Challenging tongue twisters: Introducing high-difficulty phrases and sentences!
Tongue twisters exist in every country.
I think everyone in Japan has been familiar with them since childhood.
This time, I’ve picked out only the especially difficult tongue twisters.
You’ll find not only long, complicated ones, but also very short tongue twisters that are surprisingly hard to say.
Although tongue twisters might seem like they’re just for kids, adults can enjoy them too at parties or drinking gatherings.
If you practice in advance, you might even become the center of attention in those situations.
Now then, please sit back and enjoy!
- Tongue twisters that will make you laugh out loud! Super funny
- [Diction Training] A Collection of Tongue Twisters to Improve Articulation
- A collection of long tongue twisters. Also recommended for practicing announcements and narration.
- Nagoya dialect tongue twisters are exquisite! A fun collection where your tongue gets tied in knots with regional dialects
- Can you say them? A collection of Hakata-dialect tongue twisters
- Challenge together! A roundup of word games for adults
- “Chau chau, anta” — a Kansai-dialect tongue twister. A phrase only Kansai folks can say.
- [Recreation] Challenge! A roundup of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students
- [Challenging and Fun!] Quizzes & Riddles for Adults
- Chinese tongue twisters: A collection of rao kou ling helpful for learning Chinese
- Perfect for pronunciation practice! A collection of English tongue twisters.
- [Trick Quiz] Quiz Questions That Excite Everyone from Kids to Adults
- Get Caught? Or Not!? Simple Ways to Kill Time During Class
Challenging Tongue Twisters: Introducing High-Difficulty Phrases and Sentences! (21–30)
Oh yeah, I split my bike and ended up messing it up, so I had to hurry and go kick the bike.NEW!
“Speaking of which, my bike ended up breaking, so I had to hurry to the bike shop” is a dialect phrase used around Nagoya and Mikawa, and it’s also known as a tongue twister.
It means, “Come to think of it, my bicycle broke, so I had to quickly go to the bike shop.” “Sou iya” corresponds to the standard “sou ieba” (“speaking of which”), “ketta” means “bicycle” and is commonly used in Aichi Prefecture, “kowakete matta” means “ended up breaking,” “chatto” means “quickly” or “in a flash,” and “ikanakankatta” means “had to go.” Because similar sounds repeat, it becomes a bit tricky to say quickly, making it a fun sentence.
In areas like the Kumano-nada and Harima-nada, items such as bananas are also lined up in cupboards.
This tongue twister is full of words that include na, da, ya, and so on.
It’s pretty hard to pronounce, isn’t it? For this particular tongue twister, it might be best to first practice saying each word—like Kumano-nada and Harima-nada—perfectly on its own, and then start linking the words together.
It’s also important to think about where to place word breaks and to speak with a steady rhythm.
It’s a very difficult tongue twister to say, but imagining the scene described in the sentence can be part of the fun, too.
Totetchiteta tote chite tote chite tote chiteta—oops, I danced. Tontsutsu ton tsutsu toton tsutsu—let’s dance the Dontaku dance.NEW!
Because sounds like “totechite” and “tontsutsu,” which resemble onomatopoeia, appear repeatedly, your mouth naturally tangles when you say them aloud, making you laugh without meaning to.
Both children and adults can take it on playfully, imagining the rhythm of the sounds and the dancing.
If you read while picturing the scene of dancing the “Dontaku Dance,” that’s the key to enjoying it as a story that’s more fun than a simple tongue twister.
With each repetition, the rhythm and timing shift, letting you savor both the joy of speaking out and the urge to challenge yourself.
Once you read it, it becomes addictive—so try enjoying it in all sorts of situations!
I told you to take it, so why didn’t you take it? I thought you were taking it.NEW!
A slightly chuckle-worthy tongue twister where the sounds “chi” and “to” pop up again and again.
Its charm is that when you try to read it, your mouth gets tangled and you can’t help but laugh.
For children, it becomes practice in moving the tongue while playing, and for adults, it can be enjoyed as a tongue exercise.
There’s even a story-like exchange of “I told you to do it but you didn’t… or so I thought, but actually you did,” so when you read it aloud, it feels like a little conversation.
Each repetition changes the rhythm and timing, so you discover new fun every time you read it.
Questioning conducted at the upstream distilled water intake site.
This tongue twister features lots of S sounds, which is a pattern people often trip up on.
Tongue twisters that include variations of the S sound are also fairly common in those from other countries.
The classic method is to practice slowly and gradually speed up, but even at a slow tempo, if you decide where to pause and think about the meaning instead of focusing only on the sequence of sounds, it’ll be easier to handle when you pick up the pace.
Also, instead of memorizing everything in hiragana, sometimes it goes better if you look only at the kanji while you say it.
If you are going to dance, learn the principles of dancing and dance in accordance with those principles.
This tongue twister, which starts with a phrase reminiscent of the Tokyo Ondo lyrics, is actually easier to say smoothly than you might expect if you think about the structure of the sentence and where the accents fall.
If you place the accent on dōri (reason) and tōri (street/way) and draw them out a bit, it becomes easier to balance the sentence and it gets simpler—so give it a try.
Still, there are so many tongue twisters in the world; it makes you curious about who comes up with them and how, doesn’t it?
Pad kid poured curd pulled coldNEW!
Because similar sounds like “poured,” “curd,” “pulled,” and “cold” come in succession, your tongue quickly gets tied when you say it out loud.
Both children and adults can practice pronunciation and exercise their tongues by repeating it to a rhythm, making it feel like a game.
Each time you read it, the speed and timing change, which sparks a bit of challenge and laughter—that’s the key point.
By consciously focusing on the sounds of the words as you try it, you can enjoy both the fun of speaking out loud and a sense of accomplishment at the same time.
It’s a difficult English tongue twister.
You keep calling me “you, you,” but I don’t go around calling you “you, you,” so stop calling me “you, you,” you!NEW!
The fun part is how your tongue gets twisted by repeating “anta” and “atashi” over and over.
It’s great practice for rhythm and pronunciation when read aloud by both kids and adults.
It feels like a humorous exchange—“Don’t say anta or atashi!”—almost like a real conversation.
The key is to savor the words and laugh as you take on the challenge.
Each read creates slightly different rhythms and pauses, so repeating it makes it even more enjoyable.
It’s a playful way to cultivate a feel for language—and once you read it, you might find it irresistibly catchy.
Parent turtle, child turtle, descendant turtle; parent duck, child duck, descendant duckNEW!
This is a charming tongue twister that rhythmically expresses the bond between parent and child in turtles and ducks.
Because the same sounds for “parent,” “child,” and “grandchild” repeat, reading it aloud naturally tangles your tongue and brings out laughter.
Children can take it on playfully while imagining the animals, and adults can enjoy it as an exercise for the tongue and mouth, as well as for pronunciation practice.
With turtles and ducks appearing alternately, the sense of rhythm and vocal tempo change, revealing something new each time you read it.
Through repetition, you develop a sense of rhythm and can enjoy both the fun of speaking out and a good laugh—so give it a try!
Red Myakumyaku, Blue Myakumyaku, Yellow MyakumyakuNEW!
A tongue-twister so fiendishly hard it’ll tie your tongue in knots, bursting with playful rhythms of color and sound.
Because the repeated “Myaku-Myaku” appears over and over, saying it aloud naturally tangles your mouth and sparks laughter.
The key is that both kids and adults can enjoy it like a game.
Images of red, blue, and yellow pop into your head, letting you imagine a little story just by reading, which makes speaking it out loud even more fun.
Each repetition shifts the rhythm and timing, so every attempt brings new laughs and fresh discoveries.
Try it once and you’ll be hooked—this is a notoriously tricky tongue-twister.