Help

Answers to how learnfaz works and what to do when something doesn't go the way you expect.

How do I use learnfaz?

Reading English and hearing it are different skills. Real speech runs fast, words join together, and accents vary. The way to get better at it is to listen closely to short pieces and write down exactly what you heard.

1. Pick a video and press Start. Coming back, Continue picks up where you stopped.
2. The video plays one phrase and stops on its own. Press Shift+Enter, or Repeat, to hear it again.
3. Type what you heard.
4. Press Enter to check. You see which words you missed, and what was said. Tap any word to hear it alone.
5. Press Enter again to continue, or Show answer if you are stuck.

Is there a tour?

A short tour points at each control and says what it is for. Take it on the home page or, while practising, from Dictation settings.

How is my answer checked?

Only the words matter. Capital letters, commas and full stops are ignored, and a contraction counts the same as its full form — I'm and I am are the same answer. What you get back is a word-by-word comparison, so you can see exactly where your ear went wrong rather than just a score.

Where do the videos come from?

Every video is a real, complete video on YouTube, chosen by us and played from YouTube. We mark out natural pieces of speech in it — a sentence, a clause, a turn in a conversation — and the player stops at the end of each one. Nothing is cut up or re-hosted.

Do I need an account?

There is nothing to sign up for. Your progress is kept in this browser and nowhere else, so it follows the device rather than you. You can erase it at any time.

I lost my progress. What happened?

Progress is saved only in this browser — it is never sent anywhere. Clearing this browser's data, using a private/incognito window, or opening learnfaz on a different device or browser all mean starting fresh, because the progress never left the browser it was saved in.

Does it work on my phone? Do I need headphones?

learnfaz works in a phone or tablet's browser, no app required. Headphones make quiet sounds easier to catch, but any way you can hear the video clearly works.