Speak Shakespeare: Shadowing

Maxim Oransky

In-app purchases

About this app

Work on your English pronunciation word by word with Shakespeare's Sonnets.

A narrator reads a line. You read it back, and the moment you finish the app shows which words you pronounced correctly and which ones need more work.

The text stays open on the screen the whole time. This is not memory work: nothing to recall, nothing hidden. You work on the sound of each word and the flow of the line.

The reference reading has already passed the same check. Every recording is tested before release, so you can work toward a standard the narrator has demonstrated.

HOW IT WORKS

Pick a sonnet and hear it read straight through in one continuous take.
Read the line aloud and get a word-by-word result as soon as you finish.
Practice one line at a time or take on a whole stanza. Both modes are always available.
Return to any passage as often as you need. There are no penalties for attempts and no deadline: it counts when every word is pronounced correctly.
Play your own recording back and compare it with the narrator.

WHAT IT IS FOR

English pronunciation, practiced word by word on Shakespeare's best-known verse.
Shadowing: read just after a voice to practice rhythm and intonation.
Keeping every word clear through the end of a long line.
Listening to the complete Sonnets whenever you want to hear the reading again.

YOUR SCORE

Earn points the first time you complete a new line, stanza or whole sonnet, plus a little on each day you complete something new. The score grows with newly completed material, so it records how much of the book you have truly finished.

THE COMPLETE BOOK

All 154 sonnets are recorded in Shakespeare's original order and arranged in six parts. Together they form a complete course of reading aloud, with a last page you can actually reach.

Part of the book is open from the start. A single purchase unlocks the rest permanently. There is no subscription.

ON YOUR DEVICE

Speech recognition runs on your phone. Your voice does not leave it, there is no account, and after the first launch the practice works without a connection. That first launch downloads the recognizer and the recordings, which takes a few minutes on a slow connection.

What’s new

Complete Shakespeare reading practice with saved progress, recordings, and on-device speech recognition.