Portuguese vs. Spanish: How Similar Are They?
Is Portuguese the same as Spanish? Spanish language learners often hear this question. Lets break this myth right at the beginning.
8 minute read
Thanks to the internet, we now have so many different learning methods available. For that reason, we can’t use lack of resources as an excuse anymore.
Since the Spanish language is getting more popular by the minute (according to This Is The Real Spain) we are here to talk about one of the methods that can help you improve your pronunciation.
Tongue twisters in Spanish.
Besides the fact that they are useful, they can be very fun as well.
If you want to practice with a tutor, someone who can give you immediate feedback on your pronunciation, check out the link below.
Find a native Spanish tutor on Justlearn
What are tongue twisters?
Tongue twisters or in Spanish trabalenguas, are phrases, or specific sequences of words, designed to be tricky to articulate correctly.
They are usually alliterative, which means that the first consonant is repeated.
Often, it is difficult to repeat them accurately, which makes them challenging not just for students and learners but for native speakers, too.
Here’s an example in English: She sees cheese.
And in Spanish: Tristes tigres comian trigo. (Three sad tigers ate wheat).
The biggest benefits of practicing tongue twisters in Spanish
There are so many advantages of using these funny and useful phrases that we wouldn’t know where to begin. Let’s see some of the biggest benefits.
Pronunciation improvement
The word trabalenguas literally means ‘work for the tongue,’ which indicates pronunciation improvement.
By practicing and repeating them, your pronunciation and speaking skills will get better by the day.
They are a type of articulation exercises, and in that way, they help you speak more clearly.
Fluency
Thanks to these phrases, you will be repeating words and improving your pronunciation which means you will also be enhancing your fluency as a learner.
Accent improvement
When you constantly repeat them, you improve your accent, too.
It is connected to the previous two benefits, so while you practice, you get more benefits at the same time.
Good exercise for native speakers too
This type of activity is not only suitable for language learners but native speakers as well.
By practicing, they can also improve their pronunciation and, therefore, be well-prepared for a business conversation or a presentation.
Find your language weaknesses
When you practice and repeat them, over time, you get to know which sounds are difficult to pronounce.
Also, over time, by constantly practicing the challenging words you master and improve them.
How to use tongue twisters to perfect your Spanish?
If you haven’t already tried practicing them, then we recommend starting with the easy ones. Then you can find the fun ones since there are so many interesting tongue twisters. You’ll even start to enjoy playing around with words!
Leave the hardest ones for the end, and let them be the path to your fluency.
When you start reading for the first time, read them slowly. Make sure to pronounce every sound properly and every part of the word strongly.
After getting to know one phrase, continue saying it faster and faster, but still as clear as possible.
If you make a mistake, start over again.
Spanish tongue twisters
It wouldn’t be interesting if you didn't try to say some tongue twisters today, would it?
In the following lines, you may find some amusing Spanish tongue twisters that will help you with your Spanish.
With these examples, you will improve the challenging sounds.
Just keep practicing.
Have in mind that they are hard to translate, not just from Spanish to English, but to any language. Translations provided are rough translations.
Practice for ‘ch’ sound
Ni techo mi choza ni techo la ajena, que techo la choza de María Chucena.
(Neither roof my hut nor roof the other people's, which roof Maria Chucena's hut.)
Practice for soft ‘g’ sound
El gendarme dice al agente, mucha gente se agenda en la agencia.
(The gendarme tells the agent, many people are scheduled at the agency.)
Practice for ‘mb’ sounds
Si el brujo embruja a la bruja y la bruja desembruja al brujo y el brujo vuelve a embrujarla. ¿Cómo se desembrujará la bruja?
(If the sorcerer bewitches the witch and the witch bewitches the sorcerer, and the sorcerer again haunts her. How will the witch unwind?)
Practice for ‘ñ’ sound
Pedigüeños pingüinos del peñar, ¡despedigüeñence y despeñarse!
(Peñar penguin pedigree, get lost and get lost!)
Practice for ‘r’ sound
Camarero, desencamarónamelo.
(Waiter, unscrew it.)
Practice for ‘rr’ sound
El perro cachorro de Roque Machorro se enreda en la ropa, se enrosca cual cuerda y se enreda en la rueca de Rosa Rueda.
(The Roque Machorro puppy dog is entangled in clothes, curled up like a rope, and entangled in Rosa Rueda's spinning wheel.)
Practice for ‘r’ and ‘rr’ sound together
El perro perra encontró pera, pero perro perra peras no come, en cambio perra perro peros no encontró para comerse la pera que perro perra dejó.
(The dog bitch found pear, but dog bitch pears do not eat, however bitch dog buts did not find to eat the pear that dog bitch left.)
Practice for ‘s’ sound
Si Sansón no sazona su salsa con sal, sosa le sale la salsa sin sazonar a Sansón.
(If Samson does not season his sauce with salt, soda leaves the sauce without seasoning Samson.)
Practice for ‘y’ and ‘ll’ sounds
Hoy ya es ayer y ayer ya es hoy. Ya llegó el día, y hoy es hoy.
(Today is yesterday, and yesterday is today. The day has arrived, and today is today)
Practice for ‘t’ sound
¡Qué triste estás, Tristán, tras tan tétrica trama teatral!
(How sad you are, Tristan, after such a gloomy theatrical plot.)
Practice for ‘tr’ sounds
Oscar trabaja y transporta las otras sin costras y también las otras ostras con costras.
(How sad you are, Tristan, after such a gloomy theatrical plot!)
Practice for ‘v’ and ‘b’ sounds
Juan tuvo un tubo, y el tubo que tuvo se le rompió, y para recuperar el tubo que tuvo, tuvo que comprar un tubo igual al tubo que tuvo.
(Juan had a tube, and the tube he had was broken, and to recover the tube he had, he had to buy a tube equal to the tube he had.)
Blogs and websites about Trabalenguas
Spanish tongue twisters/Trabalenguas
According to this site, this is the first international collection of Spanish phrases. In the end, you may find rough translations, and at the bottom of the homepage, you have the option to add new phrases that are not mentioned on the website.
Feel free to visit the site by clicking on the following link: http://www.tongue-twister.net/es.htm
Trabalengua Cortos
This site is in Spanish, so maybe it is not perfect for beginners, but very interesting and worth visiting.
The point is that visitors can add some new phrases, while others can comment or correct the already written ones.
It is divided into three sections: Añadir Trabalengua- Add tongue twister, Trabalenguas en Inglés- Tongue twisters in English, and Trabalenguas para niños- Tongue- twisters for kids.
The link to the website is here: http://trabalenguascortos.com/
Celeberrima/ Trabalengua-cortos
This website offers many types of exercises. However, it is in Spanish, so beginners may find it a bit difficult to manage, but it is worth trying.
These useful sequences are there to help you with your speaking and pronunciation skills.
At the bottom of the page, you may find phrases about animals, places, food, love, etc.
Visit the following link and start improving your Spanish: https://www.speakinglatino.com/6-tongue-twisters-to-improve-your-spanish-pronunciation/
LingQ
This blog offers posts about some inevitable Spanish sounds that you should practice. Besides many useful and funny examples, it also provides tips on how to use them in the best way, explanations on why they are essential in language learning, etc.
The link to the website can be found here: https://www.lingq.com/blog/2017/09/14/spanish-tongue-twisters/
Transparent Language (Spanish Language Blog)
Besides its popularity in the world of languages, this blog is very useful for learning and practicing tongue twisters as well. You can subscribe and get notifications via e-mail whenever a new post appears, which happens regularly.
https://blogs.transparent.com/spanish/tongue-twisters/
Speaking Latino
This website offers exercises so that you can practice with videos from YouTube. This way, you can practice and repeat for yourself but also listen to proper pronunciation.
Visit this website on the following link: https://www.speakinglatino.com/6-tongue-twisters-to-improve-your-spanish-pronunciation/
123 TeachMe
This site offers more than 100 Spanish useful sequences divided into five groups.
There is no translation, nor any rough translation to English. For students who are already familiar with Spanish, this is not so important. The point is to master your pronunciation and some challenging sounds, since this site has many of them to give.
The link to the website find in here: https://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/tongue_twisters_trabalenguas/#!/1
OmniGlot
This website gives you the benefit of listening and then repeating, not just reading. This way, you can hear some challenging sounds, as well as whole phrases which can be more than useful to students who want to correct their pronunciation.
Feel free to visit the following link, and start practicing: https://www.omniglot.com/language/tonguetwisters/spanish.htm
Cooking with Languages
This site is a bit different. There are some examples where you can find explanations in English, and all that in funny pictures such as Arthur Apple in English, which would be Nerea Naranja in Spanish.
It is a booklet, and if you find it interesting, you can find it as ‘Little book of English and Spanish tongue twisters.’
Visit the following link and have fun while learning: https://cookingwithlanguages.com/english-and-spanish-tongue-twisters-download-our-free-booklets/
The LEAF Project (Language Education Access Foundation)
This blog divides twisters according to sounds, so that you can practice them with ‘p’ sounds, ‘a,’ or ‘ ll’ sounds. On the ‘Related Posts’ part, you will find and choose which sound you want to practice and master. The translation into English is also provided.
The site is available on the following link: https://www.leaflanguages.org/las-trabalenguas-spanish-tongue-twisters-with-a-sounds/
Language Pro
This website offers a list of 50 best tongue twisters divided by their difficulty and length.
This classification can help students choose which ones they want to practice, and, over time, master their language pronunciation and become fluent.
To visit this website, take a look at the following link: https://www.language-pro.info/50-best-spanish-tongue-twisters-trabalenguas/
Final thoughts
When practicing tongue twisters, you should aim to pronounce them correctly and clearly.
The reason they are so effective is because you will have fun.
You will make mistakes.
And you will learn from your mistakes.
If you want to make it even more effective, you should consider hiring a native Spanish tutor. You'll get immediate feedback on your pronunciation and also suggestions from a person who's a Spanish master.
You are one step closer to a perfect Spanish accent. Good luck!
