Chinese Reading Center 繞口令Chinese Tongue Twisters
As in all languages, tongue twisters are a fun tool for improving one's enunciation.
| 繁體 Trad ↔ 简体 Simp | Translations | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 十尊石獅子 | Ten stone lions. (A whole tongue twister essay can be found here). |
| 2 | 西施死時四十四 | Xi Shi died at 44. |
| 3 | 四是四 十是十 十四是十四 四十是四十 四十四是四十四 四十四隻石獅子是死的 | Four is four. ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty, forty four is forty four, at forty four one of the stone lions died |
| 4 | 吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮 不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮 | If eating grapes, don't spit out the grape skins. If not eating grapes, spit out the grape skins |
| 5 | 青青山上一根藤 青藤底下挂銅鈴 風吹藤動銅鈴動 風停藤停銅鈴停 | Atop a green mountain grows a vine. under the green vine hangs a copper bell, when the wind blows, the vine moves and the bell moves, when the wind stops, the vine stops and the bell stops. |
| 6 | 盆和瓶 桌上有個盆 盆裡有個瓶 砰砰砰 是瓶碰盆 還是盆碰瓶 | Pan and table, the desktop has a pan, inside the pan there's a bottle, bang, bang, bang. Is it the bottle hitting the pan or the pan hitting the bottle? |
| 7 | 梨和泥 樹上有梨 地上有泥 風刮梨 梨落地 梨滾泥 泥沾梨 | Pear and mud, atop the tree, there is a pear, atop the ground, there is mud, the wind knocks off the pear, the pear falls to the ground, the pears rolls on the mud, the mud sticks to the pear. |
| 8 | 扁擔長 板凳寬 扁擔比板凳長 板凳比扁擔寬 扁擔綁在了板凳上 板凳不讓扁擔綁在板凳上 扁擔非要綁在板凳上 | The shoulder pole is long, the bench is broad. The shoulder pole is longer than the bench. The bench is broader than the shoulder pole. The shoulder pole is tied atop the bench; the bench can't be tied atop the shoulder pole. The shoulder pole simply must be tied atop the bench. |
| 9 | 鳥島是島﹐ 鳥島有鳥. 鳥島的鳥多得數不清了. 要想到鳥島﹐ 一定要愛鳥. 你不愛小鳥﹐ 就別到鳥島. | Bird Island is an island; Bird Island has birds. The birds on Bird Island are countless. If you wish to go to Bird Island, you must love birds. If you don't love small birds, don't go to Bird Island. |