Category Archives: 18F Tongue Twisters

Full Project Link: https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/folklorearchive/tongue-twisters-3/

German Tongue Twister: Brautkleid bleibt…

Title: German Tongue Twister (tongue breaker in German): Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid und Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut

General Information about the Item:

  • Oral tradition: tongue breaker
  • Language: German
  • Country of Origin: Berlin
  • Informant: Hendric Tronsson
  • Date Collected: October 29, 2018

Informant Data:

Hendric Tronsson and his family are from Berlin, Germany where Hendric grew up and spent most of his life. Now, Hendric is twenty one years old, goes to school at Dartmouth College, and  is on the track and field team. Hendric is an engineering major and though he has been a very busy student, he has still enjoyed meeting a lot of different people. He is very interested in seeing the similarities and differences between many different cultures.

Contextual data:

In Germany, education is strongly encouraged and expected. The tongue twisters were used for educational purposes to help with pronunciation of difficult words and sounds, and served as a type of practice for children to master certain aspects of the language. In addition to their educational purpose, tongue twisters were also a form of entertainment. Hendric remembers school being particularly strict, rigid, and challenging, but that is where he learned the tongue twisters when they had breaks. Therefore, Hendric and his elementary school classmates would introduce tongue twisters to each other, and use them in order to create fun and challenging entertainment amongst themselves. Hendric also recalls his family being competitive which led to a desire to challenge himself as well as other students with difficult tongue twisters and felt a sense of accomplishment when someone could master one of them. Tongue twisters have been particularly fun for Hendric because he has met many students at Dartmouth that have wanted to learn German. These tongue twisters could be shared with students and help to teach non-native speakers difficult pronunciations while also connecting with the German-speaking students as well.

Item:

Orally transmitted tongue twister:

Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid und Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut

Translation:

A wedding dress will always be a wedding dress and blue cabbage will always be blue.

 

Collector’s Names: Shae Wolfe and Ashley Martinez

Tags/keywords:

  • German
  • Tongue twister
  • Tongue breaker