I've heard several different things about this.....like, there is no "R" sound in the japanese language, or there is no "L" sound, or that there is a sound but it's a combination of the two letters. I have no idea, but I have noticed that "L" and "R" seem sort of interchangeable, or maybe they just get mixed up. Can anyone explain it to me a little more?
For most Japanese ppl, to pronounce "R" is more difficult than "L". When they say "Ra" "Ri" "Ru" "Re" "Ro"(Ra-gyo) actually it sounds like "La" "Li" "Lu" "Le" "Lo", I saw the sceen in the film "Lost In Translation" a Japanese woman is trying to allure Bill Murray saying "Lip them"....she wanted him to rip her pantyhose out.... When I was in my Uni, the American teacher told me that my "s" pronounciation was incorrect...but I think I was able to prononce "th" correctly. There are no "th" sound in Japanese actually, no "R" sound either.
I've noticed that whenever something is translated from japanese into english, most of the time it's spelled with an "r". I'd also noticed alot of names are spelled with an "r" when they are written with english letters, though they don't quite sound like L or R. I can't catch the sound though long enough to pronounce it myself. I can understand how "r" might be harder to pronounce, most english speaking children have a hard time for it. My nephew has to take speech therapy to learn it, and my 4 year old has a hard time with it also.
I used to think that there was no 'R' in Japanese, only 'L's'.. but this guy I know is called Akira so I guess they do translated it into an 'R' sound.. Japanese accent is sort of cute I think..
Yeah, that's what I was saying before. I've known people, and I've seen names on credit for movies or something like that, and alot of them are spelled out with an "r" instead of an "l". But tat says there is no "r", so now I'm totally confused.
I think.. hm.. because their language is pretty different it's hard to write words they use in our letters.. so they make an attempt to translate it phonetically.. like.. which ever sounds are closest to their own pronouncuation. But since the 'R' sounds hardly exist in Japanese but it isn't the same as our 'L' sound either they.. I dunno.. just fuck up? Hehehe But yeah.. confusing.. definately..
hmmm my mom is japanese and all her Rs sound like Ls to me. lol....im used to it so i dont notice the accents of hte japanese anymore.
But she lives in the US now? She probably just picked up the US pronounciation very well.. cool She doesn't have a southern accent or anything right? Hehe.. not that would be something.. a japanese looking lady with a real redneck accent.. hehe
I dont know why Japanese ppl write "R" even though we pronounce it like "L"....we are just taught to do so Like some know, there are 50charactors in Japanese syllabic sound...We are taught to write them in Roman letters(roma-ji) whenever we want to show how Japanese proper nouns to pronounce. There is kinda chart list for those Roma-ji LOL It says Ra Ri Ru Re Ro instead of La Li Lu Le Lo....thinking of "Le"...the name "Leon" can be pronounced correctly in Japanese.By the way, when we say "Akira" we put the stress on "A" so "ra" is hard to ctach up.
You said "leon" could be pronounced correctly in japanese....I understand that. You brought up romaji, and it's spelled with an R. So, would you pronounce it with an L, or would R be correct? I read on another site that it's pronounced sort of like R, but the tongue is more behind the teeth kind of like L or D would be. (instead of the english R which starts way in the back.) Does that make any sense?
I've never used pronouciation "R" when I talk in Japanese in my daily life... I often hear Japanese ppl have a serious problem when they pronounce "R". We dont put our tongue back toward the throat when we speak words with "Ra Ri Ru Re Ro", I mean we dont let our tongue move too backward. Like you said, tongue is more behind the teeth. hope this will help you.... If you need any tips, please ask me. I hope I can be a help for those who'd like to study Japanese.
Well, being a Japanese speaker, and also having learned a little bit of Spanish(but totally forgot, lol), One thing I've found is the Japanese "ra gyo" and the Spanish "single 'R'" pronounciations are rather similar. But it's a totally different language, Japanese... There essentially is no "R", nor is there a distinguished "L" like in English. There are other examples, like, "TH", "S", "Sh", and "C" can all be pronounced as one thing. For instance, "city" and "shitty" are both "shi-ti", and "sit" and "shit" are both "shitto". It's a very different language, is what it is.
The way I learned it (good ol' government training) is that R and L are the same sound, it's a very short stroke of the tip of the tongue just above the gumline of the upper front teeth. Practice it repeatedly and it becomes second nature. Yes, that means walking around repeating La Li Lu Le Lo. Welcome to the wonderful world of linguistics. By the time you finish your fourth language and can properly call yourself an etymologist, most people will think you to be totally insane.
My bf and I were trying to teach our Japanese friends to say Tony Blair.... we got there in the end, but only by making them say Tony Bleurrrgh!
lol! One of my Japanese friends has a real problem with saying 'really'.. hehe.. he makes it sound like 'reary'.. stuff like that.. but overall is english is pretty good when it comes to vocabulary.
I'm a native speaker of Japanese. I've been living in Canada for 8 months as far. I always pay extra attentions when I say " R", and I can say it, however, now when I pronounce" L" as " R" right now..lol
Many of my friends who are native Japanese speakers can say "L" perfectly. Another letter that I think is difficult for the Japanese is V. It is usually mispronunced as a "B".
