Tongue twisters are great for practising and improving pronunciation and fluency, even in your native language. You may think these are more for children but they are actually great for adults too. Especially for those who are learning a second language! Tongue twisters in Portuguese are called trava-línguas (tongue stoppers). They work by using alliteration which is the repetition of a sound.
I’ve prepared five of these trava-línguas below and a video of me saying them for you (stumbling through them too!!). The goal is to say them as quickly as you can (when you can). When you can master them, you will be a much more confident speaker afterwards!
The “Hard” R
Just a note about this sound. In Portugal, there are two ways this can be pronounced and the difference is usually regional. And I will colloquially refer to them as the “throat R” and the “rolled R”. (the voiced uvular trill and the voiced alveolar trill respectively video demonstration coming on those in the future)
O rato roeu a rolha da garrafa de rum do rei da Rússia.
(The mouse chewed the cork of the king of Russia’s rum bottle.)
“Soft” R, tr and S
The soft R is when you “roll” your R once. It’s called an alveolar tap or flap. S in Portuguese has 4 different pronunciations depending on where it is in the word. The video below explains the different sounds of “s” in Portuguese.
Três pratos de trigo para três tristes tigres.
(Three plates of wheat for three sad tigers)
“Soft” R, PR and DR
O pai do Pedro prega um prego na parede do prédio.
(Pedro’s father nails a nail in the wall of the building.)
MP and nasal M
M can be a tricky sound, especially for English native speakers due to the nasalising effect it has at the end of Portuguese words. They’re not sounds we have in the language. However, in this next tongue twister, we’re focusing on the sound of m before the consonant p.
O tempo perguntou ao tempo quanto tempo o tempo tem, o tempo respondeu ao tempo que o tempo tem o tempo que o tempo tem.
(Time asked Time how much time Time has, Time answered Time that Time has the time that Time has.)
LH
This is another one of those sounds that don’t exist in English. The best way I can describe it is a short l sound in front of a “ye” sound.
A vaca malhada foi molhada por outra vaca molhada e malhada.
(The speckled cow was wet by another wet and speckled cow.)
Here is an additional video exercise to practice this sound.