Tongue twisters are a challenging and fun way to practice pronunciation and increase the clarity of your speech. It may just seem like play, but many stage actors, speakers and voice-over artists will attest to the power of warming up their lips, tongue and jaw by practicing these tricky twisters!
Here are just a few examples. Practice the tongue twisters that include sounds that are hard for you to pronounce. Start slowly, and then try to gradually speed up and add repetitions.
i & ee:
-I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
s & sh:
-Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.
-Shy Shelly says she shall sew sheets.
l & r:
-Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.
-There are four pilots on the flight deck.
-River Valley Road
-A flea and a fly flew up in a flue. Said the flea, “Let us fly!” Said the fly, “Let us flee!” So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
th, d & t:
-Lesser leather never weathered, wetter weather better.
-Thank the other three brothers on their father’s mother’s brother’s side.
-Tim, the thin twin tinsmith.
If you want to find more tongue twisters (even tongue twisters in other languages), check out this great database: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8136/tonguetwisters.html
If you’d like to learn more about clear speech and pronunciation, please visit me at http://bit.ly/free8-partproncourse and sign up for my free, 8-part pronunciation short course.
I’ll see you there!
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Glossary of Pronunciation Terms