Tongue Twisters in Zulu

This one is for Erik to try with Laura (and for Chris when he's bored or on the phone with Madison.)

Zulu is a language with 15 different kinds of clicks (really, there are just 3 clicks, but those clicks can be nasalized or aspirated or voiced or voiced AND nasalized). The easiest click for English-speakers to manage is signified by the letter "q." This is the click that we frequently made as kids. If you put your tongue at the roof of your mouth and then "cluck" or "click" it, so that there is a sudden popping sound, you are making the "q" sound. If you make the popping sound but follow it immediately with a strong breath (or air), you are aspirating it and making the "qh" sound.

I learned this tongue twister in class today. It has a lot of the "q" and "qh" clicks in it, so it's kind of fun. We could all do it but we failed miserably when it came to repeating it 5 times in succession quickly although our teacher, uBab'Nthangase, had a lot of fun doing it for us as quickly as possible. Oh, also, you should know that the second to last syllable is stressed in Zulu, so that when you are speaking, your tone comes down on the last syllable. For example, if you were to say the word "shivering," you would say it like this: "shivERing" or "baby" would be "BAby." The other letters may be pronounced slightly differently than we pronounce them in English, but don't worry about it. I can correct pronunciation when I return, if you've actually tried it.

So here's the tongue twister:

Iqaqa liqhaqhazela uqhoqhoqho.

If translated for its meaning, it means "the cat is purring" but literally translated word for word, it says "the cat shivers in the throat."

Don't forget, all those "q" letters MUST BE CLICKED. :-)

If anybody tries it, let me know how it goes.