Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
To dictate a hyphen on a Mac, say “defis” (hyphen) and you get “-”; for a dash say “tire” (dash) and you get “–”; for a slash say “kosaya cherta” (slash) and you get “/”. These are 3 commands from Apple's Russian dictation list. In Windows 11 the same signs have their own phrases. Potok (potok.now) has no voice commands: it turns speech into text and places punctuation and capital letters itself.
Mac dictation places a compound word with a hyphen or a fraction with a slash by separate phrases from Apple's Russian list of commands: the hyphen, the dash and the slash each have their own. Before going through the phrases themselves, you need to turn on dictation on the Mac; the steps are described in the article how to dictate text on a MacBook.
How to dictate a hyphen and a slash on a Mac
In Apple's Russian list of dictation commands, the phrase for a hyphen is “defis” (hyphen), and you get “-”. The dash has a separate phrase “tire” (dash), and you get “–”, which is a different sign, not a hyphen. For a slash the phrase is “kosaya cherta” (slash), and you get “/”. The backslash “\” in the same list is placed by the phrase “obratnaya kosaya cherta” (backslash). You say the command word in the place of the sign and then dictate the text as usual. Dictation itself is turned on like this: Apple menu → System Settings → Keyboard → the Dictation section → turn it on, then Enable.
In Windows 11 the same signs have their own phrases: “defis” (hyphen) or “znak minus” (minus sign) give “-”, “tire” (dash) gives the long “—”, and “kosaya cherta” (slash) gives “/”. The same Apple list also describes abbreviations, covered in a separate article, abbreviations by voice on a Mac.
Examples with signs
For example, you say: “IT defis spetsialist, pyatdesyat kosaya cherta pyatdesyat” (IT hyphen specialist, fifty slash fifty). The word “defis” stands between the parts of the compound word, and “kosaya cherta” between the numbers of the fraction.
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- Free
- Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed
- Pro
- Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly
- Payment
- Russian bank cards, rubles
- Where speech is recognized
- cloud, servers in Russia; internet required
Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. Download: potok.now/download
Where Potok reaches its limit
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia; it does not work without the internet. It has no voice commands, so “defis” (hyphen) and “kosaya cherta” (slash) are not commands for it. It turns speech into text, places punctuation and capital letters itself and writes numbers as digits. Whoever needs to place a hyphen or a slash by a command is better served by Mac dictation.
Frequently asked questions
Say “defis” (hyphen): this is how the “-” sign is named in Apple's Russian list of dictation commands. The dash has its own phrase “tire” (the “–” sign), and the slash has “kosaya cherta” (the “/” sign).
Potok has no voice commands, so “defis” (hyphen) and “kosaya cherta” (slash) are not commands for it. It turns speech into text, places punctuation and capital letters itself and writes numbers as digits. A hyphen and a slash by command are placed by Mac dictation.
It depends on the Mac. On a Mac with Apple Silicon, ordinary text dictation (messages, notes, but not the search field) is processed on the device; on Intel Macs and in some scenarios the sound goes to Apple servers, and then the internet is needed. You can see it exactly in System Settings → Keyboard: under Dictation it says whether the internet is needed and whether speech is processed on the device.
The built-in macOS Dictation supports Russian. Potok is a separate app with its own model trained for Russian speech, including terms and Russian mixed with English; the text is inserted into the active field of any app.
It depends on the Mac: on a Mac with Apple Silicon, ordinary text dictation (messages, notes, but not the search field) is processed on the device and is not sent to Siri servers; you can see this in System Settings → Keyboard under Dictation. Whether Apple stores recordings of your dictations is decided by the “Improve Siri & Dictation” switch in Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements.
Yes. The system macOS Dictation exists on Intel Macs as well; on Intel Macs the sound goes to Apple servers for recognition, so the internet is needed. Potok is an app for Windows, macOS and Linux, and it works on Macs with Intel.
Check it in one evening
Install Potok, dictate what you usually type and compare. 14 days of full access, no card needed. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokExisting recordings are transcribed by Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: send a file or a YouTube, VK Video or RuTube link and the text arrives in the chat. The Potok subscription removes the limit in the bot too.
Built-in dictation and Potok
| Tool | Where it works | Russian language | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows voice typing (Win+H) | Windows 10 and 11 | Windows 11 only | Microsoft cloud, does not work offline |
| macOS Dictation | macOS | yes | on the device or on Apple servers |
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
| Task | Characters | Typing (200 chars/min) | Voice (900 chars/min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| chat reply | 300 | 2 min | 0.5 min |
| 1500 | 8 min | 1.7 min | |
| post or meeting minutes | 4000 | 20 min | 4.4 min |
| article | 10000 | 50 min | 11.1 min |
Primary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com · support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com