Chinese Tongue Twisters Part II

“四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十” I’m pretty sure you all have heard of this well-known Chinese tongue twister about fours and tens. Number four and number ten in Chinese sounds very similar. Instead, the only thing that is different about them is their tones. There are four tones in the Chinese language and each of them sounds very different. However, they are easily confused. After reading Joanne Li’s article on Chinese Tongue Twisters, I found these tongue twisters to be greatly simple and enjoyable to read. Therefore, I decided to search for some more tongue twisters. Reading these tongue twisters can help build the basics of Mandarin pronunciation. Most times, many non-native speakers will have a tough time pronouncing some of the words. These tongue twisters can help them enhance their speaking. Here are some of them:

If You Know, Say You Know

知道就说知道, 

不知道就说不知道, 

不要知道说不知道, 

也不要不知道说知道, 

你知道不知道？

zhī dào jiù shuō zhī dào,

bù zhī dào jiù shuō bù zhī dào,

bù yào zhī dào shuō bù zhī dào,

yě bù yào bù zhī dào shuō zhī dào,

nǐ zhī dào bù zhī dào?

if you know say you know, 

if you don’t know say you don’t know, 

don’t say you know when you don’t know, 

and don’t know and say you know, 

do you know?

Bamboo Pole

扁担长，板凳宽

扁担要绑在板凳上，

板凳不让扁担绑在板凳上，

扁担非要绑在板凳上。

biǎn dàn cháng, bǎn dèng kuān,

biǎn dàn bǎng zài bǎn dèng shàng,

bǎn dèng bú ràng biǎn dàn bǎng zài bǎn dèng shàng,

biǎn dàn fēi yào bǎng zài bǎn dèng shàng.

a bamboo pole is long, and a bench is wide

the bamboo pole was bound to the bench 

the bench did not allow the pole to be bound to it,

but the pole insisted on being bound to the bench. 

Mother/Mama Rides a Horse

妈妈骑马

马慢，

妈妈骂马

mā mā qí mǎ. 

mǎ màn, 

mā mā mà mǎ.

mother rides a horse.

the horse is slow,

the mother scolds the horse.

Now let’s try some harder ones:

Black Fertilizer, Grey Fertilizer

黑化肥发灰,

灰化肥发黑。

黑化肥发灰会挥发,

灰化肥挥发会发黑。

hēi huà féi fā huī, 

huī huà féi fā hēi. 

hēi huà féi fā huī huì huī fā, 

huī huà féi huī fā huì fā hēi. 

black fertilizer turns gray,

gray fertilizer turns black,

black fertilizer turns black when it evaporates,

evaporated gray fertilizer may turn black.

800 soldiers

八百標兵奔北坡

炮兵並排北邊跑

炮兵怕把標兵碰

標兵怕碰炮兵砲。

bā bǎi biāo bīng bēn běi pō

pào bīng bìng pái běibian pǎo

pào bīng pà bǎ biāo bīng pèng

biāo bīng pà pèng pào bīng pào.

eight hundred spearmen rush towards north hill slope

artillery soldiers abreast in rows run towards the north

artillery soldiers afraid to bump into the spearmen

whereas the spearmen are afraid to bump into the artillery’s bomb.

Sources –

http://blog.tutorming.com/mandarin-chinese-learning-tips/chinese-tongue-twisters

20 Terrific Yet Tricky Tongue Twisters That Totally Teach You Chinese Posthaste