Japanese Tongue Twisters Lesson 3
Time for the third lesson. This time we’re doing a slightly more complicated tongue twister that actually forms a sentence! (Yes, yes, a big day for us all.) The meaning is “A monk skillfully painted a picture of another monk onto a folding screen.” Ok, I actually interpret it as “another” monk, but it could be “a monk” again. Whatever. That’s being nitpicky. You might look at this tongue twister and think that the hard part will be the bou / byou / jou / bou progression – especially with the pronunciation of the glides (which means the y-plus-vowel sound tacked onto the first consonant of a syllable). It’s an understandable assumption. You might discover as I did, however, that that portion of the twister is relatively easy at high speeds when you use a rhythm to help you keep pace. For me, as evidenced in the video this time around, the hardest part is the separation of the particle を or wo (pronounced “oh” most of the time but conventionally represented as wo) and the preceding word “picture” – 絵 or e (pronounced “eh”). I wind up slurring it all together, even crashing into the last word 描いた or kaita and turning it into a mush-mouthed gaita, thereby ruining the end of the twister which is especially aggravating after making it that far! Ha ha. I hope you’ll try and enjoy this one. Video responses with you attempting this tongue twister are highly encouraged! Side note: I need a haircut. 
Difficulty: Medium
Kanji: 坊主が屏風に上手に坊主の絵を描いた。
Hiragana: ぼうずがびょうぶにじょうずにぼうずのえをかいた
Romaji: Bouzu ga byoubu ni jouzu ni bouzu no e wo kaita.
Meaning: A monk skillfully painted a picture of a(nother) monk onto a folding screen.
Audio:
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