The Announcer's Test: a fiendishly challenging and effective articulation exercise

How clearly do you speak? How clearly do your students speak? Get the text of the test. Listen to the audio and get the printable.

Pronunciation, diction, enunciation...

All three words are often used interchangeably to cover speech clarity, and all three cause arguments about the right and wrong ways of saying words aloud.

Right or wrong ways aside, the bigger issue is clarity. Can the people listening understand what is being said?

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You may have an accent. You may mispronounce some words, or you may speak very quickly. However, if people understand you easily then there's NOT problem. Your speech is clear.

Problems begin when people CAN'T understand what you're saying. These, if left unchecked, can cause mayhem.

Test yourself with The Announcer's Test

Here's an articulation/diction exercise called The Announcer's Test. It's made up of deliberately tricky to say words and phrases and was used to test American would-be radio announcers in the 1940s. If they could get through it without stumbling, without rushing and without running out of breath they might potentially be considered for a position.

It goes like this:

One hen

Two ducks

Three squawking geese

Four limerick oysters

Five corpulent porpoises

Six pairs of Don Alverzo's tweezers

Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array

Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt

Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates, with a marked propensity toward procrastination and sloth

Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who all stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time.

One way to use is to say the whole piece straight through. Another is to build it up by adding one line at a time. After each addition, you begin again from the start, like this:

One hen

One hen
Two ducks

One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese

One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters

One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises

One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alverzo's tweezers…

And so on, all the way through to the final addition:

Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who all stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time.

(This version was one of American comedian Jerry Lewis’s much-loved famous signature pieces.)

Working with The Announcer’s Test

Start by taking a deep breath in. As the repetitions as well as the lines lengthen take a breath at the end of them before starting the next run through.

Go slowly at first and carefully over-articulate the words to make you have their sounds clean and clear.

For example: At speed, I frequently mangled ‘three squawking geese’ . It became ‘three squawking greese’ or ‘three scrawking geese’. It wasn’t until I slowed down that the phrase became easier.

Record yourself

Use the record function your phone to capture how well you’re doing.

As an example, here are two recordings I made. The first is the whole test without any repetitions. And the second is with repetitions.

The Announcer’s Test

The Announcer’s Test (the full version)

Have a go yourself. It's fun as well as educational! Download the pdf I made of the text, take a deep breath and try it out. How clear is your speech? How clearly do your students speak?

The Announcer’s Test could easily become part of a lesson on articulation.

For instance: paired Announcer Test battles with play offs until you have a champion or it could be done chorus style in small groups. After the groups have had time to practice, they each present their version to the class.

The Announcer's Test pdf

Until next time,
Happy speaking
Happy teaching,
Susan

For more see diction exercises using tongue twisters, 7 articulation games using tongue twisters, tongue exercises for articulation - Mrs Tongue does her housework.

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