Are there some tongue twisters to practise?

Question

I want to improve my pronunciation so think a few tongue twisters would do me good.

Also, how do you say tongue twisters in Spanish?

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Thank-you

Paul

What a great idea! I'll have to check oth the forum too..... - mkclaassen, Sep 2, 2011

Answer 1

Search this forum for "trabalenguas" This is Spanish for tongue-twister.

Lots of them...

Gracias! - mkclaassen, Sep 2, 2011

Answer 2

Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un triste trigal.

I remember this one - bafalck, Sep 2, 2011

I always recommend that for pronunciation - pacofinkler, Sep 2, 2011

Answer 3

So there has been a debate going on. My Spanish native friends and I have discovered that tongue twisters in a non native language are rather easy to say (Ex. They can say "Sally sells seashells down by the seashore" ridiculously fast and I have no problem with the Spanish ones). It's weird to ask other people this in the street so the jury is still out on whether or not this is universal.

Answer 4

A few twisters.

link text

Answer 5

So there has been a debate going on. My Spanish native friends and I have discovered that tongue twisters in a non native language are rather easy to say (Ex. They can say "Sally sells seashells down by the seashore" ridiculously fast and I have no problem with the Spanish ones). It's weird to ask other people this in the street so the jury is still out on whether or not this is universal.

I have noticed this to a certain extent. I do better with tongue twisters if I concentrate on the pattern of consecutive sounds, rather than get caught up in the meaning of the words. Given that, I can speak Spanish tongue twisters happily disregarding the meaning of what I am rattling off... When I try to apply that technique to English tongue twisters, the results improve there, too.

It occurs to me that a similar problem in concentration applies to a completely different exercise... When I run down a long stairway and don't pay attention, I get into a smooth, fast rhythm. If I think even a little about what my feet are actually doing, I'm likely to trip up and kill myself. The meaning of the words interferes this way in running through a tongue twister, I think.

Answer 6

So there has been a debate going on. My Spanish native friends and I have discovered that tongue twisters in a non native language are rather easy to say (Ex. They can say "Sally sells seashells down by the seashore" ridiculously fast and I have no problem with the Spanish ones). It's weird to ask other people this in the street so the jury is still out on whether or not this is universal.

I've never noticed this in myself or in my foreign friends. Most of the difficulty comes from unfamiliar sounds--for example mixing r and rr sounds in Spanish for an English speaker; v and b sounds in English for a Spanish speaker; th , z, and s sounds in English for a French speaker.

The not quite repetitive ones like "Betty bought bitter butter but it made her batter bitter. . ." or "rubber baby buggy bumpers" are easier if you don't have to repeat them several times.

Most people have problems just saying "toy boat" ten times in a row really fast.