Improve your Accent: Tongue Twisters

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "Popular Tongue Twisters". So, every language has tongue twisters, which are essentially short phrases or short little stories that repeat problem sounds or the same groups of sounds to make it difficult to pronounce when you say it very quickly. Now, what is the purpose of tongue twisters? Number one, they're really fun. And number two, they are challenging. And number three, they do improve your pronunciation, your enunciation, and your ability to speak more fluently, more clearly, and in a way that makes you more understandable, you know, to a general audience. Especially if you're in public speaking, even for native speakers, tongue twisters are a great way for actors or public speakers to improve their pronunciation; an ability to be clear when they speak.

So, we're going to look at four popular tongue twisters in English. And at the end of the lesson, if you really enjoyed this, you can actually check out our resources page where there will be a resource that has a list of popular English tongue twisters for you to keep practicing after this lesson, and to improve your pronunciation. Okay?

So, number one is:
"She sells seashells by the seashore."
Now, this tongue twister is essentially to practice your "sh", "se" combinations. Okay? So, you could see here it's: "She sells seashells", this is the hardest part. It goes "sh", "se", "se", "sh". So you have a "sh" and a "sh" at the end; and in the middle, you have a "se", "se". Okay? So, try saying it after me. "She sells seashells". All right, one more time. "She sells seashells". Okay. And the full thing is: "She sells seashells by the seashore." So this is "seashore", "se", "sh". So I'm going to say it one more time and then you repeat after I say it. "She sells seashells by the seashore." Okay. Not bad. Okay. All right, we'll try it one more time and I'm going to do it quickly this time. "She sells seashells by the seashore." Okay. Keep practicing.

So, the next one says:
"How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?"
This is very difficult because it does focus on the, you know, "c" sound, but it's specifically the "l" and the "r" sound. So, I have taught numerous Korean speakers, as well as Japanese speakers who do have an issue with the "l" and "r" sound, and this is a great tongue twister to get you to practice the difference, to notice the difference. So, one more time. I'm going to say it piece by piece, and I want you to repeat after me. So: "How can a clam cram"? So, can you just say: "clam cram"? Okay? "Clean cream can". So repeat this after me: "Clean cream can". All right. Now we're going to try the whole thing. So: "How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?" It's not easy. Right? But the more you practice it, the better you will be. And again, start slowly. First, make sure that you can actually pronounce the sounds, and then work your way through it, repeating it, getting faster. And eventually, you can say: "How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?" And then if you say that again and again, you will improve, you will get better.

And finally, there are two more. These are actually much longer. The full versions are much longer. So I just gave you the first line of these two very popular English tongue twisters, and they are Betty Botter and Peter Piper. For the full versions, you can check out the resources page like I mentioned before.

So, for Betty Botter, this will really help you to practice that "ah" sound in English, as well as other vowel sounds. The full versions has:
"Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the batter's bitter."
So you're going to be practicing your "a", your "e", your "ah". And just listen and repeat after me for the first line. So, first: "Betty Botter bought some butter." Okay, so here, we have "be", so just repeat after me. "Be", "bah", "bah", "be", so this one is not "bah", not "batter", but "butter", "buh", "buh", "buh". One more time. "Bu", "bah", so open your mouth more on "Botter" and "bought". So, we'll say the whole thing one more time. "Betty Botter bought some butter." Okay. Not bad, not bad. And let's try it one more time, a little quicker this time. "Betty Botter bought some butter." Okay. So, keep practicing it. And for the full version, check out the resources page.

[engvidAlex]

Thanks for clicking, everyone! Just a reminder that you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.



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[kayalls]

Genius level:

Betty Botter had some butter
But, she said, this butter's bitter
If I bake this bitter butter
It will make my batter bitter
But a bit of better butter
That would make my batter better.

So she bought a bit of butter
Better than her bitter butter
And she baked it in her batter
And the batter wasn't bitter
So it was better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.

(and breathe!)

[vicchura]

This class was nice, it really helps me to improve my pronunciation! Thank you so much teacher Alex!😊

[AlexYBITW]

Finally someone who does something that is worth it on YouTube ! Helps a lot !

[khybermomand]

"How can a clam cram in a clean cream can? My favorite

[josesuave]

How does he know when we start and finish 😮

[ZurabMikashavidze]

Dear Alex,
Thank you for all your lessons.
I really respect You and I think many other your students also respects you, because your lessons always are impressive.

[Eloyteacher]

great teacher indeed! cheers from Spain

[malikargos]

I'm really glad you're back with another usefull video for us,

[jhonnetrinidad]

Thank u, now I get started to learn it to improve my accent.

[ryandavid]

This was actually fun. I felt as if he was right in front of me teaching me.

[carlosrafelds]

I am your fan guy! I don´t know why I can get to understand what you speak, but I don't can get to listen when I am seeing a movie or to listen a music.That´s great! Thanks for your help!

[monstrycloud]

Thanks a lot for this kind of videos. Greetings from México! 🙆🙋🙌😊

[lesstalkmorebake]

Wow. This is a great video to use in my Basic English class. I was looking for a video that would teach them how to have fun while practicing pronunciation. I don't teach much pronunciation, but this video has given me the confidence to give my students an introduction to tongue twisters that will help them be more confident speakers. Great job of teaching in a very simple format for all levels of learners. Thanks Alex.

[fredooweb]

Thanks Alex, very useful Video.
I've got the 50 tongue Twister but it's a little bit difficult to know how to prononce them.
Could you please make an audio transcription or give us a link to find them ?
Thanks a lot ;-)

[christinesengmai]

thank you so much Mr. Alex and engvid.

[luisdelgado]

Great. It was Helpfull!!!
Im Just Learning English And I really like this Channel.

[jhoansebastianlopezparra]

I'm a spanish speaker and you were right... the most difficult one was the last.

[mateobonavento]

This is a really good way to get used to the English pronunciation. I'm going to show these tongue twisters to my classmates tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. Oh, and thanks for the class Alex, it is very helpful.

[erikpotenza]

My native language is Portuguese, and 1, 3 and 4 sentences are no problem, but the second sentence, WOW... Let me just mention that I have lived in the US for 12 years and I have 2 bachelor's degrees from American universities and yet I cannot say that second sentence fast. Wow...