diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/init.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/init.test.ts
index 13a86b090..3d2a25dbc 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/init.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/init.test.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
 } from "./init.js";
 
 const cliEntry = resolve(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url), "..", "..", "cli.ts");
+const initSource = readFileSync(new URL("./init.ts", import.meta.url), "utf-8");
 const tailwindScript =
   '<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@tailwindcss/browser@4.2.4/dist/index.global.js" integrity="sha384-v5YF9xS+gLRWdvrQ0u/WRbCkjSIH0NjHIPe8tBL1ZRrmI7PiSH6LLdzs0aAIMCuh" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>';
 
@@ -47,6 +48,14 @@ function expectScaffoldedScripts(target: string): void {
 }
 
 describe("hyperframes init flag rename", () => {
+  it("selects the language-compatible model before both eager init downloads", () => {
+    expect(initSource).toMatch(
+      /const initialTranscriptionModel = initialModelForLanguage\(\s*modelFlag \?\? DEFAULT_MODEL,\s*languageFlag,?\s*\);/,
+    );
+    expect(initSource.match(/await ensureModel\(initialTranscriptionModel/g)).toHaveLength(2);
+    expect(initSource).not.toMatch(/await ensureModel\(modelFlag/g);
+  });
+
   it("requires an explicit source in non-interactive mode", () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "hf-init-test-"));
     const target = join(dir, "proj");
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts
index 921320d68..709112df5 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ import {
 } from "../templates/generators.js";
 import { fetchRemoteTemplate } from "../templates/remote.js";
 import { trackInitTemplate } from "../telemetry/events.js";
-import { hasFFmpeg } from "../whisper/manager.js";
+import { DEFAULT_MODEL, hasFFmpeg } from "../whisper/manager.js";
+import { initialModelForLanguage } from "../whisper/transcribe.js";
 import { findFFmpeg, findFFprobe, getFFmpegInstallHint } from "../browser/ffmpeg.js";
 import { VERSION } from "../version.js";
 import {
@@ -769,6 +770,10 @@ export default defineCommand({
     const nonInteractive = args["non-interactive"] === true;
     const modelFlag = args.model;
     const languageFlag = args.language;
+    const initialTranscriptionModel = initialModelForLanguage(
+      modelFlag ?? DEFAULT_MODEL,
+      languageFlag,
+    );
     const interactive = !nonInteractive && process.stdout.isTTY === true;
 
     if (skipSkillsFlagIgnored) {
@@ -866,7 +871,7 @@ export default defineCommand({
         try {
           const { ensureWhisper, ensureModel } = await import("../whisper/manager.js");
           await ensureWhisper();
-          await ensureModel(modelFlag);
+          await ensureModel(initialTranscriptionModel);
           console.log("Transcribing...");
           const { transcribe: runTranscribe } = await import("../whisper/transcribe.js");
           const result = await runTranscribe(sourceFilePath, destDir, {
@@ -1044,7 +1049,7 @@ export default defineCommand({
           await ensureWhisper({
             onProgress: (msg) => spin.message(msg),
           });
-          await ensureModel(modelFlag, {
+          await ensureModel(initialTranscriptionModel, {
             onProgress: (msg) => spin.message(msg),
           });
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/whisper/transcribe.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/whisper/transcribe.test.ts
index 370988a4a..b6ad787a9 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/whisper/transcribe.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/whisper/transcribe.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, it, test } from "vitest";
 import {
   dtwPresetForModel,
+  initialModelForLanguage,
   isWhisperTimeoutError,
   resolveAudioPreparationTimeoutMs,
   resolveWhisperTimeoutMs,
@@ -245,3 +246,21 @@ describe("resolveAudioPreparationTimeoutMs", () => {
     expect(resolveAudioPreparationTimeoutMs(Number.NaN)).toBe(120_000);
   });
 });
+
+describe("initialModelForLanguage", () => {
+  test("keeps the default English-only model when no language is specified", () => {
+    expect(initialModelForLanguage("small.en", undefined)).toBe("small.en");
+  });
+
+  test("uses the multilingual model before downloading for explicit German", () => {
+    expect(initialModelForLanguage("small.en", "de")).toBe("small");
+  });
+
+  test("keeps English-only models for English locale variants", () => {
+    expect(initialModelForLanguage("small.en", "en-US")).toBe("small.en");
+  });
+
+  test("keeps an already multilingual model unchanged", () => {
+    expect(initialModelForLanguage("large-v3", "de")).toBe("large-v3");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/whisper/transcribe.ts b/packages/cli/src/whisper/transcribe.ts
index 7d71614df..6641edb95 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/whisper/transcribe.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/whisper/transcribe.ts
@@ -386,6 +386,14 @@ export function dtwPresetForModel(model: string): string {
   return model.replace(/-/g, ".");
 }
 
+export function initialModelForLanguage(model: string, language?: string): string {
+  const baseLanguage = language?.trim().toLowerCase().split(/[-_]/, 1)[0];
+  if (baseLanguage && baseLanguage !== "en" && model.endsWith(".en")) {
+    return model.slice(0, -3);
+  }
+  return model;
+}
+
 /**
  * Transcribe an audio or video file and save transcript.json to the output directory.
  */
@@ -395,7 +403,7 @@ export async function transcribe(
   outputDir: string,
   options?: TranscribeOptions,
 ): Promise<TranscribeResult> {
-  const model = options?.model ?? DEFAULT_MODEL;
+  const model = initialModelForLanguage(options?.model ?? DEFAULT_MODEL, options?.language);
 
   // 1. Ensure whisper binary
   options?.onProgress?.("Checking whisper...");