A chat with my Cantonese-speaking friend Tina yesterday reminded me of a tongue twister that I learnt as a child. It goes like this: 红凤凰, 粉凤凰, 粉红凤凰, 黄凤凰, which literally means “red phoenix, pink phoenix, pink red phoenix, yellow phoenix”.
It is especially hard for southerners who can’t differentiate the “f/h” or “en/eng” sounds, and the tones pose a problem for English speakers too.
Fancy a challenge? Try the version with pinyin below:
hóng fèng huáng, fěn fèng huáng, fěn hóng fèng huáng, huáng fèng huáng
红 凤 凰， 粉 凤 凰， 粉 红 凤 凰， 黄 凤 凰。
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我觉得很难读。
如果你可以读cantonese. 你可以try.
床腳撞牆角，牆角撞床角，你話床角撞牆角定牆角撞床腳！