Did you know that the second Sunday in November is International Tongue Twister Day? This is a day which celebrates those odd phrases which challenge you to pronounce tricky sound combinations as fast as you can. They can be short phrases (“red lorry, yellow lorry”) or whole verses (about Betty Botter, who bought a bit of butter, or Peter Piper, who picked a peck of pickled pepper, for example…)
Whatever the length, tongue twisters certainly are worth celebrating! As well as a bit of silly fun, they also offer several more serious benefits which make them a valuable tool in the language classroom. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the benefits offered by tongue twisters, and give some suggestions for how they can be used with learners.
Some benefits of tongue twisters
Tongue twisters are a light-hearted and entertaining way of engaging with the target language. The funny and/or ridiculous images they conjure up help to create a relaxed atmosphere, and to make learning overall more fun – and more effective.
Some of the more particular benefits offered by tongue twisters include:
– an effective exercise to strengthen the muscles used for speech. This helps develop clearer and more precise articulation, and benefits not only pronunciation, but also speech in general. Many people who need to speak in public use tongue twisters to improve enunciation in their native language, and language learners can get the same benefits in the target language too.
– an entertaining and motivating way to practice the particular sounds of the target language – and especially those unusual sounds which are hardest for learners to master: the “th” sound in English, for example, or the “ö” sound in Finnish.
Since tongue twisters often involve similar sounds which can easily be confused, they give learners the chance to focus on the (often small) differences between them and on the exact way in which each needs to be formed in the vocal tract. Frequent repetition of those sounds helps to perfect pronunciation, so that there is less chance of confusion when learners speak.
– the chance for learners to get used to the rhythms of a language and to develop those natural speech rhythms for themselves. Practicing tongue twisters can help improve fluency and reduce hesitation when speaking.
– a good way to broaden vocabulary. Since the emphasis is on combining words with similar sounds, tongue twisters often contain a few more unusual words and/or word combinations. The images that they conjure up are often comic or striking, which helps retention of vocabulary, as does the frequent repetition of the same words.
– compact and focused teaching resources. Using a few tongue twisters in class does not take up a lot of time. Being short and often comic, they also stick easily in the mind, so that it is easier for learners to remember and repeat them later too.
– reduction of language anxiety. Tongue twisters are tricky for everyone to say – even native speakers. When mistakes are normal, and even expected, this can help reduce anxiety and encourage even more reticent learners to have a go.
Using tongue twisters in class
Here are some tried and tested ways to use tongue twisters with adult learners.
– As a warmup exercise at the start of a class. Give learners the challenge of repeating a few tongue twisters, slowly at first, and then as fast as they can. This gets them talking and works as a useful icebreaker. Choosing tongue twisters based on particular sound sets or on particular topics can help to introduce themes that you will be working on in class that day.
– Before presentations and talks to the class. Learners are often nervous at the prospect of talking to the rest of the class; asking them to say a few tongue twisters both takes their mind off the nerves, and gets their speaking muscles warmed up.
– As enrichment in pronunciation classes. Learners who have completed the basic assignments really enjoy practicing the same sounds in a more challenging and entertaining way through tongue twisters. Tongue twisters help to develop their vocabulary too.
– Encouraging active use of the language. Ask learners to create their own tongue twisters. This helps to review both vocabulary as they search for appropriate words, and grammar, as they have to fit the words they have chosen into short, concise sentences.
– For cultural and linguistic exchange. If you have groups of learners from different language backgrounds, it is interesting to ask them to share a few of their own traditional tongue twisters. Learners enjoy talking about their own language, while classmates enjoy the challenge of trying to say them. This activity offers the chance to look at linguistic differences, and cultural differences too: tongue twisters tend to be old, and so will often talk about more traditional customs and concepts.
Plenty of benefits and potential uses, then. We hope that this inspires you to make use of this wonderful resource in your classroom, or in your own language learning.
Where to find suitable tongue twisters?
– This website has tongue twisters in many languages. To see the rough English translations, click on the number of the tongue twister. https://www.tongue-twister.net/index.htm
– Try online searches for tongue twisters for your target sound in the target language. This should yield useful lists and/or videos of people saying them.
– For particularly tricky sounds, search also for speech therapy resources, which will have lists of words which some native speakers will need more practice pronouncing.
– You could also ask AI to generate words, phrases and sentences focused on particular sounds. This generally works well in more common languages. For less common languages, results may not be so useful. And, as ever, be sure to check AI outputs carefully, whatever the language.
To finish, here are some of our favourite tongue twisters from project languages. How well can you say them?!
English
Say these three times in a row, as fast as you can:
– The chic Sikh’s sixty-sixth sheep is sick.
– He threw three free throws.
– Red bug’s blood, bed bug’s blood.
– Wild vines make fine vintage wines.
Finnish
– Vesihiisi sihisi hississä
(the water troll hissed in the elevator)
– Kokoo koko kokko! Koko kokkoko? Koko kokko.
(Conversation: Build the whole bonfire! The whole bonfire? The whole bonfire.)
– Itsekseskös itkeskelet, yksikseskös yskiskelet (are you crying by yourself, are you coughing alone?)
German
– „Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische. Frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz.“
(Fisherman Fritz fishes for fresh fish. Fresh fish are fished by fisherman Fritz)
– „Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid“
(Red cabbage remains red cabbage and a wedding dress remains a wedding dress.)
– „Zehn zahme Ziegen zogen zehn Zentner Zucker zum Zoo”
(Ten tame goats pulled ten hundredweight of sugar to the zoo)
Italian
– Apelle, figlio di Apollo, fece una palla di pelle di pollo; tutti i pesci vennero a galla per vedere la palla di pelle di pollo fatta da Apelle, figlio di Apollo.
(Apelles, son of Apollo, made a ball of chicken skin; all the fish came to the surface to see the ball of chicken skin made by Apelles, son of Apollo)
– Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento, tutti e trentatré trotterellando.
(Thirty-three people from Trento entered Trento, all thirty-three trotting)
Greek
– Aspri petra xexaspri ki ap’ ton ilio xexasproteri (άσπρη πέτρα ξέξασπρη κι απ’ τον ήλιο ξεξασπρότερη)
(white stone, very white, and compared to the sun even more white)
– o papas o pachis efage pachia faki, giati papa paxi efages paxia faki? (ο παππάς ο παχύς έφαγε παχιά φακή, γιατί παπά παχύ έφαγες παχιά φακή;)
(the fat priest ate fat lentils, why, fat priest, did you eat fat lentils?)
– mia papia ma pia papia, mia papia me papia (μια πάπια μα ποια πάπια, μια πάπια με παπιά)
(a duck but which duck, a duck with ducklings)
Spanish
– tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal
(Three sad tigers were swallowing wheat in a wheat field.)
– el perro de San Roque no tiene rabo, porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha cortado
(Saint Roch’s dog has no tail, because Ramón Ramírez cut it off.)
– Pablito clavó un clavito, ¿qué clavito clavó Pablito?
(Little Pablo hammered a little nail, what little nail did Little Pablo hammer?)
