Tongue Twisters from Around the World

Test your pronunciation with tongue twisters in French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Japanese — sorted by difficulty, from gentle warm-ups to fiendish challenges.

  • なまむぎ なまごめ なまたまご (Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago) (Japanese) — A nimble warm-up for the Japanese 'na / ma / ge' syllables. Literally: Raw wheat, raw rice, raw egg..
  • Pablito clavó un clavito, ¿qué clavito clavó Pablito? (Spanish) — A bouncy drill on the 'cl' cluster. Literally: Little Pablo nailed a little nail; which little nail did Pablo nail?.
  • Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. (French) — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler. Literally: A hunter who knows how to hunt must know how to hunt without his dog..
  • Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal. (Spanish) — A relentless run on the 'tr' sound. Literally: Three sad tigers swallowed wheat in a wheatfield..
  • Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische, frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz. (German) — The German 'f' / 'sch' staple. Literally: Fisher's Fritz fishes fresh fish; fresh fish Fisher's Fritz fishes..
  • Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra crepa. (Italian) — A beloved 'c' / 'p' rhythm trap. Literally: On the bench the goat lives; under the bench the goat dies..
  • Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? (French) — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'. Literally: The archduchess's socks — are they dry, super-dry?.
  • El cielo está enladrillado, ¿quién lo desenladrillará? (Spanish) — A brutal test of the rolled 'r' and 'l'. Literally: The sky is bricked; who will un-brick it?.
  • Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid. (German) — A 'bl' / 'br' brain-twister. Literally: Red cabbage stays red cabbage and wedding dress stays wedding dress..
  • Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento tutti e trentatré trotterellando. (Italian) — An unbroken stampede of 'tr' and 't'. Literally: Thirty-three Trentines entered Trento, all thirty-three trotting..
  • 東京特許許可局 (Tōkyō tokkyo kyokakyoku) (Japanese) — A machine-gun of 'kyo' / 'kyoku' sounds. Literally: Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau..
  • Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. (French) — An 's' / 'si' minefield. Literally: If six saws saw six cypresses, six hundred saws saw six hundred cypresses..
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From the blog: The Same Idiom in Different Languages: 6 Ideas the Whole World Shares

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