Listening trainer: understand Italian
Ten short listening tasks per round — slow or normal speed.
Listening closely helps you speak.
Listening trainer
Or practise one thing
Read along shows the text with every task straight away. Good for tuning in; answers then do not count, because it is no longer a listening test.
Good to know
Without sound or with hearing loss
Every task has a “Show text” button, and the “Read along” switch always shows the text. Everything works from the keyboard: Tab to the buttons, digits for the answers, Enter to go on.
What happens in a round?
Ten short tasks per round: recognise a word, hear the gap in a sentence, find the stressed syllable, tell two similar sounds apart, follow a dialogue. You decide when something plays — and whether slowly or at normal speed.
Why in small steps?
Listening to a new language means recognising sounds first, then where words begin and end, then the meaning. The trainer practises these steps one by one — and together in the mixed round. Feedback comes at once, so your ear learns what made the difference.
Why practise slowly?
At the start, a slower speed demonstrably helps understanding. Feel free to hear a task twice, slowly first and then at normal speed: the goal is normal speed, but the way there can be slow.
Where do the voices come from?
First, speech generated in advance by this website plays. Where there is no file for it, your browser speaks with its own voices — and switches between them, because words heard from many voices are easier to recognise later. These are not recordings of real speakers, and nothing plays unless you press a button.
Example sentences
A1 Buongiorno, signore.Good morning, sir.
A1 Sono di Berlino.I am from Berlin.
A2 Se ha bisogno di qualcosa, mi chiami.If you need anything, ring me.
A2 Abbiamo deciso di partire domani.We have decided to leave tomorrow.
B1 È invidioso del posto nuovo del collega.He is envious of his colleague’s new post.
B1 Avevo torto su questo punto.I was in the wrong on that point.
B2 La pietra porosa assorbe l’acqua.Porous stone soaks up water.
B2 Il pomeriggio è il momento tranquillo della giornata.The afternoon is the quiet time of the day.
C1 Il populismo vive di risposte semplici a domande difficili.Populism lives on simple answers to hard questions.
C1 La visita merci apre due colli su cento.The physical examination opens two packages in a hundred.
C2 L’accisa sugli alcolici si paga sull’alcol puro.The excise duty on spirits is paid on pure alcohol.
C2 Le visure amministrative rivelano vincoli che nessuno aveva citato.Local authority searches reveal restrictions that nobody had mentioned.