Tongue twisters aren't just silly poems that use very similar sounds

They're a great way to improve your pronunciation and get your mouth moving in Russian! Tongue twisters are originally created for little kids to learn to pronounce difficult sounds, but they can serve a very real use for people studying Russian as a second language. For example, the tongue twister about Sasha could be especially useful to Russian language learners, because it contrasts the similar "s" and "sh" sounds in Russian:

ШЛА САША ПО ШОССЕ И СОСАЛА СУШКУ

The tongue twister about Mila is a great way to practice Russian hard and soft consonants and compare Ы and И; it puts different sounding vowels between similar-sounding consonants.

МАМА МЫЛА МИЛУ МЫЛОМ, МИЛА МЫЛО НЕ ЛЮБИЛА

Here are Top 5 Russian tongue twisters

1. ШЛА САША ПО ШОССЕ И СОСАЛА СУШКУ
2. МАМА МЫЛА МИЛУ МЫЛОМ, МИЛА МЫЛО НЕ ЛЮБИЛА
3. ЕХАЛ ГРЕКА ЧЕРЕЗ РЕКУ, ВИДИТ ГРЕКА – В РЕКЕ РАК, СУНУЛ ГРЕКА РУКУ В РЕКУ, РАК ЗА РУКУ ГРЕКА ЦАП!
4. КАРЛ У КЛАРЫ УКРАЛ КОРАЛЛЫ, А КЛАРА У КАРЛА УКРАЛА КЛАРНЕТ
5. ТРИДЦАТЬ ТРИ КОРАБЛЯ ЛАВИРОВАЛИ, ЛАВИРОВАЛИ, ДА НЕ ВЫЛОВИРОВАЛИ

The tongue twisters above are well-known in Russia and almost every Russian knows it, but not everyone can say them quickly. Russian native speakers also have difficulties with some Russian words. Here is a fragment of old Soviet movie "Карнавал" with famous actress Ирина Муравьёва, where she is trying to improve her pronunciation (she wants to be an actress) by reciting tongue twisters КУКУШКА КУКУШОНКУ КУПИЛА КАПЮШОН, НАДЕЛ КУКУШОНОК КАПЮШОН, КАК В КАПЮШОНЕ ОН СМЕШОН and ОТ ТОПОТА КОПЫТ ПЫЛЬ ПО ПОЛЮ ЛЕТИТ, ПЫЛЬ ПО ПОЛЮ ЛЕТИТ ОТ ТОПОТА КОПЫТ

Don't bother to try to understand the meaning of the tongue twisters. Usually they are just silly poems with no special meaning, and their purpose is let you practice some difficult Russian sounds, so focus on the right pronunciation, but not on the meaning.

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