{"id":13601,"date":"2020-07-16T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=13601"},"modified":"2020-08-06T16:12:32","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T20:12:32","slug":"tongue-twisters-to-practice-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/tongue-twisters-to-practice-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"Tongue Twisters to Practice Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tongue twisters are a great way to practice your pronunciation or pronunciaci\u00f3n.\u00a0<\/em>These push your tongue or\u00a0lengua<\/em> to move in ways it might not be used to thus making certain sounds easier. In this post, I want to cover a few\u00a0trabalenguas<\/em> or tongue twisters that can help you improve pronunciation.<\/p>\n

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Photo taken by Joakim Erdfelt found on Flickr.com with license CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

The sad tigers<\/h3>\n

When I think of\u00a0trabalenguas,\u00a0<\/em>I immediately remember a page from one of my elementary school books with two very sad looking tigers. This particular one focuses on the pronunciation of tr + vowel <\/em>or vocal so\u00a0tra, tre, tri, etc.\u00a0<\/em>It is tricky because it also focuses on the pronunciation of t + vocal<\/em> and if you say the tongue twister fast enough, you might get them all messed up.<\/p>\n

Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal
\nEn tres tristes trastos
\nTragaban trigo tres tristes tigres<\/em><\/p>\n

Three sad tigers ate wheat in a wheat field
\nWith three sad plates, the three sad tigers ate wheat<\/p>\n

Juan and a tube<\/h3>\n

Juan tuvo un tubo,
\ny el tubo que tuvo se le rompi\u00f3,
\ny para recuperar el tubo que tuvo,
\ntuvo que comprar un tubo igual al tubo que tuvo y rompi\u00f3.<\/em><\/p>\n

Juan had a tube
\nand the tube he had broke
\nand to recuperate the tube that he had,
\nhee had to buy a tube the same as the tube that he had.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0trabalenguas<\/em> helps differentiate the pronunciation between\u00a0b\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0v<\/em> with two words that are almost the same:\u00a0tubo y tuvo<\/em> (from the verb\u00a0tener<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Storytelling<\/h3>\n

Cuando cuentes cuentos,<\/em>
\ncuenta cu\u00e1ntos cuentos cuentas;<\/em>
\nporque si no cuentas<\/em>
\ncu\u00e1ntos cuentos cuentas,<\/em>
\nnunca sabr\u00e1s cu\u00e1ntos<\/em>
\ncuentos sabes contar.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you tell stories
\ncount how many stories you tell;
\nbecause if you don’t count
\nhow many stories you tell,
\nyou will never know how many
\nstories you can tell.<\/p>\n

This storytelling tongue twister is Spanish language at its best! Here you see the variety of ways of storytelling as a verb and as a noun while also showing the similarities of the verbs\u00a0contar<\/em> as in to tell a story and\u00a0contar<\/em> as in to count. You can also appreciate the similarity between cu\u00e1ntos<\/em> as in how many and cuentas<\/em> as in count.<\/p>\n

Mary and her hut<\/h3>\n

Mar\u00eda Chuchena techaba su choza,<\/em>
\ny un techador que por all\u00ed pasaba le dijo:<\/em>
\n‘Maria Chuchena, \u00bft\u00fa techas tu choza o techas la ajena?’<\/em>
\nNi techo mi choza, ni techo la ajena, que techo la choza de Mar\u00eda Chuchena.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mar\u00eda Chuchena roofed her hut,
\nand a roofer that was passing by said:
\n‘Mar\u00eda Chuchena, are you roofing your hut or are you roofing someone else’s?’
\nI am not roofing my hut, nor roofing someone else’s, I am roofing the hut of Mar\u00eda Chuchena.<\/p>\n

This tongue twister is good for your mind and for your tongue! You can practice really well the\u00a0ch<\/em> sound with different vowels:\u00a0chuchena, choza, techaba, techador.<\/em> It is also a riddle because it seems the\u00a0techador<\/em> walking by was mistaken and wasn’t talking to Mar\u00eda but to someone else…right?<\/p>\n

If you want to practice these\u00a0trabalenguas\u00a0<\/em>and a few more, check out the video below that has tongue twisters in English and Spanish.<\/p>\n