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
- Can you say them? A collection of Nagoya-dialect tongue twisters
- A collection of long tongue twisters. Also recommended for practicing announcements and narration.
- 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)
Runaway conductor, cleaning the train window
It’s not just tongue twisters—there are words that are hard to say in everyday speech too.
The word “shashō” (train conductor) is a prime example.
Here’s a high-difficulty tongue twister that uses it: “Bōsō shashō, shasō seisō-chū” (“A rampaging conductor, cleaning the train window”).
The “shasō” (train window) that follows “shashō” is devilishly tricky, and then “seisō” (cleaning) piles on the challenge.
It’s short, but extremely difficult, so if you’re confident in your articulation, give it a try.
export car export hot water export vinegar
Because Japanese uses clearly articulated consonants, clusters like “shu” and “pyo” aren’t culturally common to say.
This tongue twister—“Yushutsusha yushutsu yu yushutsu su” (Export car, export hot water, export vinegar)—focuses on the “shu” sound.
Many of the tongue twisters I’m introducing this time are quite long, but despite its brevity, this one is fiendishly difficult.
The combination of “shu” and “tsu” seems to be easy for French and German speakers, so if you have international student friends, why not try tackling it together?
Armor and tack, armor and tack, bugu-bagu bugu-bagu; three armor-and-tack, mibugu-bagu; together armor and tack, bugu-bagu; six armor-and-tack.
Some tongue twisters are short.
A famous example is “bgu-bagu” (bugu bagu, meaning armor and tack).
Saying just “bgu-bagu” on its own is easy, but when you repeat it, your lips get all tangled—one of those lip-twister types.
That alone is hard enough, but here’s an even tougher version: “Bugu bagu bugu bagu bugu bagu bugu bagu, san bugu bagu mi bugu bagu, awasete bugu bagu bugu bagu, roku bugu bagu.” It follows the same pattern as the “Kaeru pyokopyoko” frog tongue twister, but your lips will be in total chaos! It’s easier if, like beatboxing, you pronounce the ba and bo using your lips and breath rather than your vocal cords—give it a try!
This kid had a hard time writing katakana, didn’t they? I wonder if they didn’t cry?
The author is unknown, but there is a tanka that has been passed down to the present as something amusing, like a tongue twister: “Tsukizuki ni tsuki miru tsuki no ookeredo tsuki miru tsuki no kono tsuki no tsuki.” The sound tsuki repeats, but no other similar-sounding words appear, so it might actually be a relatively easy tongue twister to say! On the other hand, it may be hard to memorize if you try to carefully decipher its meaning.
It’s easier to remember if you imagine it like this: “I look at the moon every month, so I often see the moon, but looking at the moon of this particular month is the best.”
Since I couldn’t tell whether it was a mule or a donkey, I compared the mule and the donkey, but I still couldn’t tell whether it was a donkey or a mule.
If you’re looking for a challenging tongue twister that focuses on the Japanese “ra” line, I recommend this one: “Since I can’t tell whether it’s a raba or a roba, when I compared the raba and the roba, I still couldn’t tell if it was a roba or a raba.” What makes this tongue twister difficult is the barrage of “ra” and “ro” sounds that come at a very high frequency.
The trick is the “ba”! The more crisply you pronounce it, the harder it becomes to say “ra” and “ro,” so try to keep your “ba” as light and simple as possible.
Ultimate luxury aircraft at a deserted Kyushu airport
This passage contains many words starting with the K sound, so many people might stumble over the latter half with “kyūkyoku kōkyū kōkūki” (ultimate luxury aircraft).
The first half, “kūkyona Kyūshū kūkō” (empty Kyushu airport), is still easier to say, but the shift from kōkyū to kōkūki is particularly tricky.
If you try to rush through it, your mouth won’t keep up, so be mindful of your speed and deliberately shape each word with your lips and tongue.
There’s a “no” in the middle of the sentence, so it’s helpful to imagine taking a brief pause there.
Once you can do that, practice saying the whole thing in one breath.
Ottotto totto-tte.
I’d like to introduce this tongue twister that feels satisfying to say: “Ottotto totto-tte tte ittotta to ni, nande totto-tte kuren katta totte itto-o to.” On the page it makes no sense at all, right? It means: “I wanted you to save some Ottotto snacks for me—why didn’t you keep them?” There are many parts pronounced ‘to,’ so be careful not to get tangled up.
The trick is to insert brief pauses at phrase breaks.
