Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
In the official list of Mac dictation commands, the “%” sign is put by the command “znak protsenta” (percent sign) from the Styling section, and the command “chislo” (number) from the Formatting section writes the next phrase as a number. Potok (potok.now) writes percentages as digits itself, without commands: “pyatnadtsat protsentov” (fifteen percent) becomes “15%”.
Percentages on a Mac are dictated either with Apple's built-in dictation, using commands from the official Russian list, or with a program that writes numbers as digits itself. Below are the commands in Apple's list and what a test on the server showed for the second way.
How to get a percent sign when dictating on a Mac
In the official Russian list of Mac dictation commands, the “%” sign is in the Styling section, next to the ampersand, the asterisk and the commercial at sign. The command is called “znak protsenta” (percent sign): Apple's help gives it in one line, “znak protsenta %”.
Separately from the sign, the Formatting section has the command “chislo” (number): the phrase that follows it is written as a number. The command “znak protsenta” puts only the symbol where it was spoken. Dictation itself on a Mac is turned on in the Apple menu → System Settings → Keyboard → the Dictation section.
In Windows 11 voice input, a command with the same name, “znak protsenta” (percent sign), is in the Russian punctuation table. Russian Win+H commands work only in Windows 11.
What you get if you dictate this phrase
- “rost na pyatnadtsat protsentov god k godu” (growth of fifteen percent year on year) is our example phrase. For Mac dictation, the list has the commands “chislo” (number) and “znak protsenta” (percent sign).
- Potok does without commands: in a test on the live server, the phrase “Tsena dvesti pyatdesyat rubley, skidka pyatnadtsat protsentov” (the price is two hundred fifty rubles, a discount of fifteen percent) became “Tsena 250 ₽, skidka 15%.”
- 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 has its limit
Potok has no voice commands: it does not execute a command like “znak protsenta” (percent sign) as a separate action, and it writes numbers, sums, percentages and time as digits itself. Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia; it does not work without the internet.
How to turn on voice input on a laptop is covered in the article on turning on voice input on a laptop, and other ways to dictate text are collected in the section on dictating text.
Frequently asked questions
No, Potok has no voice commands. It writes percentages as digits with the sign itself: “pyatnadtsat protsentov” (fifteen percent) becomes “15%”.
The command “znak protsenta” (percent sign) from the Styling section of the Russian list of Mac dictation commands puts the “%” symbol. To have the next phrase written as a number, the Formatting section has the command “chislo” (number).
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.
Yes. System Dictation in macOS is present on Intel Macs too; on Intel Macs the audio for recognition goes to Apple's servers, so the internet is needed. Potok is an app for Windows, macOS and Linux, and it works on Intel Macs.
No: according to Apple's help, you can dictate text of any length with no time limit. Dictation stops when you press Esc, the microphone key or the Dictation shortcut, and by itself if no speech is heard for 30 seconds.
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 audio goes to Apple's servers, and then the internet is needed. You can see exactly in System Settings → Keyboard: under the Dictation item it says whether the internet is needed and whether speech is processed on the device.
Try it on your own texts
Download Potok for Windows, macOS or Linux: full access for the first 14 days, no card needed. After that, 2500 words per week for free or Pro for 690 ₽ per month. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokYou dictate in the app, and recordings and voice messages are transcribed by @potok_now_bot in Telegram. 60 minutes per month are free; the Potok subscription removes the limit in the bot and in the app.
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