ELT Concourse: learn to transcribe (2024)

This is the second set of recording where you can get some more live listening practice.
If you have access to headphones or earphones, it will be helpful.

It works like this:

1. Listen to the short sentence
2. Write what you hear in ordinary English (and then ignore it)
3. Play the sentence again
4. Write a transcription
5. Listen again and check your transcription
6. Click on the to check your transcription

You can repeat most of these steps as often as you like. If this is your first attempt, take it slowly and carefully. You can return to this page at any time to try again and see how much more quickly you can transcribe what you hear.

Some of these recordings are quite fast and contain many of the phenomena you should associate with that. Look out for elision and assimilation, in particular.

Eight more sentences to transcribe

1. Play from here:
   
2. Now write what you have heard.
3. Play the sentence again to check.
4. Write your transcription.
5. Click to check.

   You should have:
   Who're you inviting to the wedding?
   /ˈhuːə.ju.ɪn.ˈvaɪt.ɪŋ.tə.ðə.ˈwed.ɪŋ/
   Make sure
   that you have the three instances of the /ə/ correct.
   you have the three stresses.
   the /r/ in Who're is not pronounced.
   If you had /n/ instead of /ŋ/ at the end of inviting and wedding, that's OK, but the second of those is more clearly nasalized.

1. Play from here:
   
2. Now write what you have heard.
3. Play the sentence again to check.
4. Write your transcription.
5. Click to check.

   You should have:
   I'll speak to you after the meeting
   /aɪl.spiːk.tə.ju.ˈɑːf.tə.ðə.ˈmiːt.ɪŋ/
   Make sure:
   you had the first diphthong: /aɪ/.
   you have the three instances of the /ə/ correct.
   you have the two stresses (but if you had a secondary stress on speak, that's fine).

1. Play from here:
   
2. Now write what you have heard.
3. Play the sentence again to check.
4. Write your transcription.
5. Click to check.

   You should have:
   My sister arrived around six
   /mə.ˈsɪ.stər.ə.ˈraɪvd.ə.ˈraʊn.sɪks/
   Make sure:
   the /ks/ is clear (not always the case).
   the/r/ at the end of sister is sounded because of the following vowel.
   there is no /d/ at the and of around.
   The pronunciation of my is very minimal. You could have simply /m/.

1. Play from here:
   
2. Now write what you have heard.
3. Play the sentence again to check.
4. Write your transcription.
5. Click to check.

   You should have:
   The Victoria and Albert is free to enter
   /ðə.vɪk.ˈtɔː.rɪə.rənd.ˈæl.bət.s.friː.tu.ˈwen.tə/
   Make sure you have:
   the intrusive /r/ between Victoria and Albert (it is quite slight so if you do not have it, don't worry)
   the intrusive /w/ between to and enter (that's more obvious)
   no /r/ in Albert.
   You could have a secondary stress on free.
   

1. Play from here:
   
2. Now write what you have heard.
3. Play the sentence again to check.
4. Write your transcription.
5. Click to check.

   You should have:
   They explained the problem with the article
   /ˈðeɪ.ɪk.ˈspleɪn.ðə.ˈprɒ.bləm.wɪð.ði.ˈjɑː.tɪk.l̩/
   Make sure or note:
   whether explained is pronounced with an initial /ɪ/ or /e/ is very hard to hear. Either will be OK.
   there is an intrusive /j/ betweenthe and article although it is quite reduced.
   the tense ending on explained is not pronounced because of the following consonant.
   there is a syllabic /l/ at the end.

1. Play from here:
   
2. Now write what you have heard.
3. Play the sentence again to check.
4. Write your transcription.
5. Click to check.

   You should have:
   He told me I should stop smoking
   /hi.təʊl.miː.ˈaɪ.ʃə.stɒp.ˈsməʊkɪŋ/
   Note:
   the /d/ at the end of should is elided or very indistinct.
   the /d/ at the end of told is elided altogether.
   The final consonant on smoking is denasalized almost completely although the above transcription and one with /n/ are both OK.

1. Play from here:
   
2. Now write what you have heard.
3. Play the sentence again to check.
4. Write your transcription.
5. Click to check.

   You should have:
   8498
   /eɪt.ˈθaʊz.n̩.fɔː.ˈhʌn.drəd.ən.ˈnaɪn.ti.eɪt/
   Note:
   both the /n/ on and and the first /n/ on ninety are pronounced although some speakers would elide one of them.
   the /d/ at the end of thousand is elided as is the sound at the end of and.
   the syllabic /n̩/ is common when numbers including 1000 are spoken.

1. Play from here:
   
2. Now write what you have heard.
3. Play the sentence again to check.
4. Write your transcription.
5. Click to check.

   You should have:
   To the last syllable of recorded time
   /tuː.ðə.lɑːs.ˈsɪl.əb.l̩.əv.rɪˈk.ɔː.dɪ.ˈtaɪm/
   Note:
   the pronunciation of to at the beginning is in citation form (not weakened to /tə/) because the speaker realises this is a quotation.
   there is no /t/ sound at the end of last.
   there is a syllabic/l/ at the end ofsyllable.
   there is no /d/ at the end of recorded because of assimilation with the following /t/.
   If this quotation from Macbeth were produced by a Shakespearean actor, the transcription would be much closer to a citation style and of would be /ɒv/ rather than /əv/.

You should come back to this page again if you feel you need a bit more practice at transcribing what you hear rather than what you think you hear.

Click here to go back to the first eight sentencesClick here to go back to the main part of the course.