Tongue twisters are a collection of words or phrases that are difficult to say correctly. They are also a great tool for language learners to use to practise their English pronunciation. These fun phrases can be difficult for even native speakers, with confusing alliteration and combinations of similar words. Practising these challenging sentences out loud will help you to get the hang of various sounds and get your pronunciation just right.
You should start by saying the tongue twister slowly, repeating it and then building up speed. Try to say the tongue twister a few times in a row, as fast as you can, for a bigger challenge. Practise the following tongue twisters several times a day and see if you notice any improvement in your pronunciation.
Start off with some easier tongue twisters:
- She sells seashells by the seashore
- Rolling red wagons
- A proper copper coffee pot
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
Move on to some medium difficulty tongue twisters:
- A big black bug snoozed on a big black rug
- A pessimistic pest exists amidst us
- If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch?
- A big bug bit a bold bald bear and the bold bald bear bled blood badly
And finally, some difficult tongue twisters to try:
- The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick
- Can you can a canned can into an un-canned can like a canner can can a canned can into an un-canned can?
- When a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as the doctor being doctored wants to be doctored or does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor?
- Betty Botter had some butter, “but” she said, “this butter's bitter. If I bake this bitter butter, it would make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter – that would make my batter better." So she bought a bit of butter, better than her bitter butter, and she baked it in her batter, and the batter was not bitter. So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
How did you get on? Soon enough you’ll have perfect pronunciation skills. If you’d like to brush up on some other aspects of English learning, read our previous blog post that will tell you 10 unusual words to add to your English vocabulary.