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Tongue Twisters around the world
Arabic
Basque
Danish
Dutch
English
Esperanto
Finnish
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Norwegian
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
If you would like to add some please mail them to Alicia
in Texas who is hosting this page.
Here's one my husband remembers from Lebanon:
Khayt hareer a'la hayt khaltee em Khalil.Back to topAlicia in Texas
Here is a list of common tongue twisters in Basque:
1. Olagarroak erro errea larra errean gora.Back to top
2. Akerrak adarrak okerrak ditu, adarrak akerrak okerrak ditu, okerrak akerrak adarrak ditu.
3. Alkipean kapa, kapa alkipean; alkipean kapa, kapa alkipean.
4. Arabako abadearen kapelapean baba-garau bi.
5. Beleak Berreagara zerbait daroa: badaroa, berea daroa; baba errea ahoan daroa.Gotzon Egia
I have to add this very common Danish tongue twister:
Rødgrød med fløde.Back to topBest Wishes Anna
Here is the only one that I know in Dutch, maybe some
natives can add more.
De kat krabt de krullen van de trap.I know there are some Dutch on this list too. One I remember in that language is :Henrik
Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange Lindenlaan.I thought of another too:
Met de grote, grote schaar knipt de knappe kapper haar.
PetraSuddenly thought of a Dutch one:
Hottentottententententoonstelling.
Phwew, that's good for learning to type fast too!Back to topCybèle
Stefan loves tongue twisters right now, so I just can't
pass up sharing
three English /American ones:
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck as much as he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck
wood!Fuzzy-Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy-Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy-Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy,
was he?Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many pecks of pickled
peppers did Peter Piper pick?Sara, still waiting for final election results!
Minnesota, USA
Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran
She sells sea shells on the sea shore!
;-)Berni
Here's my favorite English one:
I saw Esau kissing Kate
Kate saw I saw Esau
Esau saw that I saw Kate
and Kate saw I saw Esau.OK, and one more:
Moses supposes his toeses (toes) are roses,
But Moses supposes erroneously
Because nobody's toeses are roses,
As Moses supposes his toeses to be.
OK one more :)
Betty Botta bought some butter.
"But," said she, "this butter's bitter."
"If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter."
So, she bought some better butter,
Put it in her bitter batter,
Made her bitter batter better.OK, enough, I'll post the rest (I have a book from when I was a kid that I have carefully kept away from my siblings...)
best,
Liz
I ran across a different version of <Liz's entry>
a few years ago, and liked it so much that I
clipped and saved it:
I saw Esau kissing Kate --
The fact is, we all three saw.
For I saw her, and she saw me,
And she saw I saw Esau.Ken
Don't try this one on the kids. In fact, if you
do it fast enough, it's x-rated.
I'm not a pheasant plucker
I'm a pheasant plucker's son
And I'll keep on plucking pheasants
Till the pheasant plucking's done
Try this, repeating as fast as you can:
Unique New YorkUn saludo from Spain
Gerrit Bosma
And then there is the famous, "toy boat".
Repeat it as fast you can.
I can't do it.Bill
rubber baby buggy bumpers
red leather, yellow leather
Susan Dennis
red lorry, yellow lorry
Anne Koth
She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore,
so the shells she sells are sea-shells, that's sure.Anikó in Jamaica
Ne ploru plorulo pro propra plezuro.Back to top
(Don't cry, crybaby, because of your own pleasure.)Thomas Alexander
Here's one in Finnish:
Kokoa kokoon koko kokko.
(Gather together the whole bonfire.)and another one:
Tuuli tuli tulliin.
(The wind/Tuuli [girls name] came to the customs office.)And here the toughest one that I could find:
Katsastuseste-ratsastatkos vai yksikseskos yskiskelet?
(Are you riding with inspection prohibitions or coughing by yourself?)
-Lua-Back to top
Here is a list of a few French tongue twisters I used to use with my students, although I really have no idea how "authentic" any of these are. Perhaps some native Francophones might wish to add some that they remember from their childhood:
(Sorry, I don't have a French keyboard so I'm going
to leave out all the accents except the é.)
1. Didon dinait au dos d'un dodo dindon.
2. Le ver vert va vers le verre vert.
3. Ces six saucissons-ci sont six sous les six.
4. Tas de riz tenta tas de rats.
5. La robe rouge de Rosalie est ravissante.
6. Ton thé t'a-t-il oté ta toux?
7. Notre grosse brosse rose sort du port de Bordeaux.
8. Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien.
9. S'il pleut sur vos fleurs bleues, il se peut qu'une ou deux pleurent.
10. Trois gros rats gris dans trois grands troux creux.
11. La blouse que tu as voulue n'a pas du tout plu a tous.
12. Trois pruneaux crus, trois pruneaux cuits.
13. Fais secher ses chaussures sous le feu.
14. J'ai acheté un bon pain blanc qui pese onze cent vingt et un grammes
15. Il palpe avec calme quelques algues pleines de pulpe.
16. Sa lampe a huile a lui toute la nuit sous les tuiles.
17. Il prend son dessert dans le désert.
18. Si six scies sient six cypres, 606 scies scient 606 cypres.
19. Je veux et j'exige d'exquises excuses.
20. L'évocation doit précéder l'élocution.
21. L'assassin sur son sein sucait son sang sans cesse.
22. Ciel! si ceci ce sait ses soins sont sans succes.
23. Un taxi attaque six taxis.
24. Poisson sans boisson, c'est poison!
25. Le fisc fixe expres chaque taxe fixe excessive exclusivement au luxe et a
l'exquis.Alicia in Texas
Here's the only one I know:
Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles seches ou archi-seches?Here's another one that my husband always says...Katie
Si ton tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.Stacey in Connecticut, USA
Fischers Fritz fischt frische FischeBack to top
frische Fische fischt Fischers FritzBlaukraut bleibt Blaukraut
und Brautkleid bleibt BrautkleidSabine Laukart, Sonja Riedel
Fischer's Fritze fischte frische Fische, frische Fische fischte Fischer's Fritze.
(The fisher's mate fished fresh fish, fresh fish was fished by the fisher's mate)Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid, Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut.
(A bride's dress is always a bride's dress, blue cabbage(?) is always blue cabbage)Kleine Kinder können keine kleinen Kirschkerne knacken.
(Small children can't crack little cherry stones)Anne Koth
Two Hungarian ones:
Répa, retek, mogyoró, korán reggel ritkán rikkant a rigó.Back to top
(Carrot, radish, peanut, early in the morning the thrush / the bird/ rarely shrieks.)
The objective of this is to practice the r sound, similar to that in
Spanish (the single "ere"), which many children have a problem with.
(Pronouncing it "weak", kind of like in German, is considered a speech
defect in Hungarian.) Therefore I suspect that the Spanish twister
somebody mentioned some time ago (rápido corren las ruedas del
ferrocarril) might serve this purpose as well, rather than being
intended only for foreigners.Mit sütsz, kis szûcs? Sós húst sütsz, kis szûcs?
(s=sh, sz=s cs=ch What are you roasting, little furrier? Are you
roasting salt meat, little furrier? /person who makes fur coats/)
This one is almost impossible!Anikó in Jamaica
Sopra la panca la capra cantaHere's some Italian ones, in Italian we call them "scioglilingua".
sotto la panca la capra crepa
Se oggi seren non e'
domani seren sara'
se non sara seren
si rasserenera'Stefania
Trentatre trentini entrarono a trento, tutti e trentratre trotterellando
E se l'arcivescovo di Costantinopoli si
disarcivescovocostantinopolizzasse,
ti disarcivescovocostantinopolizzeresti anche tu?
Tigre contro tigre
Apelle, figlio di Apollo,
fece una palla di pelle di pollo.
Tutti i pesci vennero a galla,
per mangiare la palla
di pelle di pollo,
fatta da Apelle, figlio di Apollociao
Simon
Sul mare ci sonoBack to top
nove navi nuove
una delle nove
non vuole navigareIl Papa
pesa
e pesta
il pepe
a Pisa
e Pisa
pesa
e pesta
il pepe
al Papa.Trentatre trentini entrarono
trotterellando in Trento,
tutti e trentatre trotterellando.Se la serva non ti serve,
a che serve che ti serva
di una serva che non serve?
Serviti di una serva che serve,
e se questa non ti serve,
serviti dei miei servi.Se l'arcivescovo di Costantinopoli
si volesse arcivescovoscostantinopolizzare,
vi arcivescovocostantinopolizzereste voi
per arcivescovoscostantinopolizzare lui?Tre tozzi di pan secco
in tre strette tasche stanno;
in tre strette tasche stan
tre tozzi di pan secco.Sereno e'
seren sar`;
se non sar` seren
si rasserener`Chi troppo in alto sal cade sovente
precipitevolissimevolmenteSa chi sa se sa chi sa
che se sa non sa se sa,
sol chi sa che nulla sa
ne sa piy di chi ne sa.Dietro a quel palazzo
c'i un povero cane pazzo.
Date un pezzo di pane
a quel povero pazzo cane.Sul tagliere l'aglio taglia.
Non tagliare la tovaglia.
La tovaglia non i aglio.
Se la tagli fai uno sbaglio.Orrore, orrore, un ramarro verde su un muro marrone!
"C'h il questore in questura a quest'ora?"
"No non c'h il questore in questura a quest'ora,
perchi se il questore fosse in questura a quest'ora
sarebbe questa la questura!"Andavo a Lione cogliendo cotone,
tornavo correndo cotone cogliendo.Valeria
The only Japanese tongue twister I know:
Aka pajama ki pajama cha pajamaHow about:Rachel & Amy (6m)
Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamagoI can add a couple of more famous ones:and:
Tokyo tokkyo kyoka kyoku
Second one is really hard!
Jade
Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da.Kappa kapparatta kapp rappa kapparatta totte chitte ta!
Junko
Ok, here are 3 Norwegian ones
Æ E I A ÆBack to top
Æ E I A Æ ÅIbsens ripsbusker og andre buskvekster.
Stekt torsk, kokt torsk.
Kari Moe in Turkey.
S'c'istite pes'ce s cestis'c'a.(The signs s' is a ¹ and c' is a è, if you can see them. That's a s/c with an upside-down ^ sign over them.)
Ded pod klopjo.
KittyBack to top
Here's a couple. Hope they'll do.
Tres tristes tigres comían trigo en un trigal (tough one!)El cielo está enladrillado
Quién lo desenladrillará
El desenladrillador que lo desenladrille
Buen desenladrillador será.Rachel
Un tigre, dos tigres, tres tigres comían trigo en un trigal.
Enjoy...
Liz
Various forms of my favorite one have already been
given, but here's how I
learned it:
En un plato de trigo, tres tristes tigres trigo comieron.Back to topAnother sort of one--at least, it's definitely one for non-native speakers,
is about the "r"s:R con r cigarro, r con r barril,
rápido corren los carros cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril.Sheila
Si tu gusto gustara del gusto que gusta a mi gusto gustariamos los dos del mismo gusto
pero como tu gusto no gusta del gusto que gusta a mi gusto menudo disgusto se lleva mi gusto
al saber que tu gusto no gusta del gusto que gusta a mi gusto.El perro de San Roque
no tiene Rabo
porque Ramon Rodriguez
se lo ha cortadoand another one:
Juan Oleas no leas
Por que? esque leo mal papa?
No hijo pero no leas no leas.cheers,
Maria
Pablito clavó un clavito
qué clavito clavó Pablito?El presidente de la República
ha dicho al público de la República
que el agua pública se va a acabar.
Para que el público de la República lleve agua pública
de la República a la ciudad.Ay chundarataratachúndara
ay chundarataratachón
ay chunda, las señoritas
que llevan el polisón.El herrero tiene un perro
tracatán, tracatán, tran, tran
que toma lo que le dan,
ladra mucho si son palos,
tracatán, tracatán, tran, tran,
mueve el rabo cuando es pan.Patricia
Luxembourg
Here are two from my childhood:
Sex laxar i en laxask.Back to topSju sjösjuka sjömän
sköttes av sju undersköna sjuksköterskor
på skeppet Shang Hai.Hälsningar, Henrik
Icannot remember any in Norwegian at themoment, but
here are some Turkish; (some of the Turkish letters are writtenaccording
to your keyboards.)
Dal sarkar kartal kalkar, kartal kalkar dal sarkar.
Su duvari badanamalimi, badanamamalimi.
Su köse kis kösesi, su köse yaz kösesi ortada su sisesi.
Bir berber bir berbere gel beraber bir berber dükkani acalim demis.
Bu yogurdu sarimsaklasaktami saklasak, sarimsaklamasaktami saklasak.
Greetings from a warm and sunny Side (+25 degrees today).Back to top
Kari Moe
And if this wasn't enough Nathalie gave us this page: http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/index.htm
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LAST UPDATED 3 JANUARY 2001