Which tool to choose
The choice depends on where you dictate.
- If you dictate inside a conversational AI app (the classic chat with the microphone), you manage the glossary in the conversation itself: the AI rereads and corrects.
- If you use the phone's system dictation (the one that appears in any text field, with the microphone icon on the keyboard), there's no AI reasoning: there you need the device's personal dictionary, where you register the words one by one.
- If you work with many recurring terms every day, it's worth keeping the glossary in a fixed note or in the app's custom instructions, so you don't paste it again every time.
How to do it
The method changes depending on whether you want to correct an AI transcription or train the phone's keyboard. Let's see both.
For the conversational AI:
- Open a note and write down the terms that dictation gets wrong most. For each one put the correct spelling and, if needed, how it sounds. Example line: "It's spelled Klarna, pronounced klar-na".
- At the start of the chat, paste the glossary introducing it with the instruction. The operational syntax:
When I transcribe or dictate to you, use exclusively this spelling for the terms of my job. If you hear a word similar to one of these, write it as indicated here. Glossary:
- Klarna (payment service)
- escrow (security deposit)
- Decathlon
- flat-rate VAT scheme
- Dictate normally. When the AI gets a name wrong anyway, correct it by voice: "Klarna, not klarana", and it realigns the rest.
- If the app has custom instructions (a field where you write rules valid for all chats), put the glossary there once and for all.
For the phone's system dictation:
- Open the keyboard settings and look for the personal dictionary or text replacement option.
- Add each term as a new entry. On many phones you can also associate a shortcut: you type "kln" and "Klarna" appears.
- Dictate in any field: the keyboard now recognizes the registered word.
If you can't find the dictionary in the settings, ask the phone's assistant "open the keyboard's personal dictionary": it takes you straight to the right screen.
A concrete example
Marta is an accountant and dictates client notes in the car. Dictation was writing "forfait Ario" instead of "forfettario" and "Punta IVA" instead of "partita IVA". She opened her AI app, pasted a glossary of twelve tax terms with the exact spelling and the instruction to correct the transcription. From that moment she dictates the raw reminder ("client Rossi, flat-rate scheme, advance payment due in November") and the AI gives her back the clean text with the right terms. The clients' proper names she instead put in the keyboard dictionary, because she uses them outside the AI too, in emails.
When it does NOT work (and how to fix it)
If the AI keeps getting the same name wrong
It means the term is too similar to a common word and the model "pulls" toward that one. Add an explicit phonetic note in the glossary and an example sentence: "SaaS is pronounced sas, it's a type of software, not 'sass'". The more context you give, the less the model guesses.
If you dictate with background noise and it loses the words
The microphone picks up everything. Bring the phone close to your mouth, make clear pauses between sentences and, where you can, use earbuds with a microphone: transcription improves even before the glossary.
If the keyboard dictionary doesn't save the word
Some keyboards require the word to be typed and accepted at least once before it enters memory. Write it by hand in the field, tap the suggestion to confirm it, then try dictating again.
A tip from someone who really uses it
Don't wait to have the perfect glossary. Start with the five terms it gets wrong most often and add one each time you hit a new error. In two weeks you have a list that covers almost all of your jargon, built on your real errors and not on guesses.
Frequently asked questions
Does dictation learn my terms on its own over time?
System dictation improves a little on the words you correct often, but it's not reliable for rare jargon. The personal dictionary and the glossary given to the AI are much faster: they act immediately, without waiting for a learning that might not come.
Can I dictate in dialect or mixing Italian and English?
Yes, but with a limit. Dictation handles standard Italian well with a few common English words. For broad dialect it transcribes by ear: in that case dictate in Italian and use dialect only for quotes, flagging it to the AI.
Do I have to rewrite the glossary in every new chat?
No, and that's the mistake that wastes the most time. If your app has a custom instructions field, put it there once: it applies to all future conversations. Re-pasting the glossary in every chat is the sign that you're not using the tool's memory.