1. Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: an audio specimen generator for playing a pre-recorded reference audio specimen to a user for attempted repetition thereby; a reference audio specimen library in which reference audio specimens are stored and to which the audio specimen generator has access, wherein said audio specimen library comprises a multiplicity of recordings of speaker dependent audio specimens produced by a plurality of speech models; a speaker independent parameter database storing a plurality of speaker independent references which are different from the reference audio specimens stored in said reference audio specimen library; and an audio specimen scorer for scoring a user's repetition audio specimen by comparison of at least one parameter of the user's repetition audio specimen with a speaker independent reference, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.