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Japanese Tongue Twisters
hayakuchi kotoba

1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters
www.tongue-twister.net/ja.htm © 1996-2018 by Mr.Twister

Please click on the number above the tongue twister for a rough translation;
You can use this form to submit a new tongue twister.

1

Bózu ga byóbu ni józu ni bózu no é o kaita.

2

Hyoko pyoko pyoko mi pyoko pyoko
Awasete pyoko pyoko mu pyoko pyoko.

3

Kono Take o Kono Takegaki ni Tatekaketa no wa,
Take o Tatekaketakattakara Tatekaketa no desu.

4

Kono ko ni tokonatsu no kokonatsu kokonotsu,
ano ko nimo tokonatsu no kokonatsu kokonotsu.

5

Torawo torunara torawo toru yori toriwo tore, toriwa otorini torawo tore.

6

Kono ko ni tokonatsu no kokonatsu kokonotsu,
ano ko nimo tokonatsu no kokonatsu kokonotsu.

7

Oyagame no ue ni kogame, kogame no ue ni magogame.

8

Kono kugi wa hiki nuki nikui kugi da.

9

Tokyo tokkyo kyoka-kyoku kyou kyuukyo kyoka kyakka.

10

Kamoshika mo shika mo shika da ga, tashika ashika wa shika de wa nai.

11

Shinkansen shurushuru shurushuru, senro ni sotte hashiru.

12

Kaeru pyoko-pyoko
mi pyoko-pyoko
awasete pyoko-pyoko mu pyoko-pyoko.

13

Koshou shoushou, shio shoushou, shouyu shoushou.

14

Shansonkashu, sinshunshansonshu

15

Aka-pajama, ki-pajama, cha-pajama.

16

Bohzu-ga byohbu-ni bohzu-no e-o zyohzuni kai-ta.

17

Aka-chazutsu, ki chazutsu, cha-chazutsu.

18

Kanda kajicho kado no kajiya no Kanbei-san ga kachiguri katta ga katakute kamenai kamisan ga kanshaku okoshite kari-kari kandara kari-kari kameta.

19

Sumomo mo momo, momo mo momo, sumomo mo momo mo momo no uchi.

20

Bugubagu bugubagu, mibugubagu awasete bugubagu mubugubagu.

21

Aka-makigami ao-makigami ki-makigami.

22

Uraniwa niwa niwa niwa niwa niwa niwatori ga iru.

23

Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago.

24

Jazu kashu shanson kashu.

25

Basu, gasu, bakuhatsu.

26

Tonarino kyaku-wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku-da.

27

Tókyó-to Tokkyo kyokakyoku-chó.

28

Kono takegaki ni dare take tatekaketa.

29

Papa no pajama wa kipajama chapajama shimapajama.

30

Niwa no niwa ni wa, niwa no niwatori wa niwaka ni wani wo tabeta.

31

Nomu nara noru na, noru nara nomu na.

from a Japanese police don't-drink-and-drive campaign

32

migi me migi mimi, migi mimi migi me

33

Gorbachovshokichou

this was killing the news caster at that time

34

barabarana banana babarowa

35

Tanaka-san no nagai takai katai katana.

36

暖かくなったから、暖かい服を使った
(あたたかくなかったから、あたたかい ふく を つかった)

Atatakakunakattakara, atatakai fuku wo tsukatta.

37

この猫ここの猫の子猫この子猫ね

Kono neko koko no neko no koneko kono koneko ne

38

深遠思念と親切心寝室にがあります

Shin'en shinen to shinsetsushin shinshintsu ni ga arimasu

39

タコベルのタコは高くなかった

40

新春シャンソンの歌手による新春シャンソンショー

shinshun shanson no kashu ni yoru shinshunn shanson shou

Rough Translations

  1. up The monk drew a good picture of another monk on the folding screen.
  2. up Take two sets of three chicken cackles add them together and they make six chicken cackles.
  3. up The reason I have leaned this bamboo aginst this bamboo fence is that I just wanted to lean a bamboo aginst it!
  4. up I give nine coconuts from a tropical island to this child, and I give nine coconuts from a tropical island to that child, too.
  5. up Instead of catching the tiger, catch a bird, and use the bird as a bait to catch the tiger.
  6. up Nine ever-lasting summer coconuts for this child, nine ever-lasting summer coconuts for that child, too.
  7. up On the parent turtle is the child turtle, on the child turtle is the grandchild turtle.
  8. up This nail is hard to pull out!
  9. up The Tokyo patent office hurriedly rejected the permission today.
  10. up The Japanese serow (a kind of antelope) and the sika deer are both deer, but certainly the sea lion is not a deer.
  11. up The bullet train goes along the tracks saying "shurushuru" (onomatopoeia).
  12. up Take two sets of three frog croaks add them together and they make six frog croaks
  13. up A little bit of pepper, salt, and soy sauce
  14. up chanson singer, new year chanson praise
  15. up Red pajamas, green pajamas, brown pajamas
  16. up 'monk'-SUBJ 'folding screen'-'on' 'monk'-'of' 'drawing'-OBJ 'ingeniously' 'draw'-AUX-PERFECT. 'The monk drew a picture of a monk quite ingeniously') ['oh' as in 'bohzu', 'byohbu' or 'zyohzu' is a long pure vowel, not a diphthong.]
  17. up Red tea kettle, yellow tea kettle, brown tea kettle.
  18. up Kanbei, the blacksmith on the corner at Kanda Kajicho, bought roasted chestnuts too hard to bite. His wife threw a tantrum and gnawed on them successfully.
  19. up A Japanese plum is a kind of peach, a peach is also a peach, both Japanese plum and peach are kinds of peaches.
  20. up bugu = military gear, bagu = horse gear
  21. up Red scroll, blue scroll, yellow scroll
  22. up There are two chickens in the back yard and two in the front yard.
  23. up Raw wheat, raw rice, and raw egg
  24. up A jazz singer and a chanson singer.
  25. up Bus, gas, explosion (the gasoline of the bus exploded)
  26. up The neighbour's guest is very much a persimmons-eating guest. 'my neighbor's' 'guest'-THEME 'lots of' 'persimmon' 'eat' 'guest'-AUX-ASSERTION. There is no relative pronoun in Japanese, so the literal translation of the above may be 'My neighbor's guest is a guest who eats lots of persimmons' A more natural translation into English would be 'My neighbor's guest eats lots of persimmons' or maybe 'The customer sitting next to me is eating a lot of persimmons.'
  27. up Head of the Tokyo patent office
  28. up Who placed (this) bamboo (pole) against this bamboo hedge?
  29. up Papa's pajamas are yellow pajamas, brown pajamas, and striped pajamas
  30. up In (Mr) Niwa's garden, two chickens suddenly ate a crocodile.
  31. up If you drink don't drive, if you drive don't drink.
  32. up right eye right ear, right ear right eye
  33. up Gorbachev - Secretary-general
  34. up The scattered bananas were Bavarian.
  35. up Mr. Tanaka's long, expensive, hard sword.
  36. up Because it wasn’t warm I used warm clothes.
  37. up This cat is the kitten of the cat here, this kitten.
  38. up The bedroom has deep thoughts and kindness
  39. up Taco Bell's tacos aren't expensive at all.
  40. up An early spring chanson show by an early spring chanson singer

Arigato

Abdullah Ashour, Rick Brezina, Jayden Carr, Hiromi Chapion, George Crane, Tom Cunningham, Dave Fleming, Jonathan Gregory, Fumiko Hanaoka, Keiko Hata, Deej Heath, Sean Holland, Justin Kanda, Akiko Kikuchi, Jannick Læbel, Charles J. Lippert, Chelsea Meininger, Hisao Minami, Kazuko Mizoguchi, Chow Ning, Hitoshi Nishino, Romeu Nunes, Gerard Paul-Clark, David Ree, Roger Riyud, Michel Sadur, Kazutoshi Sakamoto, Shingo Sato, Dave Simpson, Shiori Sogo, Armand Suarez, Kat Tanaka, Chris West, Katsuyuki Yano, Katsuyuki Yano

Links

Ethnologue, Languages of the World: Japanese


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Compilation © 1996-2018 by Mr.Twister

http://www.tongue-twister.net/ja.htm was last updated on 2018-06-15.