How to check spelling in French or German
Pick French or German as the spelling language in Write by Zaweba and the dictionary downloads, then red squiggles and suggestions work in that language.
Choose French or German as the spelling language in Write by Zaweba. The first time you pick a language, its dictionary downloads, and from then on the spell checker underlines mistakes and offers suggestions in that language. UK English is built in, and Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Welsh are available the same way.
Which languages are on offer
Write's spell checker uses Hunspell, the same open dictionary system used by many well-known programs. UK English comes as standard, so it is ready the moment you install. US, Australian and Canadian English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Welsh download when you pick them. Nothing extra is installed until you actually need it, which keeps Write small for people who only write in English.
That covers a language student writing an essay in French, someone writing to family in Germany, a business replying to a supplier in the Netherlands or a school producing letters in Welsh.
Setting the language step by step
Open the document and pick the language you are writing in. If its dictionary is not on your PC yet, Write downloads it. That step needs an internet connection once. After that the dictionary is on your PC, and checking works offline like the rest of the app.
As you type, unknown words get a red squiggle. Right-click one to see suggestions in the chosen language and pick the right one. Press F7 to open the Spelling dialog and go through the whole document from top to bottom, which is the better way to check a finished piece.
Words the dictionary does not know
Every dictionary misses some words: names, places, technical terms, brand names and words from your own field. Right-click and choose add to dictionary for a word you use often, and Write keeps it in your personal dictionary so it is never flagged again. Choose ignore all for a word that is right in this document but that you would not want added for good, such as an unusual surname.
Accented letters matter in French and German, and a missing accent is a spelling mistake as far as the checker is concerned. Write leaves the AltGr key alone, so the accented characters your keyboard layout offers still type as normal. Insert, then Symbol also offers special characters if you need one your keyboard does not have.
Getting a clean result in another language
Spell checking catches words that do not exist, not words that are real but wrong. In French and German that includes the gender and agreement endings that change with the sentence, so a word can be spelled correctly and still be wrong. Read the text through after the spell check, ideally aloud.
If you have connected your own AI account, the AI menu can help further with Translate, which remembers the language you last chose, and with Explain, for a passage you want to understand. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you ask, and Write works fully without any AI account at all.
Mixed language documents
Many documents mix languages: an English letter with a French address, or a German essay with an English quotation. Set the spelling language to the language of most of the text, and use ignore all for the odd foreign word. That keeps the squiggles to the mistakes that matter.
When the document is ready, save it as .docx or .zawr, or export a PDF. Write by Zaweba keeps the checking on your own PC once the dictionary is there, so even a private letter in another language never leaves your computer to be checked.
