Dictation Trainer: Listening Practice in Six Languages
Dictation is one of the oldest and most effective listening exercises. Choose a language and level, listen to a sentence, type it, and see exactly which words you caught and which you missed.
Listen and type
Press “New sentence” to begin. Each level has ten sentences in random order.
How to get the most from dictation
- Listen once without typing. Get the overall meaning first.
- Replay and type in chunks. Pause after each phrase. Use "Slowly" for difficult parts, but always finish with a normal-speed listen.
- Check and study the misses. Underlined words are the ones you did not catch. Ask why: was it linking, a reduced vowel, a sound you do not distinguish, or a word you did not know?
- Say the sentence aloud after checking, copying the rhythm of the recording.
- Repeat the level until you get every sentence right, then move up.
What the misses usually tell you
| Language | Typical listening traps | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | words merged by linking (mis amigos), weak final s in some voices | linking |
| French | liaison, elision, the dropped mute e (je n'sais pas) | liaison |
| German | unstressed endings (-en, -er), compound words, separable prefixes at the end | stress |
| Portuguese | reduced final vowels, nasal diphthongs, "tchi" and "dji" | reduction |
| Mandarin | tones, neutral-tone particles, measure words | neutral tone |
| Hindi | aspiration, dental vs retroflex, nasal vowels in verb endings | nasal vowels |
About the audio
Sentences are read by your browser's built-in voice for each language, so quality depends on your device. If a voice is missing, the trainer tells you; see how to install better voices. For extra variety, try the same sentences on another device or browser.
Frequently asked questions
Why is dictation good for pronunciation?
Pronunciation has a listening side: before you can say a phrase naturally, you need to hear how native speakers actually join and reduce words. Dictation makes you process every word, so gaps in what you hear become visible. Those gaps usually match the features you also get wrong when speaking.
Do I need to type accents?
Only if you want to practise spelling. Tick "ignore accents" to focus on listening. Capital letters and punctuation are always ignored.
How can I type Chinese or Hindi?
You can use your system's Chinese or Hindi keyboard, or simply type pinyin or a romanisation. The trainer compares romanised answers letter by letter with the reference, ignoring tone marks and accents.
Sources
- Oller, J. W. (1971). Dictation as a device for testing foreign-language proficiency. English Language Teaching, 25(3), 254–259.
- Davis, P. and Rinvolucri, M. (1988). Dictation: New Methods, New Possibilities. Cambridge University Press.
- Field, J. (2008). Listening in the Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press.