Dikterer

Dikterer is the present tense form of the verb diktere in Norwegian and Danish, meaning to dictate — to speak words aloud for someone else to write down or record. The form is used for all persons in the present tense, for example: jeg dikterer, du dikterer, han dikterer.

In practice, diktering is common in offices, legal and medical contexts, or when a person needs to have a text produced without typing it themselves. A speaker may dictate a letter, a report, or a draft to a secretary, transcriptionist, or voice recorder. The act is often contrasted with writing directly by the author, and it can be performed aloud to be transcribed later or to be captured by speech recognition devices.

The word derives from the Latin dictare, meaning to say or prescribe aloud, and has cognates in several European languages. In contemporary usage, diktering can involve human transcription as well as automated systems, such as dictation software. Advances in speech recognition have changed how dictation is performed in many contexts, offering faster transcription and digital storage, while also raising considerations around accuracy, privacy, and editing requirements.

Dikterer remains a standard term in Norwegian and Danish for the act of dictation. It is distinct from related nouns such as diktering or dictation, which refer to the process or result of dictating rather than the verb itself. See also dictation and speech recognition for related concepts.