What is dictation called in Hindi?

Dictation is called श्रुतलेखन (śrutlekhan) in Hindi ¹. The English word dictation names the exercise where you write down a passage someone reads aloud, and the Hindi noun covers the same exercise. If you search for either spelling you will find the same practice, which our guide to dictation for language learning describes in full.

Two spellings appear in two dictionaries

HinKhoj, a commercial English-Hindi dictionary, gives श्रुतलेख (śrutlekh) as the Hindi meaning of dictation ². The Wiktionary entry gives the longer form, श्रुतलेखन.

We found no official ruling on which spelling is standard. If your class, school or exam uses one spelling in its materials, follow it. Otherwise, search with the longer श्रुतलेखन first, since it is the form Wiktionary lists.

The verb dictate has a sense for writing down and a sense for giving orders

The verb is less tidy. HinKhoj lists हुक्म देना (to give orders) as the first Hindi meaning of dictate ³. The second meaning is लिखवाना (likhvaana, to have something written down), and its example is a lawyer who dictates a letter to a secretary for typing ⁴.

So when you mean "to dictate a letter to someone", लिखवाना fits better than हुक्म देना. This is one dictionary's ordering and examples, not a rule of Hindi, so check a second source if the sentence matters. For the exercise or the test, use the noun.

A dictation test asks students to write a passage down

A dictation is a test in which a piece of writing is dictated to students learning a foreign language ⁵. That is the classroom sense of the word.

Hindi dictation also appears in exams. The Staff Selection Commission's 2016 Grade C stenography test gave candidates 10 minutes of dictation in English and 10 in Hindi, then 40 minutes to transcribe the English passage and 55 minutes to transcribe the Hindi one ⁶. That test is a professional stenography exam, so its timing is specific to it, but it shows that Hindi dictation is part of at least one public exam.

Hindi dictation on a phone depends on the setting

Dictation in Hindi is not always available in every mode. Apple's iOS and iPadOS feature availability page lists Hindi (India) in its general Dictation section, while Hindi is absent from its separate On-Device and Modeless Dictation section ⁷. Check which mode your device uses before you build a daily routine. Our guide to Hindi voice typing covers the device side in more detail.

What to do with the word

1. Search with श्रुतलेखन first, then try श्रुतलेख if you get no results.
2. Ask your teacher or check the exam notice for the spelling used in the material.
3. Practice with the method in our dictation guide: listen to a short Hindi passage, write what you hear, compare with the original, and repeat.
4. Check your device's Hindi setting before you rely on voice typing for practice.

If you want word lists rather than the translation, our page on Hindi dictation words without matra covers that. For the general question of whether dictation helps language learners, see whether dictation is good for language learning.