on iPhone:

1. Open "Settings" and go to "Keyboard > Enable Dictation".
2. Turn on the dictation function.
3. To start dictating in Swedish, press the dictation shortcut twice when the keyboard is active. You can then use your voice to write.
4. Press the dictation shortcut twice to return to the regular keyboard.

Automatic transcription services

For those who prefer automatic transcription, several services are available:

• Otter.ai: An American service for transcribing meetings, but currently does not support Swedish.
• Klang.ai: A Swedish service with a focus on GDPR security that offers a dictaphone function for live dictation.
• Fireflies.ai: An American AI service for transcription and text analysis that has support for Swedish.

Using an automatic transcription service when dictating in Swedish can be both cost-effective and provide high-quality results, as modern AI models are powerful and can produce text of almost equivalent quality to human transcribers.