From Beginner to Expert: Tongue Twisters to Boost Language Skills

There’s nothing like an expert tongue twister to challenge your language skills! In this article, you’ll learn how to use tongue twisters to improve your pronunciation in any language you’re learning. This is brought to you by our friends at Magoosh.

Tongue twisters, as you probably know, are silly poems that use very similar sounds. They’re especially popular with children, who delight in the challenge of speaking them clearly. Many famous American picture books, like Fox in Socks, thrill kids of all ages with tongue twisters that are hard (but fun) to read out loud.

Many other tongue twisters in the English speaking world are simply part of the culture. Well-known tongue twisters include sentences like, “She sells seashells down by the seashore,” and, “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

You can also use tongue twisters to boost your skills with a second language. Indeed, every language from Spanish to Vietnamese has tongue twisters of various difficulties. Do you want to know what it takes to become an expert tongue twister in your language of choice? Read on to find out!

Simple Tongue Twisters in English for Beginners

Children like to recite these poems for fun, but they can serve a very real use for people studying English as a second language. For example, the tongue twister above about selling seashells could be especially useful to ESL students, because it contrasts the similar “s” and “sh” sounds in English.

Tongue twisters can be used to help your child pronounce certain sounds that are challenging for them. Their memory skills will also be boosted when they try to recall these tricky phrases. Learning how to pay close attention to the nuances of speech can be used in public speaking, and even singing, later in life.

The classic tongue twister about Peter Piper is a great way to practice English vowels; it puts different sounding vowels between similar-sounding consonants. It also combines vowels with “r,” a vowel-consonant combo that’s common in English but rare in a lot of other languages. These simple tongue twisters in English for beginners can boost your child’s engagement with the language.

Using Tongue Twisters for Other Languages

Tongue twisters aren’t just for learning English vowels and consonants – they can help you master the vowels and consonants of any language. Korean tongue twisters are world-renowned for their ability to trip up even the most skilled linguists. There are also plenty of fun ones to learn as a beginner!

Korean tongue twisters typically focus on consonant repetition and vowel contrast. Korean tongue twisters also frequently contrast two similar sounding family names. This is very useful for students who are learning Korean, because Korean family names are universally one-syllable, and often differ in just one vowel or consonant.

Here’s a good example of a Korean tongue twister, with an English translation and phonetic transliteration:

Korean tongue twister:
“간장공장 공장장은 강 공장장이고, 된장 공장 공장장은 장 공장장이다.”

English translation:
“The owner of the soy sauce factory is named Gang and the owner of the soybean paste factory is named Jang.”

Phonetic transliteration:
Gan-jang gong-jang gong-jang jang-eun gang gong-jang-jang i-go dwayn-jang gong-jang gong-jang jang-eun Jang gong-jang-jang i-da.

Want to practice these Korean tongue twisters with a teacher? Find your Korean tutor today!