{"id":105874,"date":"2024-02-07T15:56:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T20:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/japanese-tongue-twisters\/"},"modified":"2025-02-23T22:57:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T03:57:01","slug":"japanese-tongue-twisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/japanese\/japanese-tongue-twisters\/","title":{"rendered":"18 Japanese Tongue Twisters for Pronunciation Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning Japanese tongue twisters is more than a fun challenge. It’s a surefire way to improve your pronunciation and increase your vocabulary.<\/p>\n

At the very least, you’ll pick up a cool trick to impress Japanese friends.<\/p>\n

(Just try them out on your language exchange partner to see what kind of reaction you’ll get!)<\/p>\n

In this blog post, you’ll learn 18 Japanese tongue twisters<\/strong>, or \u65e9\u53e3\u8a00\u8449 (\u306f\u3084\u304f\u3061\u3053\u3068\u3070), and four tips to help you master them.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1.<\/b> \u30d0\u30b9\u30ac\u30b9\u7206\u767a<\/h2>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Hiragana:<\/strong> \u3070\u3059\u304c\u3059\u3070\u304f\u306f\u3064
\nEnglish:<\/strong> Bus gas explosion<\/p>\n

Start off by taking one word at a time:<\/p>\n

\u30d0\u30b9 (\u3070\u3059) \u2014 bus<\/p>\n

\u30ac\u30b9 (\u304c\u3059) \u2014 gas<\/p>\n

\u7206\u767a (\u3070\u304f\u306f\u3064) \u2014 explosion<\/p>\n

Repeat these until you can say them without looking at the text. Remember to keep those “a” sounds short, like the “a” in “that.”<\/p>\n

Now comes the tricky bit. Remember that in Japanese, tongue twisters are known as fast-mouth<\/i> words. So try to say them three times fast.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. \u8d64\u5dfb\u7d19\u3001\u9ec4\u5dfb\u7d19\u3001\u9752\u5dfb\u7d19<\/h2>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Hiragana:<\/strong> \u3042\u304b\u307e\u304d\u304c\u307f\u304d\u307e\u304d\u304c\u307f\u3042\u304a\u307e\u304d\u304c\u307f
\nEnglish:<\/strong> Red scroll, yellow scroll, blue scroll<\/p>\n

Imagine a clerk in old Japan, cataloging his scrolls. Except it\u2019s like the vintage animation in old Scooby Doo<\/em> episodes, with the same background on an eternal loop.<\/p>\n

The same three scrolls keep flashing past as the clerk tries to sort them.<\/p>\n

“\u3042\u304b\u307e\u304d \u304c\u307f\u304d\u307e\u304d\u304c\u307f \u3042\u304a\u307e\u304d\u304c\u307f, \u00a0\u3042\u304b\u307e\u304d\u304c\u307f\u304d\u307e\u304d\u304c\u307f\u3042\u304a\u307e\u304d\u304c\u307f\u2026”<\/p>\n

Watch out for all those k<\/em> sounds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you’ve learned to say this, it should be a breeze to say normal sentences in Japanese, like:<\/p>\n

\u6696\u304b\u304f\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f
\n(\u3042\u305f\u305f\u304b\u304f\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f)
\nIt was not warm<\/p>\n

3. \u751f\u9ea6\u751f\u7c73\u751f\u5375<\/h2>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Hiragana:<\/strong> \u306a\u307e \u3080\u304e\u306a\u307e\u3054\u3081\u306a\u307e\u305f\u307e\u3054
\nEnglish:<\/strong> Raw wheat, raw rice, raw eggs<\/p>\n

This one is a Japanese favorite, and I’ve heard it the most while chatting with Japanese students.<\/p>\n

One of the joys of traveling in Japan is exploring all the delicious regional cuisine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thus, the words in this tongue twister are all important kanji<\/em> or \u6f22\u5b57 (\u304b\u3093\u3058) to learn since they commonly appear on Japanese menus.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re planning a trip to Japan, you’ll want to recognize the \u6f22\u5b57\u00a0for the staple foods, such as:<\/p>\n

\u9ea6 (\u3080\u304e) \u2014 wheat<\/p>\n

\u7c73 (\u3053\u3081) \u2014 rice, uncooked<\/p>\n

\u5375 (\u305f\u307e\u3054) \u2014 egg<\/p>\n

For example, if you\u2019re celiac, then you’ve got to remember how to ask,<\/p>\n

\u9ea6\u304c\u5165\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u304b
\n(\u3080\u304e\u304c\u306f\u3044\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u304b)
\nIs there wheat in this?<\/p>\n

4. \u674e\u3082\u6843\u3082\u6843\u306e\u3046\u3061<\/a><\/h2>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Hiragana:<\/strong> \u3059\u3082\u3082\u3082\u3082\u3082\u3082\u3082\u3082\u306e\u3046\u3061
\nEnglish:<\/strong> Both plums and peaches are members of the peach family<\/p>\n

When I first started learning Japanese, someone told me that they found \u6f22\u5b57 easier to read than \u304b\u306a or kana<\/em>. I thought they were crazy.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, learning hiragana<\/em> and katakana<\/em><\/a> was simple with the right strategies.<\/p>\n

However, I soon came to agree. If anything demonstrates the difficulty of reading plain \u304b\u306a, it’s that string of eight consecutive\u00a0\u3082s in this\u00a0tongue twister.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reading the \u304b\u306a alone, it’s tricky to know what this sentence means, as there\u2019s no way to tell from the text alone where one word ends and the next one begins.<\/p>\n

Let’s break it\u00a0up a bit:<\/p>\n

\u674e (\u3059\u3082\u3082) \u2014 plum\/s<\/p>\n

\u3082 \u2014 \u201calso\u201d particle<\/p>\n

\u6843 (\u3082\u3082) \u2014 peach\/es<\/p>\n

\u3082 \u2014 \u201calso\u201d particle<\/p>\n

\u6843 (\u3082\u3082) \u2014 peach<\/p>\n

\u306e \u3046\u3061 \u2014 the group\/ family of<\/p>\n

5. \u96a3\u308a\u306e\u5ba2\u306f\u3088\u304f\u67ff\u98df\u3046\u5ba2\u3060<\/h2>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Hiragana:<\/strong>\u3068\u306a\u308a\u306e\u304d\u3083\u304f\u306f\u3088\u304f\u304b\u304d\u304f\u3046\u304d\u3083\u304f\u3060
\nEnglish:<\/strong> The guest next door eats a lot of persimmons<\/p>\n

One key point to note here is the reading of \u00a0“\u304f\u3046” for “\u98df.”<\/p>\n

You might have seen this \u6f22\u5b57 read more often as the \u305f of \u98df\u3079\u308b (\u305f\u3079\u308b \u2014 to eat).<\/p>\n

The “\u304f\u3046” reading of the “\u98df” \u6f22\u5b57 is less polite than “\u305f\u3079\u308b” and tends to be used more by males.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another thing that makes this tongue twister troublesome is that you have to move your mouth quickly between the single “\u304b” and its fluid compound cousin “\u304d\u3083.”<\/p>\n

This is an essential thing to get right for proper spoken Japanese.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The difference between these \u304b\u306a can be important in places English speakers might not expect.<\/p>\n

For example, in adapting English words to \u30ab\u30bf\u30ab\u30ca, the Japanese sometimes opt for “\u304d\u3083” when we might think a plain “\u304b” is closer to the English pronunciation.<\/p>\n

A few examples of this are:<\/p>\n

\u30ad\u30e3\u30e9\u30af\u30bf\u30fc (\u304d\u3083\u3089\u304f\u305f\u30fc) \u2014 character<\/p>\n

\u30ad\u30e3\u30c3\u30b7\u30e5\u30ab\u30fc\u30c9 (\u304d\u3083\u3063\u3057\u3085\u304b\u30fc\u3069) \u2014 cash card<\/p>\n

\u30ad\u30e3\u30f3\u30bb\u30eb (\u304d\u3083\u3093\u305b\u308b) \u2014 cancel; cancellation<\/p>\n

\u30ad\u30e3\u30b9\u30c8 (\u304d\u3083\u3059\u3068) \u2014 cast<\/p>\n

6. \u4e39\u7fbd\u306e\u5ead\u306b\u306f\u4e8c\u7fbd\u9d8f\u4fc4\u306b\u30ef\u30cb\u3092\u98df\u3079\u305f<\/h2>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Hiragana:<\/strong> \u306b\u308f\u306e\u306b\u308f\u306b\u306f\u306b\u308f\u306b\u308f\u3068\u308a\u306b\u308f\u304b\u306b\u308f\u306b\u3092\u305f\u3079\u305f
\nEnglish:<\/strong> In (Mr.) Niwa\u2019s garden, two chickens suddenly ate a crocodile<\/p>\n

One day, a crocodile was hanging out in Mr. Niwa\u2019s garden when two chickens came and ate him out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

Mr. Niwa was shocked by what he saw and had to document it.<\/p>\n

\u2026Or, someone took this original, shorter Japanese tongue twister and decided it was far too easy and boring:<\/p>\n

\u5ead\u306b\u306f\u4e8c\u7fbd\u9d8f\u304c\u3044\u308b
\n(\u306b\u308f\u306b\u306f\u306b\u308f\u306b\u308f\u3068\u308a\u304c\u3044\u308b)
\nThere are two chickens in the garden<\/p>\n

This original phrase is shown in the video above, as it’s a bit more common.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break this one down:<\/p>\n

\u4e39\u7fbd (\u306b\u308f) \u2014 family name, imagine there\u2019s a \u3055\u3093 affixed, so Mr. or Mrs. Niwa<\/p>\n

\u306e \u2014 ‘s (possessive)<\/p>\n

\u5ead (\u306b\u308f) \u2014 garden<\/p>\n

\u306b\u306f \u2014 preposition, in\/at<\/p>\n

\u4e8c\u7fbd (\u306b\u308f) \u2014 counter for birds<\/p>\n

\u9d8f<\/a> (\u306b\u308f\u3068\u308a) \u2014 chickens<\/p>\n

\u4fc4\u306b (\u306b\u308f\u304b\u306b) \u2014 suddenly<\/p>\n

\u30ef\u30cb (\u308f\u306b) \u2014 crocodile\/alligator<\/p>\n

\u3092 \u2014 this particle marks the direct object of a sentence<\/p>\n

\u98df\u3079\u305f (\u305f\u3079\u305f) \u2014 ate<\/p>\n

Like number five, this tongue twister is much easier to read in \u6f22\u5b57 than in plain \u304b\u306a.<\/p>\n

More Japanese Tongue Twisters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Tongue Twister<\/th>Hiragana<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u7d2b\u7d2b\u3001\u7d2b\u685c <\/a>\n <\/td>\u3080\u3089\u3055\u304d\u3080\u3089\u3055\u304d\u3001\u3080\u3089\u3055\u304d\u3055\u304f\u3089<\/td>Purple, purple, purple cherry blossoms.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u8272\u306f\u5302\u3078\u3068\u3001\u6563\u308a\u306c\u308b\u3092 <\/a>\n <\/td>\u3044\u308d\u306f\u306b\u307b\u3078\u3068\u3001\u3061\u308a\u306c\u308b\u3092<\/td>The fragrant blossoms scatter, as does the dust.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u685c\u685c\u3001\u685c\u685c <\/a>\n <\/td>\u3055\u304f\u3089\u3055\u304f\u3089\u3001\u3055\u304f\u3089\u3055\u304f\u3089<\/td>Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u96a3\u306e\u5c71\u306f\u3001\u3069\u3057\u3083\u964d\u308a <\/a>\n <\/td>\u3068\u306a\u308a\u306e\u3084\u307e\u306f\u3001\u3069\u3057\u3083\u3076\u308a<\/td>The neighboring mountain is a heavy rain shower.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u96a3\u306e\u53cb\u9054\u306f\u3001\u98db\u3093\u3067\u884c\u3063\u305f <\/a>\n <\/td>\u3068\u306a\u308a\u306e\u3068\u3082\u3060\u3061\u306f\u3001\u3068\u3093\u3067\u3044\u3063\u305f<\/td>My neighbor's friend flew away.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u30ca\u30e1\u30af\u30b8\u306e\u8210\u3081\u8349\u8210\u3081\u305f\u3089\u8210\u3081\u3089\u308c\u308b <\/a>\n <\/td>\u306a\u3081\u304f\u3058\u306e\u306a\u3081\u304f\u3055\u306a\u3081\u305f\u3089\u306a\u3081\u3089\u308c\u308b<\/td>If a snail licks the licking grass, it can be licked.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u96bc\u901f\u304f\u3001\u901f\u304f\u96bc <\/a>\n <\/td>\u306f\u3084\u3076\u3055\u306f\u3084\u304f\u3001\u306f\u3084\u304f\u306f\u3084\u3076\u3055<\/td>Peregrine falcon quickly, quickly peregrine falcon.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u8449\u3063\u3071\u3044\u3063\u3071\u3044\u3001\u8449\u3063\u3071\u3044\u3063\u3071\u3044 <\/a>\n <\/td>\u306f\u3063\u3071\u3044\u3063\u3071\u3044\u3001\u306f\u3063\u3071\u3044\u3063\u3071\u3044<\/td>Full of leaves, full of leaves.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u5e83\u3044\u3001\u5e83\u3044\u30d2\u30de\u30ef\u30ea <\/a>\n <\/td>\u3072\u308d\u3044\u3001\u3072\u308d\u3044\u3072\u307e\u308f\u308a<\/td>Wide, wide sunflowers.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u96ea\u3084\u3053\u3093\u3053\u3093\u3001\u96ea\u3084\u3053\u3093\u3053\u3093 <\/a>\n <\/td>\u3086\u304d\u3084\u3053\u3093\u3053\u3093\u3001\u3086\u304d\u3084\u3053\u3093\u3053\u3093<\/td>Snow falling gently, snow falling gently.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u84ee\u83ef\u3082\u308a\u3082\u308a\u3001\u84ee\u83ef\u3082\u308a\u3082\u308a <\/a>\n <\/td>\u308c\u3093\u3052\u3082\u308a\u3082\u308a\u3001\u308c\u3093\u3052\u3082\u308a\u3082\u308a<\/td>Lotus flowers in abundance, lotus flowers in abundance.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u30ef\u30e9\u30d3\u8af8\u3005\u3001\u30ef\u30e9\u30d3\u8af8\u3005 <\/a>\n <\/td>\u308f\u3089\u3073\u3082\u308d\u3082\u308d\u3001\u308f\u3089\u3073\u3082\u308d\u3082\u308d<\/td>Various types of bracken, various types of bracken.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

How to Practice Japanese Tongue Twisters<\/h2>\n

Japanese tongue twisters are fun to learn and effective for improving pronunciation and understanding Japanese culture.<\/p>\n

Here are a few tips to get the most out of each phrase.<\/p>\n