Hi there today.
Let's do some English speaking practice.
Let's do some 'tongue twisters'.
Here at Adept English.
We put a lot of focus on listening.
It's the most important skill when you're learning a language, but you
do need to practise your speaking too.
And 'tongue twisters' are a good way to do this.
They're the equivalent of 'going to the gym' for your mouth.
So let's give your mouth a good exercise, a good workout today
and do some 'tongue twisters'.
First of all, what is a 'tongue twister'?
Well, your 'tongue', that's T O N G U E.
That is in your mouth.
It helps you speak and helps you eat your food.
I don't want to be rude, but that's my tongue!
Your tongue is so important to speaking a language that in English, we sometimes
refer to languages as 'tongues'.
We might talk about your 'mother tongue' that means 'your first language',
the language you learned as a baby.
So English is my 'mother tongue'.
Don't confuse 'tongue', T O N G U E, with that silent U and E with
a different word, 'tong', T O N G.
When you hear that kind of 'tong', it's either something that you might
get your sausages off the barbecue with - a 'pair of tongs', or you might
use 'tongs' to straighten your hair.
That's a different word.
And the word 'twister'?
Well -'to twist', that's T W I S T that means 'to form something
in a bent or twisted, spiral shape' . If you twist something,
it's sort of this kind of action.
So a 'tongue twister', that's a term, an expression for a rhyme or a
sentence, which is difficult to say, which makes your tongue and your mouth
work really hard to say the word.
And these are good speaking practice if you're learning a language because
they strengthen the muscles in your mouth, but they also help you make those
essential connections in your brain.
Your brain learns to say new words and possibly new vowels or
consonants, possibly new sounds.
So I have covered tongue twisters before in a previous
podcast - that's podcast number 375.
You can find that on our website still, at adeptenglish.com.
And in that podcast, I covered the following.
I'm gonna read these.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
That's hard to say.
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Red lorries, yellow lorries, red lorries, yellow lorries.
The chic Sikh's sixty sixth sheep is sick.
And the last one was in that podcast?
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickle peppers,
A peck of pickle peppers, Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickle peppers,
Where is the peck of pickle peppers, Peter Piper picked?
So you get the idea?
They're difficult, even for someone who is a native English speaker to
say, so they're good practice for you.
Let's do some different ones today.
In that podcast in 375, I do give you a vocabulary explanation for them as well.
They are nonsense.
They don't make sense, but I think it's more useful to you to be saying words
that you recognize and you know the meanings of, so I'll do the same today.
Just before I go on, if you would like to know how to use our podcasts
so that you speed up your English language learning, what are the best
techniques for learning English?
Just sign up for our Seven Rules of Adept English on our
website, and you will find out.
It will speed up your English language learning.
So sign up today, adept english.com.
Let's do some less well-known tongue twisters today.
Some of these are new to me, so it it it it gives you opportunity to practice.
It gives your mouth chance for exercise.
So try saying these ones with me.
You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York.
That's hard.
Again?
You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York.
If you're watching on YouTube or on Spotify, where you can get video,
then you can see the words in front of you on the screen as I speak.
That might be helpful here.
Last time.
You know New York, you need New York, you know, you need unique New York.
Yep.
That's quite difficult.
That's got me struggling.
What about this one?
If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
Again?
If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
A bit more slowly this time?
If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
We're testing out some of the things that I covered in that recent podcast on
consonant pronunciation and the stuff that gets covered in the course on our website,
on consonant pronunciation as well.
Similar stuff.
Last time on that one?
If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
Practise.
It'll help!
Another one?
Feeling the need to prepare for this one.
Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread.
Again, it's very simple English.
Isn't it?
Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread.
See if you can say that.
If you know the children's books by Dr Seuss, that's S E U S S, an American
author, these specialise in rhymes for children that are tongue twisters.
It's very famous.
You may well know it.
The problem is it probably doesn't translate well into other languages.
It has to be in English and it is American English.
These books come with rather crazy pictures as well.
My children used to love them as bedtime stories.
And I think English- speaking children tend to use rhymes and nursery rhymes to
help with their pronunciation, but also when they're using the 'schwa', in order
to get the rhythm of the language correct.
So rhymes are useful in that way as well.
I do recommend one called 'Green Eggs and Ham'.
You may know it.
That's a book that has sold millions and millions of copies all round the world,
but you can listen to it on YouTube.
You can see the pictures and hear someone reading it out in American English.
The link's in the transcript for that one, if you're interested.
But I do recommend Dr Seuss for tongue twisters.
Let's end with a slightly more difficult one.
This one's a bit like 'Peter Piper and his peck of pickled pepper'.
See if you can say this one.
I'll do it several times and I'll explain the vocabulary as well.
Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter.
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter will make my batter better.
So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
OK.
I'll do some vocabulary here.' Betty Botter' is just a
made-up name to help the rhyme.
'Butter' B U T T E R is what you put on your bread or your toast.
And 'batter', B A T T E R is something that you might make when you're cooking.
If you want to make pancakes, for example, you will first of all make a 'batter'.
And this is what you pour into the pan, to make a pancake.
The word 'bitter', B I T T E R is an adjective.
And it's usually used to describe tastes.
Can be used in other contexts, too, but mainly here taste.
So if something is bitter, it might make you pull a face.
If you tasted shampoo, if you put shampoo in your mouth, that would be bitter.
But we also have foods that we quite like sometimes, that are bitter.
Olives, grapefruit - they're 'bitter'.
They're 'bitter tastes'.
So they're 'bitter in a good way', if you like them.
Let's go again with that one.
Now you understand the words,
Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter.
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter will make my batter better.
So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
That word ''twas' is just an old-fashioned abbreviation of 'it was'.
''Twas' - T W A S.
Once more?
Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter.
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter will make my batter better.
So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
Again, like I said, at the end of the last podcast on tongue twisters, I think I
need to go and have a lie down or at least a drink to 'wet my whistle', as we say.
I've got a dry mouth after all those tongue twisters!
But work on this material.
Play this video or listen on audio to this podcast a number of times, and see
if you can slowly get your mouth around those tongue twisters, it will really help
you when it comes to speaking English.
Enough for now, have a lovely day.
Speak to you again soon.
Goodbye.