Will you pass your English test?
Every seafarer faces an English test at recruitment. Find out where you stand before the recruiter does.
Most employers expect 70-80% or higher.
- Same sections as real recruitment tests: grammar, vocabulary, time & numbers, reading
- Instant score with breakdown, so you know your weak areas before the real thing
- Made by a Master Mariner with 19 years at sea, from deck boy to Chief Officer
What you will find here
Free English Check
20 original questions in the format used by recruitment tests. Score, section breakdown and an explanation for every answer. Take the test.
Daily 5
Five fresh questions every day. Build a streak and keep your English sharp between contracts. Play today's five.
Guides
Plain-English guides to the tests and requirements every seafarer meets: test formats, scoring, STCW English requirements and how to prepare. Browse the guides.
Glossary
Over 120 maritime terms explained in plain English, from windlass to muster station. Searchable, free. Open the glossary.
SMCP Trainer
All 435 speakable phrases from the IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases, each with a recording in the accents you actually hear at sea. Listen, repeat, or hide the text and train your ear. Start listening.
COLREG Lights
Read a ship at night: 13 vessel types with an interactive trainer where you walk around each one and watch the lights change, then a quiz that plays like a real night watch. Learn the lights or take the watch.
IALA Buoyage
The sea's signposts, mark by mark: lateral marks laid out like a real channel (Region A and B), cardinals as a compass rose, every mark clickable with its animated light. Then a quiz. Learn the marks.
Ship Safety Signs
All 130 pictograms from a ship's bulkheads, explained in plain English: what each sign means, where it hangs and why. Search by colour and shape when you do not know the name, then test yourself in the quiz. Browse the signs.
Coming next: SeamanEnglish Pro
Full-length practice tests with real listening audio, progress tracking and an offline mode that works at sea. See what Pro will include, or leave your e-mail and we will send you one message when it launches. No spam, ever.
Why trust this site
SeamanEnglish is built by a Master Mariner who spent 19 years at sea and now works in crew management, reading test results from the other side of the desk. The materials teach the English that ships actually use, in the format that recruitment tests actually check.