1. A method of providing a task assistant associated with an application comprising: receiving a speech input from a user; associating the speech input with a destination field in the application; categorizing the speech input as either a dictation or a command based on a flag associated with the destination field, wherein: if the speech input is categorized as a dictation, converting the speech input to text and inserting the text into the destination field in the application; if the speech input is categorized as a command: interpreting the command; translating the interpreted command into a format native to the application and sending the translated command to the application; receiving data from the application in response to the translated command; and providing a response to the user through a multimodal output.