Chrząszcz by Jan Brzechwa

Jan Brzechwa

Jan Brzechwa , , born Jan Wiktor Lesman in Żmerynka, Podolia to a Polish family of Jewish descent was a Polish poet and author, mostly known for his contribution to children's literature....

 is a poem famous for being one of the hardest to pronounce texts in Polish literature

Polish literature

Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...

, and may cause problems even for adult, native Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 speakers.

	Phonetic transcription	English translation
W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie	[fʂt͡ʂɛbʐɛʂɨɲɛ xʂɔɰ̃ʂt͡ʂ bʐmi ftʂt͡ɕiɲɛ]	In the town of Szczebrzeszyn Szczebrzeszyn Szczebrzeszyn is a city in southeastern Poland in Lublin Voivodeship, in Zamość County, about 20 km west of Zamość. From 1975–1999, it was part of the Zamość Voivodeship administrative district. The town serves as the seat to Gmina Szczebrzeszyn. A 2004 census counted 5,357 inhabitants...  a beetle Beetle Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...  buzzes in the reeds
I Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie.	[iʂt͡ʂɛbʐɛʂɨn stɛɡɔ swɨɲɛ]	And Szczebrzeszyn Szczebrzeszyn Szczebrzeszyn is a city in southeastern Poland in Lublin Voivodeship, in Zamość County, about 20 km west of Zamość. From 1975–1999, it was part of the Zamość Voivodeship administrative district. The town serves as the seat to Gmina Szczebrzeszyn. A 2004 census counted 5,357 inhabitants...  is famous for it.
Wół go pyta: „Panie chrząszczu,	[vuw ɡɔ pɨta paɲɛ xʂɔɰ̃ʂt͡ʂu]	An ox Ox An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...  asks him: “Mister beetle,
Po cóż pan tak brzęczy w gąszczu?"	[pɔ t͡suʂ pan tak bʐɛnt͡ʂɨ vɡɔɰ̃ʂt͡ʂu]	What are you buzzing for in the bushes?”

The first line “W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie”
(In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed) is a well-known Polish tongue-twister

Tongue-twister

A tongue-twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly, and can be used as a type of spoken word game. Some tongue-twisters produce results which are humorous when they are mispronounced, while others simply rely on the confusion and mistakes of the speaker for their...

.

Thanks to the poem, the town of Szczebrzeszyn

Szczebrzeszyn

Szczebrzeszyn is a city in southeastern Poland in Lublin Voivodeship, in Zamość County, about 20 km west of Zamość. From 1975–1999, it was part of the Zamość Voivodeship administrative district. The town serves as the seat to Gmina Szczebrzeszyn. A 2004 census counted 5,357 inhabitants...

 is widely known in Poland. A monument to the beetle was erected there in 2002 and a yearly sculpture festival has been held there ever since.

Chrząszcz was translated into English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 by Walter Whipple

Walter Whipple

Walter Whipple is a Teaching Professor Emeritus of Polish in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah...

 as Cricket

Cricket (insect)

Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers, and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...

.