[Recreation] Challenge! A roundup of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students
Let’s all have fun and exercise our mouths!
We’ve put together some tongue twisters we definitely want elementary schoolers to try.
When you read them, you might think, “These aren’t hard at all,” but when you actually say them, you end up stumbling… Tongue twisters are such a curious kind of game!
You can compete with friends to see who can say them properly, or challenge yourself with harder ones to test your limits—there are lots of ways to play!
Even if you can’t say them smoothly at first, if you keep at it, your articulation might get better and better!
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[Rec] Challenge! A compilation of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students (21–30)
Author intraoperative
The tongue twister “chosakusha shujutsu-chu” (author undergoing surgery) gives off a somewhat serious vibe.
It makes you wonder what happened to the author, doesn’t it? This tongue twister is simply composed of hard-to-say words lined up in a row.
However, it’s trickier than it looks, so be careful.
In particular, the “shujutsu” part is where many people stumble.
Also, because it’s short, you keep running into the tricky spots as you repeat it, which is one reason it’s so difficult.
Batter Runner Winner Bases-clearing
A tongue twister that, when heard, might leave you unsure what’s being said: “Batter, runner, winner, runner, bases cleared.” Seeing it written out, you can kind of picture the situation.
It’s probably during a baseball game, where runners are getting put out one after another.
Try practicing while imagining that scene.
The section in the middle—“runner, winner, runner,” with the repeating ‘sha’ and ‘sho’ sounds—will likely be the toughest part.
Start by pronouncing it slowly.
[Rec] Challenge! A collection of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students (31–40)
Pencils and sharpened points
There’s a tongue twister that uses expressions unique to the Nagoya dialect.
It goes: “Kondon toki wa tokin-tokin no enpitsu motte kan to kan.
Teka chanto kezutto kan to kan tte itto kan to kan.” The first thing that catches your attention is “tokin-tokin,” right? This word describes a pencil tip that’s sharpened to a fine point.
In the tongue twister, it’s basically saying, “Next time, I have to bring a pencil.
Or rather, I really need to make sure it’s properly sharpened, and I should say so too.” Because it includes unfamiliar dialect words, you could say the difficulty level is on the higher side.
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.
Prince Shōtoku isn’t a big deal anyway.
This is a tongue twister that insists Prince Shōtoku—who is passed down as one of Japan’s great figures—isn’t anything special.
Because it negates a great person from an older era, it also raises the question of what exactly it’s rebelling against.
The sentence-ending “naishi” is striking too, giving the impression of bravado, as if claiming to be superior oneself.
The scattered, similar-sounding words “Taishi,” “taishita koto,” and “naishi” make it hard to say.
Kappapapakappa
This tongue twister focuses on two different words that sound the same: kappa the yokai and kappa meaning raincoat.
It depicts a certain scene where a dad kappa is wearing a raincoat kappa, and the connecting word “papa” causes a run of repeated ‘pa’ sounds.
Structurally, it’s made up of three blocks—‘kappa,’ ‘papa,’ and ‘kappa’—so it may be easier to say if you’re mindful of the breaks.
The plosive ‘pa’ requires clear mouth movement, so putting some force into it is also an important point.
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!