Silvia

Silvia

Multilingual dictation for iOS

Silvia handles multilingual dictation effortlessly, allowing you to mix languages like English and Spanish in one sentence. So if you say, 'Vamos a comer lunch together,' Silvia understands, unlike typical iOS dictation that struggles with language switching.As a bilingual speaker, I've often struggled with the need to manually switch languages on my iPhone. If you’re a Spanish speaker and mix english words into your conversations you’d notice how the dictation system on the iPhone freaks out. Silvia is the first software for iOS that solves this exact problem. It allows you to speak freely in multiple languages, seamlessly understanding you even if you switch dialects mid-sentence.

For example, if you say, "Hey, vamos a cenar tonight? See you there!" iOS would typically ignore the Spanish part if the English keyboard was enabled, or vice versa. Silvia changes the game by consistently understanding you, regardless of the language mix.

HOW TO USE: You can start Silvia by hitting "+" > Silvia in iMessage after you install.

UPDATE: Silvia was featured in TechCrunch today here: https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/0...This is TOO relatable. I have constantly switch between English, Spanish, and Japanese. I LOVE using dictation but hate that I have to keep switching keyboards to make it happen across multiple languages. Giving this a try like NOW.Hi PH! 👋 Thanks to @gabor for the hunt!

Excited to introduce Silvia — a simple multilingual dictation system for iOS, designed for the bilingual speakers among us.

A few months back, I met an Argentinian girl at a bar in New York who mentioned that whenever she speaks in 'Spanglish' (i.e., switches dialects mid-sentence), the iOS dictation system freaks out because it doesn't expect a switch of dialects. So if you were to say "I realized that I had forgotten mi cartera en casa" it wouldn't work. It locks you into one language, so if you have a Spanish keyboard enabled, it ignores the English parts, and vice versa.

Turns out this problem was more prevalent than I knew among the multilingual community. That's why I built Silvia, a lightweight iOS dictation app that allows you to seamlessly switch between languages as you speak.

Silvia sits next to the dictation icon on iMessage. It will soon also be available inside every app that you type/dictate as a keyboard extension and I would love for you to try it. It's available for free : )

Check out the website here (silviaspeaks.com) and feel free to DM me on Twitter (twitter.com/mansidaksgh) or comment below for any questions -- appreciate feedback!

App Store link (visit on mobile): apps.apple.com/us/app/silvia/id6541750704Simple, yet brilliant use case!! Congrats on the launch, Mansidak -- can certainly see me and a lot of my international friends using this

Recent Publications