not as agile as I'd hoped
The Mandarin for "tongue-twister" is apparently 绕口令 rào kŏu lìng. I just looked that up. Ironically, rào kŏu lìng is easy to pronounce.
Lately I've discovered several things that I have a hard time pronouncing. In Young Warriors of the Yang Clan, Sixth Brother's wife becomes 杨六娘 Yáng Liù Niáng... and my tongue has trouble getting that out without tripping over itself. Tingting laughed the other day when it took me several tries.
For someone growing up in English, the distinction between (pinyin) j and zh can take a bit of getting used to (especially when I've spent almost two years conversing with someone who pronounces z and zh almost exactly the same). So this week I'm pronouncing one of my lesson dialogs as usual, when my tongue totally freaks out over 接着写 jiēzhe xiě.
I think I'm going to spend a couple of days just practicing those two. I have no idea what my coworkers think as I mutter to myself in Mandarin.
(edited a bit for clarity)
Lately I've discovered several things that I have a hard time pronouncing. In Young Warriors of the Yang Clan, Sixth Brother's wife becomes 杨六娘 Yáng Liù Niáng... and my tongue has trouble getting that out without tripping over itself. Tingting laughed the other day when it took me several tries.
For someone growing up in English, the distinction between (pinyin) j and zh can take a bit of getting used to (especially when I've spent almost two years conversing with someone who pronounces z and zh almost exactly the same). So this week I'm pronouncing one of my lesson dialogs as usual, when my tongue totally freaks out over 接着写 jiēzhe xiě.
I think I'm going to spend a couple of days just practicing those two. I have no idea what my coworkers think as I mutter to myself in Mandarin.
(edited a bit for clarity)