"Total dictation" about the history of Pushkin's family started in Russia

The "Total Dictation" started in Russia on April 18. The theme of 2026 was the story of the poet Alexander Pushkin's family — participants will have not just a literacy test, but a real literary immersion. The details were told by Izvestia correspondent Alexander Orlov.

Once a year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world try on the mantle of linguistics — challenge themselves and remember where the dash really is. Participants are offered a 250-300-word text, while the authors of these texts have maintained a balance between a difficult grammar test and an interesting narrative.

Total Dictation is becoming a portal back to school days, which has been opened for the 22nd time. Whole families come to check their knowledge of the Russian language. For example, one participant regularly joins the campaign and has now invited her spouse.

"My wife called me. She loves events very much. She and her friend used to go all the time, but now they went together. Apparently, this is now a family tradition," said participant Sergey Belkin.

Every year, participants are offered a new topic. This time there is a text about Alexander Pushkin's childhood, which is read not only by teachers or philologists, but also by special guests. For example, in St. Petersburg, forecaster Yuri Dormidontov acted as an announcer at one of the venues.

Along with the theme, the capital of "Total Dictation" also changes every year. This time it is Ulan-Ude, from where the author Alexey Varlamov read his own text. His text has been translated into more than 30 languages. There, in Ulan-Ude, Pushkin's childhood story was read in Buryat.

"To be honest, I don't feel very calm. I have never written a "Total Dictation" myself, but I have dictated texts from my colleagues several times. I ran my eyes over it now and thought: it should have been different here, it should have been fixed. That's the author's feeling," he shared.

Total Dictation 2026 is taking place in Russia and abroad. What is known

Vyacheslav Belyakov, director of the Total Dictation Foundation, based on the results of the previous Total Dictation, reported that the percentage of excellent students reaches 50% among those who participated the third or more times. He specified that a huge number of people, participating in dictation, can improve their literacy in a few years.