A short YouTube pronunciation tutorial by Hadar Shemesh focused on the tongue twister "A tutor who tooted the flute tried to tutor two tutors to toot." The speakers model the phrase repeatedly, explain phonetic features (aspiration of /t/, flap /t/ in TR clusters, reduction of 'tu' to t+schwa, final /t/ release, and the 'th'), and guide viewers through slowed and joined practice with encouragement to repeat and not aim for perfection.
Chapters
A tutor who tutored the flute tried to tutor two tutors to toot. Said the toot to the tutor.
Is it harder to toot or to.
Tutor two tutors to toot?
When I joined the acting school circle in the square back when I was 22, we had speech and pronunciation classes. And this was one of the first tongue twisters that we had to say out loud. I cannot describe the the horror that I felt. I was dreading it. I was petrified to read this out loud. Honestly, I didn't even understand what it means. But with time and practice, I kind of got addicted to this tongue twister as well as to other tongue twisters. So I decided to share it with you. By the way, when we worked on it back then, it wasn't just for non native speakers. It was for all speakers of English. And we worked on the teachers T's and the ooze and the t sound. We had to say it like this.
A tutor who tutored the flute tried to tutor two tutors to toot.
Doesn't feel like me. It's not me. It's not my authentic self anyway. So let's do it in contemporary American English.
A tutor tutor flap t r tutor.
Which is a really good practice for all the flap TR words.
A tutorial.
The T is aspirated, by the way, so it feels like there is a little H right after A tutor who.
Tense u not who, who.
There is like a journey there. Who you hear the sound forming up as you pronounce it.
A tutor who tooted, tooted, tooted did did.
So it's a flap t I and.
A D. Tooted the number two and did the flute hell t at the end tense oo the flute.
Don't forget the th.
Tried to tutor.
Tried long I to tutor.
So the tu is reduced to t schwa. Tried to tutor two tutors.
So it's the same beginning 2, 2 and then flap TR2 tutors t schwa.
Toot held t at the end.
Let's do this part together.
A tutor who tooted the flute tried to tutor two tutors to toot.
Now, this does not need to be perfect. All right? A tongue twister is this ongoing work? Ongoing process.
Okay?
So keep that in mind. We're not looking for perfection. We're just looking to organize sounds inside our heads and to challenge our pronunciation and articulation organs so that we are more in control and we are more aware of what's happening here and it's not just happening on its own.
Right, Said the To. To the tutor said the. To the. To the. To the tutor. Tutor said the toot to the tutor.
Is it harder? Is it? That's easy, right? No. T's no flap. T's no R's.
Is it harder?
Har.
Harder.
The D behaves like the flap. Tutor harder. It actually rhymes.
Is it harder to toot?
Harder to too becomes D. Harder to.
Toot or to tutor.
You already know how to say this word.
To tutors to toot. Is it harder to toot or to tutor? Two tutors to toot. Don't give up.
You can do it. Don't get frustrated. I mean, you can get frustrated, but don't stop. I know it's confusing. You can rewind. Watch it again.
Slow it down.
Try it again with me. Come back to it tomorrow. You got this, my friend. Even if it's a little confusing does not need to be perfect. Do whatever you can. Let's do it all together from the beginning.
A tutor who tooted the flute tried to tutor two tutors. T. Spit that t. Two tutors to toot.
Hold that T at the end said.
The toot to the tutor. Is it harder to toot or to tooter? Two tutors to toot.
Now. If someone who does not understand English would hear me right now, they would be thinking that I have gone crazy. I have no doubt about it with all those weird sounds that I'm making. All right, on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was this tongue twister? Put it in the comments and you can even add your favorite tongue twister if you want. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next practice video.
