Practise listening and shadowing
Paste a reading passage or example sentences and SayText reads them in a natural voice. Tap hard sentences to hear them again, and loop a passage until it sounds familiar.
SayText has around 70 voices. For English alone you can choose American, British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Irish, Indian, South African and Singaporean accents. There is also French (France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland), German (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal).
Voices marked 'Multilingual' read naturally even when a text mixes two languages.
How to do it
- Open saytext.app in Microsoft Edge and paste the passage you are studying.
- Choose the language and accent you want from the voice menu.
- Start at 1.0×, then move up to 1.2–1.5× as it gets easier.
- Members can choose 'Repeat' → 'A passage' (for example sentences 3 to 5) and speak along.
Sound plays in the Microsoft Edge browser (free on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android). If you open SayText in Chrome or Safari, it shows you how to open it in Edge.
Good to know
- The slowest speed is 1.0× (normal speed).
- Put one example sentence per line to hear them one at a time.
- You can also join several texts into a playlist and listen to them in a row.
Frequently asked questions
Which languages are there?
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Korean.
How accurate is the pronunciation?
SayText uses Microsoft's natural AI voices, which sound very human. They are not the same as a recording of a real person, so names and abbreviations are sometimes read differently.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. Install the free Microsoft Edge app on your iPhone or Android phone.
Without signing in you can listen to up to 1,000 characters right away. Create a free account to remove the length limit and to upload files, save MP3s, loop passages and pick up on any device.