Is there an app that checks my Russian pronunciation?

Yes. TonePerfect listens to you say a Russian word or sentence and scores the whole recording, each word and every sound inside each word from 0 to 100, including the reduced vowels of unstressed syllables, so a full o in молоко where the vowel should be reduced shows up as a wrong sound. Soft and hard consonants and ы are scored as sounds of their own.

You can try it free on this page, in the browser, with no signup; stress marks appear as you type. The TonePerfect app (iOS, Android and web) does the same for lessons, reviews of your weakest sounds and any text you type.

Updated 30 October 2026 · Written by TonePerfect, which makes the app described here.

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What it checks

Russian: every sound, including the reduced vowels of unstressed syllables.
TonePerfect aligns your recording with the text you were asked to say and scores the whole recording, each word and each individual sound inside each word, from 0 to 100.
You read a known text (a test prompt or anything you type), so the score describes how you said exactly those words.
Your weakest sounds are ranked, so you know what to practise first.

the 'ы' sound (быть): Say 'ee' but pull the whole tongue back and down slightly, lips relaxed (not smiling). It feels like 'ee' said in the throat. Try б-ы: быть, сыр, мы.
soft (palatalized) consonants — брат vs брать: Almost every Russian consonant comes in a hard and a soft version. For soft ть, the tongue tip stays at the teeth while the tongue body presses up to the palate; it can sound almost like a very light 'ts'. This is the difference between брат and брать.
the rolled 'р' sound (раз): Tap or roll the tongue tip against the ridge behind the teeth — like Spanish 'r'. Start by saying 'd-d-d' quickly and let the tip flutter. Never the English 'r'.
the soft 'рь' sound (теперь): Roll the r while the tongue body squeezes up toward the palate — 'ry' in one sound. One of the hardest Russian sounds; start slow: ря, ри, рё.
the 'щ' sound (женщина): A LONG soft 'sh' with the tongue far forward — like 'fresh sheets' said quickly as one hiss. Never the hard, dark ш; hold it a beat longer.
the 'ш' sound (школа): 'sh' with the tongue pulled BACK and the lips slightly rounded — deeper and darker than English 'sh'. Always hard: ши sounds like 'shih', with ы — never 'shee'.
the 'ч' sound (час): 'ch' as in 'cheap', always soft in Russian — the tongue body stays high; ча sounds closer to 'chya'.
the 'х' sound (хлеб): A breathy sound where 'k' is made, but the air keeps flowing — like Scottish 'loch' or German 'Bach'. Don't replace it with English 'h' or 'k'.
unstressed о → а (молоко): Unstressed о right before the stress, or at the start of a word, is said as а; further from the stress it shrinks to a quick 'uh': молоко sounds like 'muh-la-KO'. For that а, open your mouth and relax the tongue low, as in 'father' but shorter.
hard 'л' vs soft 'ль' (слово / только): The hard л is 'dark': tongue tip on the upper teeth while the back of the tongue bunches up — like the l in 'full', never the light l of 'leaf'. The soft ль is the opposite: a light l like the 'lli' in 'million', tongue body pressed to the palate.
the 'ж' sound (жизнь): The voiced partner of ш — like the 's' in 'measure', but with the tongue further back. Always hard: жи sounds like 'zhy'.
the 'ц' sound (лицо): 't' and 's' fused into one crisp sound, like the end of 'cats'. Always hard, even before и: ци sounds like 'tsy'.

What it does not do

It does not return a transcript of what you said.
It does not tell you which sound it thought you said instead of the expected one. The exception is Mandarin tones, where it shows which tone it heard.
It does not give an exam grade, or a CEFR, HSK, JLPT or TOPIK level.
It does not score sentence intonation, sentence stress or Japanese pitch accent.

What makes any automatic check less reliable

Background noise, music or other voices.
A clipped start, when the recording begins after you have started speaking.
Whispering, which has no voiced pitch to measure.
Very fast connected speech, where words and syllables run into each other.

How to check any Russian pronunciation checker in two minutes

Go somewhere quiet, hold the microphone close and speak at normal volume.
Record молоко (milk) the Russian way: only the last o is stressed, the first two are reduced (ma-la-KO).
Record молоко again with three full o’s, as it is spelled.
A checker that hears Russian vowel reduction must score the first two vowels lower in the second take. If both takes score the same, it is not judging those sounds.
Do the same with брать (to take) said with a hard т, like брат (brother).
Repeat each take three times. One take can be off; the pattern over three takes is what counts.
To run it on TonePerfect, type the words into the recorder at the top of this page.

Other ways to get feedback on your Russian

A teacher or tutor. Hears everything, including rhythm and melody that no app scores, and can explain what to change. Only available during lessons, and paid by the hour (for example on italki or Preply).
Recording yourself next to native audio. Free and always available: Forvo has words recorded by native speakers and YouGlish plays a word inside real videos. You are the judge, which works once your ear can already hear the difference.
The Russian stress marker on this site. Free. Puts stress marks and ё on any text, so you know which vowel to stress and which to reduce before you record.
Your phone’s dictation. Switch the keyboard to the language and dictate. If the right text comes out, you were understood. It is free, but speech recognition guesses words from context, so it forgives many mistakes and never says which sound was off.
Speaking exercises in course apps (Duolingo, Babbel, Rosetta Stone). Useful practice, but they usually mark a whole word or phrase right or wrong instead of scoring each sound.

Questions

Does it check stress?+

There is no separate stress score. Because the vowels of unstressed syllables are scored as reduced vowels, full vowels where they should be reduced show up as wrong sounds. The recorder shows stress marks on the text you type.

Does it check soft consonants and ы?+

Every sound gets its own score against the sound the word needs, soft consonants and ы included. The two-minute test above (брать said like брат) shows how strictly any checker separates them.

Is TonePerfect free?+

Partly. The pronunciation tests on toneperfect.app are free and need no account, and the app has a free tier with daily limits; Premium is a paid subscription.

Which devices does TonePerfect work on?+

TonePerfect runs on iPhone and iPad (App Store), Android (Google Play) and the web at web.toneperfect.app, and the free tests on toneperfect.app work in a phone or desktop browser once you allow the microphone.

What happens to my recordings?+

It depends on where you record. On toneperfect.app, the free browser tests and tools use your recording to compute your score, and TonePerfect does not store it unless you are signed in, have confirmed you are an adult and have turned on “contribute recordings to research”. In the TonePerfect app, scored recordings are saved with your account until you delete the account.

How accurate is TonePerfect?+

TonePerfect has not published an accuracy figure. Its scores are a practice signal for comparing your own recordings over time and finding your weakest sounds, not a certification or an exam grade.

Free tools

The TonePerfect app turns the sounds you miss into a few minutes of daily practice. Free to start.

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