Tongue Twisters English Pronunciation Lesson
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to exercise your English pronunciation
muscles? Let’s do it. Welcome to today’s fun
English pronunciation lesson. I chose four
tongue twisters today that includes sounds
that are difficult for English learners. A
lot of tongue twisters, and a tongue twister
is just a sense that’s difficult to say, it
twists your tongue. A lot of tongue twisters
include sounds that are difficult to say in
that sentence, but they’re not really difficult
in daily conversation. For example, Sally
sells seashells by the seashore. This s and
sh sounds are difficult in that sentence,
but in daily conversation, a lot of English
learners don’t have difficulties with those
sounds. So today, I chose four plus one bonus
that includes sounds like l, r, vowels, th,
and some other sounds that are actually difficult
for English learners, so I hope that we’ll
have a little bit of fun together today, but
also it will be a practical lesson to help
your pronunciation improve.
Okay. Are you ready to warm up those pronunciation
muscles and start with the first tongue twister?
The first one includes the l, r, and w sounds.
I’m going to try my best to say these, let’s
say it. A loyal warrior will rarely worry
why we rule. A loyal warrior will rarely worry
why we rule. So here we have the r sound r,
rule, and the l sound, loyal, and the w, warrior.
So your tongue and your lips are really active
here. You’re saying, l, r, w. So it really
is an exercise for your lips, for your tongue,
for your whole mouth, all of those muscles.
I’m gonna say this slowly, I want you to try
to repeat exactly with me. Try to repeat it
as I say it slowly, and then we’re going to
speed it up. It will probably test my speaking
skills as well, but we’ll say it together,
and I hope that it will help to test you.
A loyal warrior will rarely worry why we rule.
A loyal warrior will rarely worry why we rule.
Are you ready to speed it up? I need to practice
myself. Alright, let’s say it fast. A loyal
warrior will rarely worry why we rule. A loyal
warrior will rarely worry why we rule. The
thing that’s helping me to say this, and it’s
clearly, is really to say the first letter
of each word, almost emphasized. A loyal warrior
will rarely worry why we rule. Even for me,
my tongue and my lips are getting a little
bit mixed up, but it’s a good practice. So
I hope that you can say this sentence a couple
times yourself. After this lesson is over,
try to say it out loud, maybe even record
yourself, have a little fun. Let’s go to the
second tongue twister.
The second tongue twister includes the th
sound and the f. It is he threw three free
throws. A free throw is an action in a basketball
game, so let’s try to say this slowly together
and make sure that when you say the th, this
is a good th practice, your tongue is coming
out of your mouth. He threw. Make sure your
tongue is coming out, and when you say the
f, watch my teeth. Free throws. so my teeth
are really on that bottom lip. Free. And then
when we say the th, your tongue is coming
out. Throws. So let’s say the sentence slowly
together and I hope that you’ll be able to
speed it up with me. I hope I’ll be able to
speed it up as well. Let’s do it. He threw
three free throws. He threw three free throws.
He threw three free throws. He threw three
free throws. That’s a little difficult for
me as well.
All right, let’s go to number three. The third
tongue twister includes the th sound, and
also some vowels, so we need to make sure
that your tongue is coming out again using
that th correctly, but also that the vowels
are accurately formed. All right, let’s say
it together. I thought, I thought of thinking
of thanking you. So here at the end of this
sentence, it’s a little bit tricky because
we have thinking and thanking, so your tongue
and your lips are really going to be in this
specific position for thi, i, you can see
it’s a little bit high, a little bit elongated,
thi, ink and tha, a, it’s a little bit wide
here for that a sound. Thinking of thanking
you, and of course, it makes sure that your
tongue is doing the th sound correctly, so
let’s try to say this together.
I thought, I thought of thinking of thanking
you. Let’s say it a little bit faster. I thought
,I thought of thinking of thanking you. I
thought, I thought of thinking of thanking
you. I thought, I thought of thinking of thanking
you. I thought, I thought I’m thinking of
thanking you. I hope that you’re saying the
th and those vowels. I thought, thinking,
thanking. I hope that you’re saying this correctly,
go ahead and practice this yourself as much
as you’d like, and let’s move on to the next
one. Are you ready for the fourth tongue twister?
This tongue twister includes a couple important
sounds. It’s going to include a th, it’s going
to include a lot of vowel sounds, and it’s
also going to include a specific American
English pronunciation. You might have heard
of the Flap T. This is when a t is between
two vowels.
For example, the word bitter, bitter. It’s
spelled with a t, but it sounds like a d when
Americans say it, bitter, bitter. So if you’d
like to practice your American English pronunciation,
this is the tongue twister for you. It’s a
little bit long, so I’m going to read it from
my phone, but I hope that you can hear it
clearly and practice with me. Are you ready?
Betty Botter had some butter, but she said,
“This butter’s bitter. If I bake this bitter
butter, it would make my batter bitter, but
a bit of better butter, that would make my
better better. So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter, and she baked
it in her batter and the batter was not bitter.
So ‘twas better Betty Botter bought a bit
of better butter. I made it. That was a little
slow, but I want to really emphasize a couple
of sections of this that you can practice
yourself.
Let’s talk about that first sentence. It is
Betty Botter had some butter. Betty Botter
had some butter. All of these words include
t’s, but they are flap t’s, so they’re going
to change to sound like a d. Betty Botter
had some butter. This is a key element of
American English pronunciation. There’s another
phrase in the middle of this tongue twister
that I want to draw your attention to. It
is “but a bit of better butter.” You hear
a lot of d’s here, but you don’t see any.
So where are they coming from? The first one
is, “But a.” But a. The word is “but”, but
that t in the middle there, it’s between two
vowels even though they’re separate words.
So this is going to happen a second time.
A bit of, but a bit of, but a bit of, but
a bit of better butter. We have a lot of flap
t’s here, and it’s a good chance to practice
your pronunciation.
Let’s say part of this slowly together, and
I want you to practice with me. Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter. Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter. Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter. I hope that
all of those t’s changed to d’s, and you’re
also exercising those vowel sounds. Are you
ready to go onto the bonus one? This one is
a little bit crazy grammatically. It actually
is correct grammatically, but it’s crazy.
Let’s look at it in this bonus tongue twister,
you’re gonna hear that th sound a lot. As
you can tell, a lot of English learners have
challenges with the th, so that’s why I chose
these. So you’re going to hear the word “thought.”
Thought. Your tongue needs to come out of
your mouth, and there needs to be some air
coming out as well.
Thought, thought. You’re going to see the
word thought as a verb and as a noun. I thought,
this is a verb, I am thinking. I thought is
the past tense. I thought, but you’re going
to see it also as a noun. I thought a thought.
So you might say, “I had a strange thought
yesterday.” Oh, this is a noun, a thought,
but you’re going to see it here as a noun
and a verb, so it’s going to sound a little
crazy, nut if you break it down step by step,
it’ll make a little more sense. Here, we’re
just focusing on the pronunciation. I’m gonna
say it and read from my phone. I hope you
can try to read it with me as well. 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 so much.
Oh, I love this one just because this crazy
grammar make something in my heart happy because
who came up with this? I love it. I hope you
can say this with me slowly.
We’re going to say it one more time. I want
you to repeat with me and practice that th
sound. Are you ready? 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 so much. Great work
today exercising those pronunciation muscles.
I want to know, do you know any other tongue-twisters?
Let me know in the comments, and let me know
which one of these was the most challenging
to you. I hope that you can practice it again
and again, and just have fun with English.
Thanks so much for learning with me, and I’ll
see you again next Friday for a new lesson
here on my YouTube channel. Bye. The next
step is to download my free Ebook, Five Steps
to Becoming a Competent English Speaker. You’ll
learn what you need to do to speak confidently
and fluently. Don’t forget to subscribe to
my YouTube channel for more free lessons.
Thanks so much. Bye.