Difficult Tongue Twisters
Long tongue twisters for when the easy ones feel easy, with my recordings to copy.
මේවා දිගයි, අමාරුයි. ඉක්මනට කියන්න උත්සාහ කරන්න එපා. නැවත නැවත එන වචන ටික මුලින්ම වෙනම පුහුණු වෙන්න. ඊට පස්සේ මුළු වාක්යයම හෙමින් කියන්න. හැම දවසකම ටික ටික වේගය වැඩි කරන්න.
I keep these for students who say "Sir, the easy ones are too easy." If that is you, welcome. If not, the common ones are a better place to be today.
A tip from my own practice: do two or three of these every morning, before you speak English for the day. Like stretching before a cricket match, it wakes your mouth up.
Th: /θ/ and /ð/
Sinhala has no "th" sound, so most of us say ත or ද instead: "tink" for think, "dis" for this. Put the tip of your tongue between your teeth and blow. For /θ/ (think) there is no voice. For /ð/ (this) your throat hums.
He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
- /ð/
- /s/
I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn't have thought I thought.
- /θ/
- /ð/
V and W
In Sinhala, ව does both jobs, so "wine" and "vine" can sound the same. For /v/, your top teeth touch your lower lip. For /w/, your teeth stay out of it: round your lips like you are going to say ඌ, then open them.
If two witches watched watches then which witch would watch which watch?
- /w/
- /tʃ/
If two witches would watch two watches, which witch would watch which watch?
- /w/
- /tʃ/
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy, was he?
- /w/
S, Sh and Z
/s/ is ස, /ʃ/ is ශ, and /z/ is a buzzing /s/ that Sinhala does not have. Watch out for "z" hiding in words like was, is and sizzle. Keep your teeth close together and let the sound buzz.
If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
- /ʃ/
- /z/
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!
- /tʃ/
I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
- /s/
- /ʃ/
Susie works in a shoeshine shop. Where she shines she sits, and where she sits she shines.
- /ʃ/
Sarah, Sarah, sits in her Chevy; When she shifts she sips her Schlitz, and when she sips her Schlitz she shifts.
- /ʃ/
- /s/
R and L
Our Sinhala ර is a quick tap of the tongue. The English /r/ is softer: your tongue curls back a little and touches nothing. For /l/, the tip of the tongue sits behind your top teeth.
A big black bear sat on a big black rug.
- /b/
- /r/
Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.
- /r/
Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.
- /r/
Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons—balancing them badly.
- /b/
- /br/
F and P
Some of us say ප for both, so "fan" becomes "pan". For /f/, your top teeth rest on your lower lip and air comes through. For /p/, both lips close and then pop open.
If cows could fly I'd have a cow pie in my eye.
- /k/
- /f/
A proper cup of coffee from a copper coffee pot.
- /k/
- /f/
Give Papa a proper cup of coffee in a copper coffee cup.
- /k/
- /p/
Professional Pumpkin Pickers are prone to pick the plumpest pumpkins.
- /p/
If practice makes perfect and perfect needs practice, I'm perfectly practised and practically perfect.
- /p/
- /k/
Two or three consonants together
In Sinhala we put a vowel before or between consonants, which is why "school" becomes ඉස්කෝලේ. In English, there is no vowel before sn, st or skr. Start straight on the /s/.
I scream you scream, we all scream for ice cream.
- /skr/
- /s/
A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
- /s/
- /st/
Other sounds
These ones train sounds we already have in Sinhala, like /b/, /k/, /d/, /t/ and /m/. The hard part here is not the sound. It is keeping it clear when it comes again and again.
Near an ear, a nearer ear, a nearly eerie ear.
- /ɪ/
- /n/
An awful aardvark and an aching ape ate an antelope.
- /æ/
- /n/
Birdie birdie in the sky laid a turdie in my eye.
- /b/
- /d/
Send toast to ten tense stout saints' ten tall tents.
- /t/
Ghostly ghouls gather gleefully to golf on ghostly golf courses.
- /g/
An old seabear sits on the pier and drinks a pint of beer.
- /s/
- /b/
Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.
- /s/
- /k/
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
- /b/
Biting babies ride battle toys while bumbling boys brave bald biting babies.
- /b/
Horribly hoarse hoot owls hoot howls of horror in halloween haunted houses.
- /h/
You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York.
- /n/
- /j/
A certain young fellow named Beebee, Wished to marry a lady named Phoebe.
- /b/
If big black bats could blow bubbles, how big of bubbles would big black bats blow?
- /b/
Transylvanian Tree Trimmers are trained to trim the tallest Transylvanian trees.
- /t/
A canner can can anything that he can, But a canner can't can a can, can he?
- /k/
- /n/
I have got a date at a quarter to eight; I'll see you at the gate, so don't be late.
- /d/
- /t/
She stood on the balcony, inexplicably mimicking him hiccuping, and amicably welcoming him in.
- /m/
- /h/
Can you can a canned can into an un-canned can like a canner can can a canned can into an un-canned can?
- /k/
- /n/
If you must cross a course cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the cross coarse cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.
- /k/
Quick check
Tap an answer. Nothing is saved.
In which witch would watch which watch, what sounds do witch and watch share?
How does a canner say can?
The I thought a thought twister has two different th sounds. What are they?
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