Back to main index of the Bilingual Pages

Other stuff

The "Exchange of Hospitality Project" Songs in different languages Member's Recommended Buys Cookery Corner Off-Topic Recommendations Tongue Twisters around the world

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.


ARABIC

Here's one my husband remembers from Lebanon:
 

Khayt hareer a'la hayt khaltee em Khalil.

Alicia in Texas

Back to top


BASQUE

Here is a list of common tongue twisters in Basque:

1. Olagarroak erro errea larra errean gora.
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

Back to top


DANISH

I have to add this very common Danish tongue twister:
 

Rødgrød med fløde.

Best Wishes  Anna

Back to top



DUTCH

Here is the only one that I know in Dutch, maybe some natives can add more.
 

De kat krabt de krullen van de trap.

Henrik

I know there are some Dutch on this list too.  One I remember in that language is :
Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange Lindenlaan.

I thought of another too:

Met de grote, grote schaar knipt de knappe kapper haar.

Petra
Suddenly thought of a Dutch one:
 
Hottentottententententoonstelling.
Phwew, that's good for learning to type fast too!

Cybèle

Back to top


ENGLISH

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 York

Un 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


Back to top


ESPERANTO
Ne ploru plorulo pro propra plezuro.
(Don't cry, crybaby, because of your own pleasure.)

Thomas Alexander

Back to top


FINNISH

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



FRENCH

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?

Katie
 
 

Here's another one that my husband always says...
 
Si ton tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.

Stacey in Connecticut, USA


Back to top


GERMAN
Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische
frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz

Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut
und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid

Sabine 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

Back to top



HUNGARIAN

Two Hungarian ones:

Répa, retek, mogyoró, korán reggel ritkán rikkant a rigó.
(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

Back to top



ITALIAN
Sopra la panca la capra canta
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 Apollo

    ciao
  Simon
 
 

Here's some Italian ones, in Italian we call them "scioglilingua".
Sul mare ci sono
nove navi nuove
una delle nove
non vuole navigare

Il 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
precipitevolissimevolmente

Sa 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

Back to top


JAPANESE

The only Japanese tongue twister I know:

Aka pajama ki pajama cha pajama

Rachel & Amy (6m)
 

How about:
 
Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago

and:

Tokyo tokkyo kyoka kyoku

Second one is really hard!

Jade
 

I can add a couple of more famous ones:
 
Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da.

Kappa kapparatta kapp rappa kapparatta totte chitte ta!

Junko


Back to top


NORWEGIAN

Ok, here are 3 Norwegian ones

Æ E I A Æ
Æ E I A Æ Å

Ibsens ripsbusker og andre buskvekster.

Stekt torsk, kokt torsk.

Kari Moe in Turkey.

Back to top



SLOVENIAN


S'c'istite pes'ce s cestis'c'a.
Ded pod klopjo.
(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.)
Kitty
Back to top



SPANISH

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.

Another 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 cortado

and 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

Back to top


SWEDISH

Here are two from my childhood:

Sex laxar i en laxask.

Sju sjösjuka sjömän
sköttes av sju undersköna sjuksköterskor
på skeppet Shang Hai.

Hälsningar, Henrik

Back to top


TURKISH

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).
Kari Moe
Back to top

And if this wasn't enough Nathalie gave us this page: http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/index.htm



 
Back to main index of the Bilingual Pages

LAST UPDATED 3 JANUARY 2001