Bonjour chers amis! I hope you’ve had some time to digest the two previous french dictations . Here is new one, and I hope you are excited about this new challenge as I am. This is a great opportunity to test your listening abilties in French as well as your writing skills. You will find on this page a short text in French with its English translation. The audio tracks have also been provided along with the PDF version of the dictation that you can certainly download.
My preferred method to doing accurately a foreign language dictation:
| 1. Preparation: | 2. Writing the dictation itself: | 3. (Re)-Verifying your written text. |
|---|---|---|
| First, I always make sure to listen to the “normal-speed” audio track two or three times (You may choose to listen to the slower speed if you wish). The first time, I make sure to avoid taking any notes. I just sit there and listen carefully, especially for words that seem “new” to my ears. The second time, I use my pencil and try to write down these “strange-sounding” new words as best as I can. Sometimes, guessing is a greatly involved in that process. I may listen again to the entire audio track a third time, depending on how well I did the second time. | After listening carefully 2-3 times to the normal-speed track and jotting down difficult words (which I guessed), I now start my dictation. I make sure to keep in mind that most sentences will have subject, a verb, and an object. It doesn’t matter the order in which they are stated in the sentences, but I do know that most sentences will follow this pattern. Important: If it is a French dictation, I want to make sure that every single verb is properly associated to its respective subject. Also, I watch closely for the gender of the articles and nouns (le vs. la or un vs. une) and their numbers (singular vs. plural). After verifying all this in each sentence, I make sure the verb agrees with the subject according to its gender and number. I also look at the adjectives and follow the same rule. French adjectives are very tricky, especially for English speakers. French adjectives will vary unlike their English counterparts, which remain invariable. So take a close look at French adjectives and ask yourself: is this adjective masculine or feminine, singular or plural? | When I’m finished with my dictation, I always make sure to reread at least a couple of times before submitting it for correction. As a language instructor, I have found that so many “easy”errors could be avoided by my students if they simply take their time to read their dictation just one more time. I read my dictation with a critical eye, always asking myself: Is this the correct gender? Does the verb agree with its subject? What the the gender of this noun? Is its adjective therefore affected? Did I place all the accent correctly? I know, all this sounds like a real torture to do all this, but following these rules should become easier as you work on more and more dictations. And eventually, this will make you a better French speller. |
Dictation: Vincent au zoo.
Normal speedAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
Slower speedAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
| C’est aujourd’hui dimanche, et c’est un jour très importantpour le petit Vincent. Vincent va aller au zoo cet après-midi
avec ses parents. Il est très heureux car il aime beaucoup les animaux. Au zoo, il y a des éléphants qui ont de grandes oreilles. Il y a aussi des girafes qui ont un cou très long. Le petit Vincent va regarder les singes dans les arbres. Il va aussi voir des pythons et des boas, mais il a peur des serpents. Il ne va pas les toucher. Il y a un grand gorille dans une cage, et Vincent l’appelle King Kong. King Kong n’est pas méchant. Il adore les petits enfants et les bananes jaunes. Quand il a faim, il est triste. Vincent va être très content de sa visite au zoo. Il va rentrer chez lui tout heureux. |
Today’s Sunday, and it is a very important day for little
Vincent. Vincent is going (to go) to the zoo this afternoon with his parents. He is very happy because he likes animals very much. At the zoo, there are elephants that have big ears. There are also giraffes that have a very long neck. Little Vincent is going to look at monkeys in the trees. He is also going to see pythons and boas, but he is afraid of snakes. He is not going to touch them. There is a big gorilla in a cage, and Vincent calls him King Kong. King Kong is not mean. He adores little children and yellow bananas. When he is hungry, he is sad. Vincent is going to be very happy about his visit at the zoo. He is going to come home all happy. |
Download the PDF version 
Vincent au zoo
Download the mp3 audio track (Normal Speed) 
Vincent au zoo (1)
Download the mp3 audio track (Slower Speed) Vincent au zoo (2)
it’s me again prof…:-)
can i use “parce que” instead of “car” in the sentence (Il est très heureux car il aime beaucoup les
animaux)
Oui, tu peux le faire! (yes, you can do it.)
I had to listen MANY times, but I think I was not so bad!
I mean, French is new to me… I’am Brazilian!
Let me share with you guys what was hard to me (to understand and/or spell):
- Il est très heureux ‘CAR’
- Il va aussi voir des ‘PYTHONS’ et des ‘BOAS’
- Mais il y ‘A PEUR’ des serpents
- Et les ‘BANANES JAUNES’
- Vincent va ‘ÊTRE’ très contant de ‘SA’ visite au zoo.
I loved this website! Thanks a lot!
Can you guys put more dictations please ?:)