中文绕口令 (Tongue Twisters)

[Murray]

Has anyone else found tongue twisters useful for developing speaking skills? I've fooled around with them in previous language study and they're great.

For students of Mandarin, especially, I think it's a good way to give your tones, pronunciation and speaking speed a serious work out. My Chinese language exchange partner introduced me to this one:

四是四

sì shì sì

十是十

shí shì shí

十四是十四

shí sì shì shí sì

四十是四十

sì shí shì sì shí

四十四只石狮子是死的

sì shí sì zhī shí shī zǐ shì sǐ de

I've almost got this one down...I practice it when I wake up and before my Chinese class to warm up my mouth muscles. Once I'm done with this one, I'd like to keep challenging myself.

Does anyone have any they'd like to add?

[skylee]

We've shared some in the past. I think if you do a search you could find them.

Here is one (not really a tongue twister) -> http://www.chinese-forums.com/showpost.php?p=100881&postcount=5

This is another one I found on the internet ->

遺鎰疑醫

伊姨殪，遺億鎰。伊詣邑，意醫姨疫，一醫醫伊姨。

翌，億鎰遺，疑醫，以議醫。醫以伊疑，縊，以移伊疑。

伊倚椅以憶，憶以億鎰遺，以議伊醫，亦縊。噫！亦異矣。

[Murray]

We've shared some in the past. I think if you do a search you could find them.

Well, I searched and didn't find anything.

This is another one I found on the internet ->

Quote:

遺鎰疑醫

伊姨殪，遺億鎰。伊詣邑，意醫姨疫，一醫醫伊姨。

翌，億鎰遺，疑醫，以議醫。醫以伊疑，縊，以移伊疑。

伊倚椅以憶，憶以億鎰遺，以議伊醫，亦縊。噫！亦異矣。

All those characters are "Yi" pronunciations, right? Looks tough...thanks.

[leeyah]

Here are some typical and some untypical 绕口令 for you:

http://hi.baidu.com/g7413168/blog/item/ae6da1344974ffb7d1a2d37b.html

http://www.haha365.com/rkl/

Have fun!

[Entropy_Rising]

遺鎰疑醫

伊姨殪，遺億鎰。伊詣邑，意醫姨疫，一醫醫伊姨。

翌，億鎰遺，疑醫，以議醫。醫以伊疑，縊，以移伊疑。

伊倚椅以憶，憶以億鎰遺，以議伊醫，亦縊。噫！亦異矣。

I'm going to go ahead and politely ask if anyone can translate this story for us. I'm interested in knowing what this terrible lump of yi's means!

[skylee]

Take a look for translation in modern Chinese and English -> http://okenglish.tw/modules/newbb/print.php?form=2&forum=5&topic_id=121&post_id=376

[Christina99]

一，一是个一； 一二，二一，还是个一； 一二叁，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五，五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六，六五四叁二一，五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六七，七六五四叁二一，六五四叁二一，五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六七八，八七六五四叁二一，七六五四叁二一，六五四叁二一，五四叁二一，四叁二一， 叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六七八九，九八七六五四叁二一，八七六五四叁二一，七六五四叁二一，六五四叁二一， 五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六七八九十，十九八七六五四叁二一，九八七六五四叁二一，八七六五四叁二一， 七六五四叁二一，六五四叁二一，五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一。

can you read them without a pause:mrgreen:?

I can't anyway.

[Murray]

一，一是个一； 一二，二一，还是个一； 一二叁，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五，五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六，六五四叁二一，五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六七，七六五四叁二一，六五四叁二一，五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六七八，八七六五四叁二一，七六五四叁二一，六五四叁二一，五四叁二一，四叁二一， 叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六七八九，九八七六五四叁二一，八七六五四叁二一，七六五四叁二一，六五四叁二一， 五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一； 一二叁四五六七八九十，十九八七六五四叁二一，九八七六五四叁二一，八七六五四叁二一， 七六五四叁二一，六五四叁二一，五四叁二一，四叁二一，叁二一，二一，还是个一。

This one is ridiculous! I'm biting off more than I can chew with this thread! If I can ever do this at rapid speed I'll be satisfied with my Mandarin.

[jade-]

I can think of several of them, you got to say them fast and repeatedly:

1.红凤凰，粉凤凰，红粉凤凰，粉红凤凰。

2.吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮儿，不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮儿。

3.门外吊刀刀倒吊。

4.妈妈骑马，马慢妈妈骂马。

I heard we cannot write too many Chinese characters here, so I'd better stop. There are also some nasty ones we thought they were funny when we were little kids.

Of course, the most famous one is 赵元任的“石氏嗜食狮”, which I am not sure is 绕口令, I think he just wrote it for fun.

[optimotional]

赵元任《施氏食狮史》 :mrgreen:

　　　　

石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。

施氏时时适市视狮。

十时，适十狮适市。

是时，适施氏适市。

氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世。

氏拾是十狮尸，适石室。

石室湿，氏使侍拭石室。

石室拭，氏始试食是十狮。

食时，始识是十狮，实十石狮尸。

试释是事。

Zhao Yuanren 《The Story of Eating a Lion》

A poet named Mr. Shi lived in a stone house, he liked lions so much and promised to eat ten lions.

Usually Mr. Shi went to the market to see the lions.

(One day) at ten o’clock, ten lions hang around.

Incidentally Mr. Shi was also right there.

Mr. Shi gazed at the ten lions, pulling the bow and shoot them die.

Then Mr. Shi picked up the corpses and went back to his stone house.

But the stone house was so humid, he just cleaned it up.

When it was finished, Mr. Shi started his dinner of ten lions.

At the right time, he realized the ten lions he got were ten stone lions.

Try to explain this story.

[jade-]

Hi, optimotional, did you translate it? Good job! Only one sentence: 氏使侍拭石室, you translated it as "he just cleaned it up". 侍 = servant or maid, so it should be translated as "he had the servant/maid clean/dry it up". Thank you for copying it here, I forgot his surname was 施氏, not 石氏.

Edited November 10, 2008 at 03:09 PM by jade-

[optimotional]

you right, Jade, I was too hurry to translate it correctly~~Hope someone could translate it better ha~~~cos there's no standard translation to it right now.