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
Difficult Tongue Twisters: Introducing High-Difficulty Phrases and Sentences! (41–50)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!