Tongue twisting copy. Any suggestions please?

Philip Banks · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007, 23:34 (GMT) Post subject:

Have you ever noticed when you see something you never get tongue tied? Read it and then see it. Describe what you see.

"Look, a large yellow labrador in a light lilac leather collar". Seems to be the key - See it don't read it.

This is from a helicopter flight training course I did a few years ago.
"The main landing gear in tricycle in configuration and energy upon landing is absorbed by three long stroke shock struts".

Michael Strah · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007, 23:38 (GMT) Post subject:

The trouble is, once you become comfortable with something "twisty" it can get too easy and you might be rushing it without even knowing it. In addition to the advice Phil is giving, try checking your timing (way easier to do these days with waveform editing). It's those milliseconds of rushing that can cause the tie up, sometimes.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007, 23:52 (GMT) Post subject:

When I encounter some tongue-twisting copy, what I try to do is just slow down and be as deliberate as I can be and then try to compensate for the lost time by picking up the pace (hopefully imperceptibly) over the remainder of the copy. Fortunately, thanks to digital editing, it is sometimes possible to blurt out half of the offending phrase, stop, go back a syllable or two, pick it up from there, and then "fix it in post."

Maxine Dunn · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007, 23:56 (GMT) Post subject:

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 00:27 (GMT) Post subject:

As an actor, there are a number of vocal warmups we do prior to rehearsals:

"Red Leather, Yellow Leather"
"The big black bug bled black blood"
and so on.

I have an e-learning client who has some math lessons where I've had to say the plural of 'sixth' ... 'sixths'. Man, that is almost impossible to say! I've asked them to PLEASE try to write lessons that do NOT use sixths, when possible.

Ronald T Robinson · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 02:24 (GMT) Post subject:

Adam West, Maxine, is the actor who played television's Batman. ("Holy muselage-of-the-mouth, Batman! You're stuck!" - Robin, the Boy Wonder.) Smile

Maxine Dunn · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 02:32 (GMT) Post subject:

Jacob Ekstroem · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 03:13 (GMT) Post subject:

Then Maxine, a special gift from me to you!

Lance Blair · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 15:30 (GMT) Post subject:

What Philip said^, and smiling through difficult phrases helps too.

Black Licorice Swiss wristwatch

Six stick shifts stuck shut

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

scott feighner · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 227

Jon Robbins · Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007, 21:54 (GMT) Post subject:

Lynne Alston · Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007, 22:20 (GMT) Post subject:

Maxine Dunn · Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007, 23:50 (GMT) Post subject:

Byron Purvis · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007, 10:03 (GMT) Post subject: Tongue Twisters...

What works for me is printing the copy and reading it back a few times to see where difficult transitions between words occur. Then I take 2 words and say them over and over until I get those two perfected, then I add a 3rd word, and a 4th, etc. until I can say the whole sentence. Then I see just how fast I can do it. If you can say it super fast, doing it at normal speed will seem easy.

It also helps me to group phrases together by underlining them so when I see... "... the sixth sheet slitter's son's sheet", I would underline sixth sheet and slitter's son's sheet. It's easier for me to break them into groups. I only make a mental gap between the two groups, but not a pause while reading. It helps me to do this, not sure about anyone else Smile