Korean & Japanese Tongue Twisters

Tongue twisters…in a different language?! It sounds weird at first, but what the hell? Just give it a try. I myself didn’t actually believe that I can do it, but to tell you the truth, it’s as easy as your native tongue twisters.

Here’s a simple tip of mine for memorizing a certain tongue twister. First, know the correct pronunciations and go over it again and again. Once you can pronounce it correctly, try saying it faster and repeat is as many times as you can. Then, record your voice while doing the same thing and listen to it many times as well. And just as soon as you can do it without listening to your recorded voice, you’re officially a tongue twister master!

See? It’s really simple. Now, to practice that, here’s one of Korea’s popular tongue twister:

간장공장 공장장은 장 공장장이고 된장공장 공장장은 강 공장장이다.
Gan jang gong jang gong jang jang eun, Jang gong jang jang igo,
Doin jang gong jang gong jang jang eun, Gang gong jang jang ida.
The manager of the soy sauce factory is Manager Jang and
The manager of the soy paste factory is Manager Gang.

And here’s one in Japanese, too. By the way, the word ‘tongue twister’ in Japanese is translated as ‘hayakuchi kotoba,’ which literally means ‘fast-mouth words.’

生麦生米生卵.
Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago.
Raw wheat, raw rice, raw egg.

If you want to hear me trying to say those phrases, check it out!