Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Now try to say this 3 times in a row at normal speed! I guarantee your tongue will be jumbled, twisted, and exhausted. But that's the idea.
Many languages have such riddles known as tongue twisters and they can be quite challenging to say no matter the language. Tongue twisters are a sequence of words that share similar sounds which makes it very difficult to pronounce accurately and quickly. As a language learner, you can greatly benefit from practicing and saying some of these uniquely paired words and phrases in order to help you work on specific sounds or words you may struggle with when it comes to pronunciation and accent reduction. This exercise is a fun and engaging way to practice and strengthen your pronunciation skills in whatever language you are learning.
Here's what you do:
1) Find one or a few tongue twisters in the target language you are studying that you like.
2) Check google translate, dictionary.com, or your favorite online dictionary for the most accurate pronunciation for any words you are unsure about.
3) Begin by saying the tongue twister slowly in order to get a feel for the words in your mouth and the sounds you are producing.
4) Try to speed up the pace the second time you say the tongue twister.
5) When you are comfortable saying the tongue twister completely, try to say it three times in a row to take this challenge to the next level.
6) And lastly, don't forget to laugh and have fun as you are doing this. Laughter is the best medicine for anything that is difficult.
Since I am an English language teacher, I will leave you with a couple of the tongue twisters I have my students practice in my English class.
Leave a comment below and share how your English tongue twister experience was.
Betty Botter had some butter, “but,” she said, “this butter’s bitter. If I bake this bitter butter, it would make my batter bitter.
Say this sharply, say this sweetly, Say this shortly, say this softly. Say this sixteen times in succession.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
If you would like to take your English pronunciation skills to the next level with an English language coach, contact me for information on how I can help you on this journey. Go to the contact page and leave me a message.
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