English phonetic dictations

The following are some dictations to practice English phonetic transcription, specifically designed to help with vowel and consonant contrasts that tend to be difficult for some L2 speakers of English. Listen to the recording and transcribe the words you hear. Each word is repeated three times. When you finish, you can check the key provided in the drop-down menu.

Some things to consider: The following transcriptions are based on Standard Southern British English (formerly known as Received Pronunciation), so the /r/ in postvocalic position is omitted. Moreover, words like kettle or nation can be transcribed as either /ketəl – ketl/ and /neɪʃən – neɪʃn/, using either /ə/ or a syllabic /l/ or /n/. Both realizations are generally accepted.

Also, due to font issues, the /ɪ/ symbol appears differently (l). Please always use symbol /ɪ/ in your handwritten transcriptions.

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English word dictation 1 – words pronounced with /iː/ /ɪ/ and /aɪ/

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English word dictation 2 – words pronounced with vowels /æ/ /ɑː/ /ʌ/ and /eɪ/.

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English word dictation 3 – words pronounced with sibilant consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/

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English word dictation 4 – words pronounced with vowels /ɒ, ɔː, əʊ/

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English word dictation 5 – words spelled with <ou>

English word dictation 6 – words with diphthongs