English Dictation Practice
Listen, type what you hear, and get instant word-by-word feedback — with curated lessons by topic and CEFR level, or on any YouTube video.
Start dictation — it's freeDictation is one of the oldest — and most effective — ways to learn a language, because it forces you to process every single sound. On TryShadowing you don't dictate flat textbook audio: you practise with real talks, lessons and conversations from YouTube, one sentence at a time. Listen, type exactly what you hear, then press Enter to see a word-by-word breakdown of what you got right, what you misspelled, and what you missed. Over time your ear gets sharper, your spelling gets tighter, and grammar you only half-knew starts to stick. It pairs perfectly with shadowing — dictation trains your listening and writing, shadowing trains your speaking — and you can switch between the two on any lesson.
How dictation works
Play one line at a time — replay or slow it down as many times as you want.
Write the sentence exactly, word by word. Everything is keyboard-first.
Press Enter to see which words are right, wrong or missed — with a percentage.
Why practise dictation?
Catch connected speech, weak forms and words you usually miss.
Typing every word cements spelling, punctuation and sentence patterns.
Meet real words in context and remember them by using them.
Or dictate any YouTube video
Prefer real, unscripted speech? Turn on dictation mode on any lesson.
Dictation FAQ
Dictation means listening to spoken English and writing down exactly what you hear. It's one of the most effective ways to sharpen your listening, spelling, punctuation and grammar at the same time.
Yes. You can practise dictation with thousands of real YouTube clips for free — no sign-up required to start.
In shadowing you listen and speak along to improve pronunciation and fluency. In dictation you listen and type to improve your ear, spelling and grammar. TryShadowing lets you switch between both on any lesson.
Any level. Start with short, slow beginner (A2) clips and move up to natural-speed conversations. You can replay each sentence as many times as you need.
Browse dictation lessons by topic & level, explore beginner (A2) lessons, or try English shadowing.