Dictation is when one person speaks words aloud for another person to write down exactly. In a classroom, a teacher might read a passage slowly while students write every word, practicing their spelling and listening skills. Before computers and recording devices were common, business executives would dictate letters to secretaries, who would transcribe them using shorthand or typewriters.

When a doctor examines a patient, she might dictate notes into a recorder, describing what she observes so the information can be typed up later for the patient's medical file.

Dictation requires careful attention from both the speaker and the listener. The speaker must talk clearly and at a reasonable pace, while the listener must concentrate on catching every word. Students sometimes take dictation to improve their spelling and punctuation, since they have to think about where commas and periods belong while writing down spoken sentences.

Modern technology has created a new kind of dictation: voice-to-text software that converts spoken words into typed text on a screen. Whether you're using old-fashioned pen and paper or modern speech recognition, dictation turns spoken language into written words.