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)
If you want to catch a tiger, catch a bird first—use the bird as bait to catch the tiger.
There are several patterns of tongue twisters.
Broadly speaking, they can be divided into two types.
One is the pattern that’s simply difficult to pronounce—“Kaeru pyokopyoko” is a classic example.
The other is the kind that gets you confused as you read.
This one—“If you’re going to catch a tiger, rather than catching a tiger, catch a bird; use the bird as bait to catch the tiger”—falls into the latter category.
You’ll probably lose track of what you’re even saying, so if you’re confident, give it a try.
The mystery of the banana is still a mystery.
There’s a unique tongue twister that goes, “Banana no nazo wa mada nazo na no da zo.” Grammatically, it may feel a bit unnatural.
The hallmark of this tongue twister is how often the sound nazo appears—it shows up five times.
To make matters trickier, there are similar-sounding phrases like nazo and na no da zo.
Plus, na no da zo also closely resembles nazo nazo (riddle), which raises the difficulty.
To avoid getting confused, make sure you’ve got it firmly in your head before you give it a try.
Difficult Tongue Twisters: Introducing High-Difficulty Phrases and Sentences! (31–40)
Oaya, apologize to your parents; Oaya, when you go to the bathhouse, tell the greengrocer.
This tongue-twister seems to tell the story: “Aya was told by her parents to apologize, but she went to the bathhouse instead and ended up saying her apology to the greengrocer.” It’s a cute tongue-twister that shows Aya’s slightly tomboyish personality.
By the way, this tongue-twister often leads to mistakes like turning ‘o-Aya-ya’ into ‘o-ya-ya,’ or ‘o-ayamari’ into ‘o-yamari.’ Keep those points in mind, and try to make it all the way to the end!
When a pig hit a pig, the pig that got hit hit back the pig that hit it, so the pig that hit and the pig that got hit both collapsed.
It’s a comedic tongue twister that depicts a quarrel between pigs.
At first glance it’s hard to follow, so let’s split it into two parts.
In the first half, “When a pig hit another pig, the pig that got hit hit back the pig that hit it,” it shows a pig striking another and getting counterattacked.
The second half, “The pig that hit and the pig that was hit both toppled over,” depicts both of them falling down, ending in a draw.
If you clearly distinguish between “buta” (pig) and “butta” (hit), your success rate will improve.
Red paper roll, blue paper roll, yellow paper roll
There’s a classic Japanese tongue twister that goes, “Aka-makigami, ao-makigami, ki-makigami” (red wrapping paper, blue wrapping paper, yellow wrapping paper).
You can probably get through the first part, but the latter part around “ki-makigami” tends to be tricky.
The repeated “ki” in a short span makes your tongue trip up.
If you consciously separate the color and the word “makigami,” as in “aka | makigami,” it should come out more smoothly.
Incidentally, it’s said that the three colors in this tongue twister refer to a red ogre, a blue ogre, and a yellow ogre, and that chanting the tongue twister can drive them away.
Monkeys stabbing bamboo leaves, monkeys getting stabbed by bamboo leaves, monkeys getting stabbed by bamboo leaves, monkeys rubbing.Kenta Otani
It’s a tongue twister depicting three monkeys: one monkey stabbing bamboo leaves, one monkey being stabbed with bamboo leaves, and one monkey rubbing them.
Part of the fun is that you can’t really tell why anyone would be stabbing bamboo leaves in the first place—the background is a mystery.
In any case, it’s a tongue twister packed with consecutive sa sounds, so proceed while figuring out where other characters slip in.
Be careful not to stumble on the intervening r sounds when you’re too focused on sa.
It’s important to check your mouth shape and airflow as you pronounce it.
Say: “Apologize to Aya and Aya, apologize to Aya and your parents.”
A tongue twister in dialogue style: “Apologize to Aya, and tell her to apologize to her parents.” There are several versions of this tongue twister, such as “Apologize to Aya, and tell her to apologize to the greengrocer,” or “Tell the greengrocer that Aya is going to the bathhouse with her parents.” All versions rhyme on ‘Aya’ (o-aya) and make the sentences complex in a similar way.
Even without small kana or voiced sounds, it’s still difficult—a rare type of tongue twister.
Give it a try!