'CONNECT' 18: Tips on Public Speaking: Tongue Twisters!

'If I went back to college again, I'd concentrate on two areas: learning to write and speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively'

Gerald R. Ford

Our tongue we see is not the complete tongue. The human tongue consists of the anterior and posterior parts. What we see is the anterior part. It is about two-thirds of the tongue. The posterior is the balance one-third and is closest to the throat.

To improve our diction and articulation, we should exercise the posterior and the anterior parts of the tongue. Tongue twisters help to stretch the tongue and this will improve the quality of our communication.

Tongue twisters are a combination of some words designed to be difficult to articulate. Tongue twisters are good warm up exercises. Practice tongue twisters for five minutes every day.

For example repeat the following tongue twisters:

She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.
The shells she sells are sea-shells, I'm sure.
For if she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore
Then I'm sure she sells sea-shore shells.

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.
The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter
And made her batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter makes better batter.
So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter
Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better

These are only samples. Visit this website http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm and you will get 549 tongue twisters in English!

NC Sridharan

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