Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
On Mac, punctuation during dictation is placed by a separate command on the spot: say "zapyataya" (comma) and a comma appears, "tochka" (period) gives a period, and so on for each mark in the official list. Potok (potok.now) works differently: it reaches about 900 characters per minute by voice against about 200 when typing, and it places punctuation and capital letters itself, so you do not need to name them.
Every pause to place the cursor and press the comma or period key is a break in the dictated text. By voice, a punctuation mark goes into the text the same way as an ordinary word, right during dictation, without stopping the recording and without hands on the keyboard. The general order of voice input on a computer is covered in the article about dictating text on a computer.
| 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 |
How to place punctuation by voice on Mac and how much time it saves
In a long text there are dozens of such periods and commas, and when typing, each one costs a fraction of a second to switch attention from the thought to the key. With Mac dictation, the command "zapyataya" (comma) or "tochka" (period) is spoken exactly where the mark should appear, and it is inserted without stopping the recording, with no need to switch to a separate mode. Potok, another voice input tool, places punctuation and capital letters automatically, without a separate command for each mark.
Steps on Mac
Punctuation commands work only when Dictation is turned on and running. This is the step before the marks themselves.
- Turn on Dictation once: the Apple menu, then System Settings, Keyboard, the Dictation section, then Turn On.
- Start dictation itself: with the microphone key in the row of function keys (if it is there), the dictation keyboard shortcut, or through the menu Edit, Start Dictation. The detailed order of the first launch is in the article about starting dictation on a MacBook.
- Dictate the text in ordinary words, and name the punctuation mark separately at the place where it is needed: "zapyataya" (comma) places a comma, "tochka" (period) or "konets predlozheniya" (end of sentence) places a period.
- The exclamation and question marks have their own commands, "vosklitsatelnyy znak" (exclamation mark) and "voprositelnyy znak" (question mark). The other marks from the Punctuation section are placed the same way, by a separate word in their place.
- After the command, keep dictating in ordinary words right away; there is no need to switch to another mode.
- The list of punctuation commands in Russian is common to Mac dictation and is not tied to a specific app: the same commands work in mail, notes, documents, everywhere you can dictate.
Where voice punctuation reaches its limit
Potok is a cloud service: recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. The recorded audio is not lost, though: it stays in the history, and you can send it for recognition again with the Re-recognize button when the network returns. Potok has no voice commands at all, not only for punctuation, so a mark placed by voice cannot be undone or replaced, except with the keyboard. There are no mobile versions either: the program exists for computers with Windows, macOS and Linux.
Frequently asked questions
The command "vosklitsatelnyy znak" (exclamation mark) places "!", and "voprositelnyy znak" (question mark) places "?". Both commands are in the official list for Mac dictation in Russian.
No. Potok has no voice commands: it places punctuation and capital letters itself during speech recognition, and you do not need to name them separately.
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.
Apple menu → System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation → turn it on and confirm with the button that says “Vklyuchit” (Turn on in Russian). Then start it like this: the microphone key (if there is one in the row of function keys), the dictation keyboard shortcut or Edit → Start 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 audio goes to Apple servers, and then the internet is needed. You can see exactly in System Settings, then Keyboard: under the Dictation item it says whether the internet is needed and whether speech is processed on the device.
Turn on Dictation: the Apple menu, then System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation. Then put the cursor in a text field and start dictation with the microphone key (if it is in the row of function keys), the dictation keyboard shortcut, or Edit, Start Dictation, and begin speaking.
If you want to compare for yourself
Take one of your own tasks and dictate it in Potok. The first 14 days have no limits and need no card. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokA voice message from a messenger or a call recording can be forwarded to the bot @potok_now_bot, and it sends back the text. The bot is part of the same subscription as the Potok 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 |
Primary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com · www.apple.com · support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com