A distributed speech recognition system includes at least one client station and a server station connected via a network, such as Internet. The client station includes means for receiving the speech input signal from a user. A speech controller directs at least part of the speech input signal to a local speech recognizer. The, preferably limited, speech recognizer is capable of recognizing at least part of the speech input, for instance a spoken command for starting full recognition. In dependence on the outcome of the recognition, the speech controller selectively directs a part of the speech input signal via the network to the server station. The server station includes means for receiving the speech equivalent signal from the network and a large/huge vocabulary speech recognizer for recognizing the received speech equivalent signal.