TONGUE TWISTERS

When you’re learning a new language, tongue-twisters are a great way to practice your pronunciation. Tongue-twisters are sentences or series of words that are hard to say. They often have similar alternating sounds, like ‘s’ and ‘sh’ or ‘p’ and ‘b’.

Want to practice your Chinese pronunciation? Try out these tongue twisters (绕口令ràokǒulìng)! Chinese tongue twisters are much harder than their English counterparts (She sells seashells, Peter Piper etc), because not only do you have the similar sounds to contend with, but also the different tones…See how you get on!

 

FUNNY VIDEO:watch?v=4lH39x7EhgA

 

1.

四是四,十是十,十四是十四,四十是四十;谁把十四说“十适”,就打他十四;谁把四十说“适十”,就打他四十。

sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí; shéi bǎ shísì shuō “shíshì”, jiù dǎ tā shísì, shéi bǎ sìshí shuō “shìshí”, jiù dǎ tā sìshí.

Literally “Four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty. If anyone pronounces “shísì” as “shíshì”, hit them fourteen times, if anyone pronounces “sìshí” as “shìshí”, hit them forty times.”

So many “si” and “shi” sounds! If you can manage that one, I’d say you’re doing pretty well…

2.

八百标兵奔北坡      bā bǎi biāo bīng bēn běi pō

Bobby Bibbit bought a bat.

炮兵并排北边跑      pào bīng bìng pái běi biān pǎo

Bobby Bibbit bought a ball.

炮兵怕把标兵碰      pào bīng pà bǎ biāo bīng pèng

With the bat, Bob banged the ball.

标兵怕碰炮兵炮      biāo bīng pà pèng pào bīng pào

Banged the ball against the wall.

3.

黑化肥发灰,灰化肥发黑。黑化肥发黑不发灰,灰化肥发灰不发黑。
Hēi huà féi fā huī, huī huà féi fā hēi. Hēi huà féi fā hēi bù fā huī, huī huà féi fā huī bù fā hēi.

“Black fertilizers look grey, grey fertilizers look black. Black fertilizers look black, they don’t look grey and grey fertilizers look grey, they don’t look black.

 

 

Editor:WANGYAN