Chinese Tongue Twisters (繞口令) for Pronunciation

A Chinese tongue twister is a 繞口令 (rào kǒu lìng, ㄖㄠˋ ㄎㄡˇ ㄌㄧㄥˋ). Each one repeats a small set of similar sounds so that you have to keep them apart under speed. Below are six drills in Traditional characters with pinyin, Zhuyin and an English gloss, grouped by what they train. Readings were checked against the Taiwan MOE dictionary on moedict.tw.

Use them as a drill, not a performance. Say each line slowly, one syllable at a time, then repeat at normal pace. Speed comes last.

How to practise

1. Read the Zhuyin or pinyin once, slowly, and check each syllable against audio before you try speed.
2. Say it five times at half speed. If a syllable slips, stop and repeat only that part.
3. Increase speed one notch at a time. Stop when accuracy drops.
4. Record one run a week and compare it with the first recording.

The sounds in these lines are explained in the j, q, x and ü guide and the retroflex consonants guide. Read the relevant one first if a sound is new.

Retroflex against dental: sh and s

四是四

四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十。

• Pinyin: sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shí sì shì shí sì, sì shí shì sì shí.
• Zhuyin: ㄙˋ ㄕˋ ㄙˋ, ㄕˊ ㄕˋ ㄕˊ, ㄕˊ ㄙˋ ㄕˋ ㄕˊ ㄙˋ, ㄙˋ ㄕˊ ㄕˋ ㄙˋ ㄕˊ.
• English: Four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty.

This is the standard drill for s (ㄙ) against sh (ㄕ). 四 (sì) has the tongue tip near the teeth; 十 (shí) has it curled back. There are no third tones here, so the only tones to watch are the fourth and the second. Pay attention to the order: 十四 (fourteen) and 四十 (forty) swap the same two syllables.

If your teacher or friends in Taiwan merge s and sh, you may find yours drifting the same way. That is common in Taiwan and rarely a problem in conversation. If you want to keep the standard contrast, this line is the one to practise.

石室詩士

石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。

• Pinyin: shí shì shī shì shī shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
• Zhuyin: ㄕˊ ㄕˋ ㄕ ㄕˋ ㄕ ㄕˋ, ㄕˋ ㄕ, ㄕˋ ㄕˊ ㄕˊ ㄕ.
• English: The poet Mr. Shi in his stone den loved lions and vowed to eat ten of them.

This is the opening of a famous piece of Literary Chinese in which every syllable is shi. The poem was written by Hu Mingfu and published by the linguist Yuen Ren Chao in 1916, and Chao later reworked it for his lectures. Its point is that written Chinese carries information that speech alone cannot. As a drill it trains only the tones, since the sound never changes. Say the tones alone: second, fourth, first, fourth, first, fourth. If you keep each contour distinct, you are doing it right.

J, Q and X

七巷的漆匠和西巷的錫匠

七巷一個漆匠，西巷一個錫匠。七巷的漆匠偷了西巷錫匠的錫，西巷的錫匠偷了七巷漆匠的漆。

• Pinyin: qī xiàng yí gè qī jiàng, xī xiàng yí gè xí jiàng. Qī xiàng de qī jiàng tōu le xī xiàng xí jiàng de xí, xī xiàng de xí jiàng tōu le qī xiàng qī jiàng de qī.
• Zhuyin: ㄑㄧ ㄒㄧㄤˋ ㄧˊ ㄍㄜˋ ㄑㄧ ㄐㄧㄤˋ, ㄒㄧ ㄒㄧㄤˋ ㄧˊ ㄍㄜˋ ㄒㄧˊ ㄐㄧㄤˋ. ㄑㄧ ㄒㄧㄤˋ ˙ㄉㄜ ㄑㄧ ㄐㄧㄤˋ ㄊㄡ ˙ㄌㄜ ㄒㄧ ㄒㄧㄤˋ ㄒㄧˊ ㄐㄧㄤˋ ˙ㄉㄜ ㄒㄧˊ, ㄒㄧ ㄒㄧㄤˋ ˙ㄉㄜ ㄒㄧˊ ㄐㄧㄤˋ ㄊㄡ ˙ㄌㄜ ㄑㄧ ㄒㄧㄤˋ ㄑㄧ ㄐㄧㄤˋ ˙ㄉㄜ ㄑㄧ.
• English: In Qi Lane there is a lacquerer, in Xi Lane a tinsmith. The lacquerer from Qi Lane stole the tinsmith’s tin from Xi Lane, and the tinsmith from Xi Lane stole the lacquerer’s lacquer from Qi Lane.

This is the classic drill for q (ㄑ), x (ㄒ) and j (ㄐ) in one place. Note the spoken tone in 一個 (yí gè): 一 is read yí before a fourth tone, a sandhi change you need anyway.

One Taiwan detail: the MOE dictionary reads 錫 (tin) as xí (ㄒㄧˊ), not xī. Mainland standard reads it xī. So in Taiwan the line contains 西 xī and 錫 xí, which differ only in tone, and 漆 qī, which has the same tone as 西. If your source gives xī for both, it follows the mainland standard.

Tones

媽媽騎馬

媽媽騎馬，馬慢，媽媽罵馬。

• Pinyin: mā ma qí mǎ, mǎ màn, mā ma mà mǎ.
• Zhuyin: ㄇㄚ ˙ㄇㄚ ㄑㄧˊ ㄇㄚˇ, ㄇㄚˇ ㄇㄢˋ, ㄇㄚ ˙ㄇㄚ ㄇㄚˋ ㄇㄚˇ.
• English: Mom rides a horse, the horse is slow, Mom scolds the horse.

This line packs 媽 (first tone), 騎 (second), 馬 (third) and 罵 (fourth) around the same sound, and the second 媽 in 媽媽 is neutral. In 馬慢, the third tone comes before a fourth tone, so it stays low and does not rise. The tone sandhi guide explains why.

Aspiration

吃葡萄

吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮，不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮。

• Pinyin: chī pú táo bù tǔ pú táo pí, bù chī pú táo dào tǔ pú táo pí.
• Zhuyin: ㄔ ㄆㄨˊ ㄊㄠˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄆㄨˊ ㄊㄠˊ ㄆㄧˊ, ㄅㄨˋ ㄔ ㄆㄨˊ ㄊㄠˊ ㄉㄠˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄆㄨˊ ㄊㄠˊ ㄆㄧˊ.
• English: Eat grapes and don’t spit out the skins; don’t eat grapes and spit out the skins instead.

Here the challenge is the aspirated p (ㄆ) and t (ㄊ) against the unaspirated b (ㄅ) and d (ㄉ), with 吃 (chī) as a retroflex start. Hold a hand in front of your mouth and check that p and t push out a puff of air, while b and d do not. 倒 is read dào (ㄉㄠˋ) here, meaning “instead”; the same character is dǎo (ㄉㄠˇ) when it means “to fall”.

N against L

牛郎戀劉娘

牛郎戀劉娘，劉娘念牛郎。牛郎年年戀劉娘，劉娘年年念牛郎。

• Pinyin: niú láng liàn liú niáng, liú niáng niàn niú láng. Niú láng nián nián liàn liú niáng, liú niáng nián nián niàn niú láng.
• Zhuyin: ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄌㄤˊ ㄌㄧㄢˋ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄋㄧㄤˊ, ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄋㄧㄤˊ ㄋㄧㄢˋ ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄌㄤˊ. ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄌㄤˊ ㄋㄧㄢˊ ㄋㄧㄢˊ ㄌㄧㄢˋ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄋㄧㄤˊ, ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄋㄧㄤˊ ㄋㄧㄢˊ ㄋㄧㄢˊ ㄋㄧㄢˋ ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄌㄤˊ.
• English: Niulang loves Liu Niang, and Liu Niang misses Niulang; year after year Niulang loves Liu Niang, and year after year Liu Niang misses Niulang.

N (ㄋ) and l (ㄌ) alternate in almost every syllable, and 戀 (liàn) against 念 (niàn) is the pair to listen for. For n, the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the upper teeth and air goes through the nose; for l, the sides of the tongue let the air out. Pinch your nose while saying n and l: the n should stop, the l should not. Some Taiwanese speakers interchange n and l before nasal endings, so this line is one to keep for careful practice.

How to use the list

Pick one line per week and one sound per line. If you are not sure which sound is giving you trouble, record yourself and compare it with a native recording. Zhong’s audio is recorded by native Taiwanese speakers and works as a reference, and you can also use the pinyin chart to hear individual syllables.

Related reading

• How to pronounce j, q, x, ü and -n vs -ng
• Zh, Ch, Sh, R: Mandarin’s retroflex consonants
• Tone sandhi in Taiwan Mandarin