ggml-org/whisper.cpp

can I enable "-dl" option and detect multiple languages (in one audio-clip)? Thanks!

Open

#3,018 opened on Apr 8, 2025

View on GitHub
 (2 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)C++ (49,693 stars) (5,535 forks)batch import
enhancementgood first issue

Description

Hi,

I could run whisper-cli to detect language and it works great (as the following): whisper-cli -f ./jfk.wav -dl --model ./ggml-small.bin

it works great and I could get the auto-detected language (like the following)::

...
whisper_full_with_state: auto-detected language: en (p = 0.958143)
...

my question is: can I also use the same "-dl" option to detect a wav-file which has multiple languages? in this case will whisper-cli show 2 language-types (similar as the above, but show 2 language-types)? Thanks!

Contributor guide

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
climachine learning
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
over 1 week
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
C++whisper.cpp build process
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
15
Research direction
The issue asks whether the dl flag can detect multiple languages in a single audio clip. To answer, investigate the current language detection implementation in whisper.cpp, specifically the `whisper full with state` function and how the dl flag triggers detection. Check if the model supports per segment language detection or only per clip. Consider examining the documentation and existing PRs or discussions about multi language support. A potential solution might involve modifying the CLI to output detected languages per segment or adding a new option.