We all love a good tongue twister. Peter Piper is a perfect example. But it can actually serve a purpose for more than just fun with words. These twisters can help learn pronunciation quite clearly - particularly in practising the twister slowly. Since there are sounds that are not found in English that are in German (or in other languages and vice verse), it is quite a helpful way to teach these sounds with precision. It can also be an effective tool in overcoming speech impediments. I have to admit I was amused to find out that tongue twisters exist in every other language (even in sign language where they are called finger fumblers). It says something about the nature of language to me. Some of the sites I found on the web contained tongue twisters from as many as 109 languages. Below are examples and their translations of some German tongue twisters. I am not going to write them out phonetically, hoping that by now, you have a general idea of how to pronounce many of these sounds. If you would like a pronunciation, though, feel free to post a comment to the web blog.
In the theme of Peter Piper: Bäcker Braun backt braune Brezeln. Braune Brezeln backt Bäcker Braun. (Baker Brown baked brown pretzels. Brown pretzels baked Baker Brown.)
Esel essen Nesseln nicht, Nesseln essen Esel nicht. (Donkeys do not eat nettles, nettles do not eat donkeys.)
Braune Bürstenborsten bürsten besser. (Brown brush bristles brush better.)
Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische, frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz. (Fisherman Fritz fishes fresh fish, fresh fish fishes fisherman Fritz.)
Hinter Hermanns Hannes Haus hängen hundert Hemden raus, hundert Hemden hängen raus hinter Hermanns Hannes Haus. Hinter'm hohen Haus hackt Hans hartes Holz. Hartes Holz hackt Hans hinter'm hohen Haus. (Behind Hermanns Hannes' house hangs one hundred shirts, one hundred shirts hang from behind Hermanns Hannes' house. Behind him Hans chops hard wood high upon the house. Hard wood chops Hans high behind the house.)
Klaus Knopf liebt Knödel, Klöße, Klöpse. Knödel, Klöße, Klöpse liebt Klaus Knopf. (Klaus Buttons loves dumplings (two types of dumplings), and meatballs. Dumplings and meatballs does Klaus Buttons love.)
And last, but not least: Zehn Ziegen zogen zehn Zentner Zucker zum Zoo. (Ten goats pulled ten hundredweights of sugar to the zoo.)
The word for today is tongue twister: der Zungenbrecher (tsoong ehn brehch ehr where the "oo" of tsoong is like in book and the ch is that cat sound. This means literally "tongue breaker".)
The question for the day is "Where is the largest model railroad in the world?"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
