18 Japanese Tongue Twisters for Pronunciation Practice

Studying Japanese tongue twisters isn't just an entertaining activity. It's a proven method to enhance your pronunciation and build your vocabulary.

At the very least, you’ll learn a neat party trick to amaze your Japanese friends.

(Just try them out with your language exchange partner and see the reaction you get!)

In this post, you’ll discover 18 Japanese tongue twisters, or 早口言葉 (はやくちことば), along with four tips to help you perfect them.

1. バスガス爆発

Hiragana: ばすがすばくはつ English: Bus gas explosion

Begin by taking one word at a time:

バス (ばす) — bus

ガス (がす) — gas

爆発 (ばくはつ) — explosion

Repeat these until you can say them without looking. Remember to keep those “a” sounds short, like the “a” in “that.”

Now for the tricky part. Keep in mind that in Japanese, tongue twisters are called fast-mouth words. So try to say them three times quickly.

2. 赤巻紙 、 黄巻紙 、 青巻紙

Hiragana: あかまきがみきまきがみあおまきがみ English: Red scroll, yellow scroll, blue scroll

Picture a clerk in ancient Japan, organizing his scrolls. It's like a scene from a classic Scooby Doo episode, with the same background repeating endlessly.

The same three scrolls keep appearing as the clerk attempts to sort them.

“あかまき がみきまきがみ あおまきがみ, あかまきがみきまきがみあおまきがみ…”

Be careful with all those k sounds.

Once you’ve mastered this, saying regular Japanese sentences should feel much easier, like:

暖かくなかった (あたたかくなかった) It was not warm

3. 生麦生米生卵

Hiragana: なま むぎなまごめなまたまご English: Raw wheat, raw rice, raw eggs

This is a popular Japanese tongue twister, and I've encountered it frequently while talking with Japanese students.

One of the pleasures of visiting Japan is sampling the wonderful local food.

Therefore, the words in this tongue twister are essential kanji or 漢字 (かんじ) to know as they often show up on Japanese menus.

If you’re thinking of traveling to Japan, you’ll need to recognize the 漢字 for basic foods, such as:

麦 (むぎ) — wheat

米 (こめ) — rice, uncooked

卵 (たまご) — egg

For instance, if you’re celiac, then you must remember how to ask,

麦が入っていますか (むぎがはいっていますか) Is there wheat in this?

4. 李も桃も桃のうち

Hiragana: すもももももももものうち English: Both plums and peaches are members of the peach family

When I began learning Japanese, someone mentioned that they found 漢字 simpler to read than かな or kana. I thought that was odd.

In my view, mastering hiragana and katakana was straightforward with good techniques.

However, I eventually understood their point. If anything shows the challenge of reading plain かな, it's that sequence of eight consecutive もs in this tongue twister.

Reading the かな by itself, it's hard to understand the sentence's meaning, since there's no clear indication where one word stops and the next starts.

Let's break it down:

李 (すもも) — plum/s

も — “also” particle

桃 (もも) — peach/es

も — “also” particle

桃 (もも) — peach

の うち — the group/ family of

5. 隣りの客はよく柿食う客だ

Hiragana: となりのきゃくはよくかきくうきゃくだ English: The guest next door eats a lot of persimmons

One important thing to notice here is the reading of “くう” for “食.”

You might be more familiar with this 漢字 being read as the た in 食べる (たべる — to eat).

The “くう” reading of the “食” 漢字 is less formal than “たべる” and is used more often by men.

Another aspect that makes this tongue twister challenging is the quick movement your mouth must make between the single “か” and its compound version “きゃ.”

Getting this right is crucial for speaking Japanese correctly.

The distinction between these かな can be significant in ways English speakers may not anticipate.

For example, when adapting English words to カタカナ, Japanese sometimes uses “きゃ” where we might expect a simple “か” to be closer to the English sound.

Some examples include:

キャラクター (きゃらくたー) — character

キャッシュカード (きゃっしゅかーど) — cash card

キャンセル (きゃんせる) — cancel; cancellation

キャスト (きゃすと) — cast

6. 丹羽の庭には二羽鶏俄にワニを食べた

Hiragana: にわのにわにはにわにわとりにわかにわにをたべた English: In (Mr.) Niwa’s garden, two chickens suddenly ate a crocodile

One day, a crocodile was relaxing in Mr. Niwa’s garden when two chickens appeared and ate him without warning.

Mr. Niwa was astonished by what he witnessed and felt he had to record the event.

…Or, perhaps someone took the original, simpler Japanese tongue twister and thought it was too easy and dull:

庭には二羽鶏がいる (にわにはにわにわとりがいる) There are two chickens in the garden

This original phrase is shown in the video above, as it’s a bit more common.

Let's analyze this one:

丹羽 (にわ) — family name, imagine there’s a さん attached, so Mr. or Mrs. Niwa

の — ‘s (possessive)

庭 (にわ) — garden

には — preposition, in/at

二羽 (にわ) — counter for birds

鶏 (にわとり) — chickens

俄に (にわかに) — suddenly

ワニ (わに) — crocodile/alligator

を — this particle marks the direct object of a sentence

食べた (たべた) — ate

Like number five, this tongue twister is much simpler to read in 漢字 than in plain かな.

More Japanese Tongue Twisters

How to Practice Japanese Tongue Twisters

Japanese tongue twisters are enjoyable to learn and useful for improving pronunciation and gaining insight into Japanese culture.

Here are some tips to maximize your practice with each phrase.

• Practice your pronunciation with similar sounds. The purpose of tongue twisters is their difficulty, arising from many similar sounds, even in our native language. By concentrating on and practicing the challenging words, you'll learn to pronounce them correctly and clearly.
• Record yourself saying the Japanese tongue twisters. You can use a basic voice recording app to listen back and identify areas for improvement. Are you missing certain sounds? Are some sounds more troublesome than others? You'll also notice your accent and can correct it as needed.
• Use them with your Japanese language exchange partner. Ask your partner which tongue twisters they prefer, which ones they hear or use most often, if they have any stories related to specific phrases, and so on. You can also request feedback on your pronunciation of each tongue twister.
• Learn difficult and new words in context. Many of these tongue twisters include words you likely haven't encountered before, offering great learning opportunities. You can learn to use them like a native by engaging with Japanese media, like the selected videos on Lingflix.

Japanese tongue twisters—tricky to pronounce, but incredibly enjoyable. It's an added benefit that they're also effective tools to boost your pronunciation and vocabulary.

Keep practicing these phrases, increasing your speed slowly until you can say them all fluently 10 times fast.

(And if you enjoyed working with tongue twisters, you'd probably love learning how to use Japanese onomatopoeia as well!)