And hey, come from an Arabic speaking country and try to learn English tongue-twisters:
-“The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.”
-“Bloody black bugs” and “Really leery, rarely Larry.”—quite difficult for a Japanese speaker. So, the real test is to say each of those sentences three times very quickly
-“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many peppers did Peter Piper pick?” There are those who want to make this one difficult by twisting it to, “If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”
-“Maresedoats, and doesedoats, and little ambsedivy.A Kid’lldeat ivy too, wouldn’t you?” This one needs to be sung for it to come out right.
-“How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
-“I scream, you scream, we all scream for icecream!”
-“Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.”
-“World Wide Web.”
And there is British English, “In ‘ertford, ‘ereford and ‘ampshire, ‘urricanes ‘ardlyHever ‘appen.” From the motion picture, My Fair Lady.
As weird as it could possibly be, there is a research organization that collects English tongue
twisters and tongue twisters from 118 other countries. The following come from the 1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters,www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm © 1996-2013 by Mr.Twister.
-“I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won’t wish the wish you wish to wish.”
-“Eleven behemoth benevolent elephants.”
-“Six sleek swans swim swiftly southwards.”
-“How many cookies could a good cook cookIf a good cook could cook good cookies?”
-“How much ground would a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground?”
-“How many sheets could a sheet slitter slit if a sheet slitter could slit sheets?”
-“Six slimy snails sailed silently.”
-“Seven slick slimey snakes slowly sliding southward.”
-“He threw three free throws.”
-“Fresh French fried fly fritters.”
-“It’s not the cough that carries you off,it’s the coffin they carry you off in!”
-“Five fuzzy French frogs Frolicked through the fields in France.”
-“Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.”
-“Buckets of bug blood, buckets of bug blood, buckets of bug blood.”
-“Fresh fried fish,Fish fresh fried,Fried fish fresh,Fish fried fresh.”
Of course, English is not the only language with tongue twisters. Here is my favorite one in Spanish: “Trestristestigrestragabantrigo en un trigal en trestristestrastos. En trestristestrastostragabantrigotrestristestigres.” The real test is to say that one three times fast.
And finally, this is my favorite in Mandarin Chinese; at one time I not only could say it, but I knew the translation. That was long ago and far away: “Sìshìsì; shíshìshí; shísìshìshísì; sìshíshìsìshí; sìshísìzhīshíshīzǐshìsǐ de.”