Tongue twisters used for play and articulation practice.
Whether you’re just having fun or trying to improve your diction, you might as well enjoy it! In this article, we’ll introduce tongue twisters that make wordplay fun and interesting.
We’ve gathered tongue twisters that let you feel the charm of language—some with delightful word sequences that make you want to say them out loud, and others that are amusing even if you don’t quite understand the meaning.
They can also be used for children’s play or oral exercises for older adults, so please use them as a reference!
Japanese hard-to-read/hard-to-understand tongue twisters (21–30)
Art room, technology room, operating room, art preparation room, technology preparation room, operating preparation room
[Hayakuchi Kotoba Navi] Art Room, Technology Room, Operating Room, Art Preparation Room, Technology Preparation Room, Operating Preparation Room | Japanese Tongue Twisters | Hayakuchi Kotoba |
Because the words for “room” and “preparation room” keep popping up, the moment you read it aloud your mouth can’t keep up and you can’t help but laugh.
Both kids and adults can enjoy it playfully while picturing familiar school classrooms and hospital rooms.
Each time you read it, the rhythm and the timing of your pauses shifts a little, so the more you repeat it, the more fun it becomes to use your voice.
If you read while conjuring different images for “art,” “technology,” and “surgery,” it feels like more than mere diction practice—you can savor a sense of story, too.
Once you read it, it’s addictive, so definitely give it a try.
A capybara kappa snatches someone away and impersonates a kappa leaf
[Tongue Twister Navi] Capybara snatches the kappa; kappa disguises itself as a leaf | Japanese Tongue Twisters | Hayakuchi Kotoba
This is a tongue twister with a mysterious worldview that depicts a kappa targeted by a capybara and trying to escape.
The key point of this tongue twister is “kapibara” (capybara); pay attention to the mouth movements and breath control when the “pi” and “ba” sounds come in succession.
In the first half, be mindful of the mix of semi-voiced and voiced consonants; in the second half, focus on the series of geminate consonants to pronounce it smoothly.
The more you aim for precise articulation, the more the initial “kapibara” can start to feel complicated, so be careful not to let the overall rhythm collapse at that point as you pronounce it.
[Tongue Twister Navi] Red Capybara. Blue Capybara. Yellow Capybara | Japanese Tongue Twisters | Hayakuchi Kotoba |
Combining the three colors red, blue, and yellow with some word is a classic tongue-twister pattern; this time, the theme is three capybaras in those colors.
Since such creatures don’t actually exist, let’s focus on the sound and practice pronunciation for now.
The especially tricky parts are “aka kapibara” (red capybara) and “ki kapibara” (yellow capybara).
It’s important to analyze how the mouth moves when consecutive “ka” sounds occur.
There isn’t much large movement of the mouth, but you do need a tongue action that taps for each syllable, so pay attention to how you move your tongue and check the sounds.
However, if you focus too much on that, you may stumble over the “piba” in “kapibara,” so don’t let your guard down.
This tongue twister is funny when you picture the scene, but the kappa, paka, and parka all get tangled up and seem to twist together in your head, don’t they? And ending with “paku” instead of “paka” at the very end is just too hard.
A good strategy is to split it into a first half and a second half, practice each at a decent speed, and then combine them.
It also helps to get the rhythm down first.
Give it a try and see if you can say it at an unbelievable speed!
[Amane Sora] January 20 [Tongue Twister: Farewell, Taraba]
It’s a tongue twister that sounds like a simple greeting, tossing out cool words while reluctantly parting with a king crab.
The puzzling point is why we’re communicating with a crab in the first place, and precisely because it uses so few words, it invites all kinds of scenarios.
Are we calling out to a crab returning to the sea, or expressing gratitude to a crab we’re about to eat? It even raises the question of whether a greeting is necessary in any situation.
In addition to the similarity between “saraba” (farewell) and “taraba” (king crab), the “da” that connects them seems to make it even harder to say.
