Can Asians not produce "l" or "r" (which one?)?

[WinkOsmosis]

I don't understand the stereotype. It seems to alternate to the opposite of which letter the word uses.

Btw, I've never met an Asian who was incable of pronouncing either "l" or "r".

 

[jacob0401]

My math teacher can't pronounce the letter "r". She is Korean...especially the word derivative sounds wrong. When she says it it sounds like "delibalib".

 

[Reel]

So you are saying you have never been given an order of "flied lice"?

 

[AndyHui]

Depends.

If you are brought up with English, it's not a problem. If you are not, then you tend to carry across your mother tongue.

Chinese languages (most of the dialects), have very few "r"s present, so it ends up where they have problems with "r" sounds. Same with "v"; not present at all in the Chinese languages, so they cheat and use a "w" sound instead.

Japanese, on the other hand, has no "l" in the language at all. It's replaced with an "r" for pronunciation.

 

[Dragnov]

Koreans can't. Because they're virtually the same pronunciation in the Korean language.. well more like a mix I guess.

ANd its only the fobs who have difficulty.

 

[dighn]

cantonese speakers usually don't pronounce "r".

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: dighn
cantonese speakers usually don't pronounce "r".

don't u think that is a gross over-generalization? i kinda like andyhui's explanation. he's FAQ'ing amazing. :beer:

 

[pillage2001]

fly lice???

 

[akodi]

no "l" in japanese replaced with a "r"

 

[ajpa123]

On a similar note, some middle eastern people replace 'b' where there is a 'p'.
I remember a kid in chemistry who said 'bink brecibitate'.
I love the diverse way people talk.

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: spanky

Originally posted by: dighn
cantonese speakers usually don't pronounce "r".

don't u think that is a gross over-generalization? i kinda like andyhui's explanation. he's FAQ'ing amazing. :beer:

lots of cantonese speakers where i live. their accent usually includes mispronouced r's unless they learned english early on.

 

[PoPPeR]

I don't really know what it is my relatives mispronounce, all I know is that they mispronounce just about anything.

I have no problem pronouncing anything, but when I go back to Taiwan I can feel the laughs behind my back for my poor mandarin pronunciation

 

[MichaelD]

Wow, I know exactly what you guys are talking about!

People from NYC replace phrases like "Wow, I can't believe how nice your car is!" With the phrase "Fvcking-A!" :Q It's funny how they just can't pronounce simple phrases like "Your sister is very pretty" instead they just point and say: "Fvcking-A!"


:beer:


LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
I'm not of any Oriental persuasion, nor do I find it funny or amusing when people have trouble pronouncing certain things in the English language. They speak English better than I speak Korean, Spanish, Swahili or Turkish.

 

[AndyHui]

Originally posted by: MichaelDLEGAL DISCLAIMER:
I'm not of any Oriental persuasion, nor do I find it funny or amusing when people have trouble pronouncing certain things in the English language. They speak English better than I speak Korean, Spanish, Swahili or Turkish.

As usual, MichaelD's answer is spot on.

 

[virtuamike]

Born and raised in USA and I still can't do rr in espanol ie churro

No r in cantonese, my mom replaces them all with L's.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: ajpa123
On a similar note, some middle eastern people replace 'b' where there is a 'p'.
I remember a kid in chemistry who said 'bink brecibitate'.
I love the diverse way people talk.

I know what you mean Everyone over there drinks "bebsi"

 

[dpopiz]

usually switch em around

 

[MAME]

In Japan, there are 5 characters that are as follows:
Ra
Ri
Ru
Re
Ro

Although it is typed with an 'r', it's closer to an 'l' sound. Nonetheless, the true sound is actually a mix between the two. Thus it's VERY hard to for them to split the sound in to two different ones.

 

[MAME]

Oh, and it's hard for English speakers to make the correct sound in Japanese so it's an even trade

 

[IGBT]

...well the ones I hear at work pronounce truck = tluck...where did I park(palk) my tluck?? And south is pronounced sous..I palked my tluck in the sous end of the palking lot...

 

[MAME]

the 'th' sound is also absent from the Japanese language. It's very hard to speak a new language that has new sounds

 

[lowfatbaconboy]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
I don't understand the stereotype. It seems to alternate to the opposite of which letter the word uses.

Btw, I've never met an Asian who was incable of pronouncing either "l" or "r".

have you ever taken a college course with TAs?
im gona assume not if you have never heard horrible mispronounciations of words

 

[DanTMWTMP]

in korean, there's no F or R....i have a friend named flora....ahahhahah my mom goes through hell trying to pronounce her name..."polola" whahahahhahaa

 

[PlatinumGold]

Korean language does not have an "r" sound.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Depends.

If you are brought up with English, it's not a problem. If you are not, then you tend to carry across your mother tongue.

Chinese languages (most of the dialects), have very few "r"s present, so it ends up where they have problems with "r" sounds. Same with "v"; not present at all in the Chinese languages, so they cheat and use a "w" sound instead.

Note however that Mandarin, the most widely spoken form of Chinese, has both "r" and "l" if spoken incorrectly. However, it's often spoken incorrectly, esp. by people who speak other dialects.

Also, Mandarin has both "s" and "sh", but certain Chinese dialects don't. There is a tongue twister that Mandarin speakers like to use to emphasize this. "44 stone lions"

Mandarin: "Si shi si ge shi shi zi."
Southerner speaking Mandarin: "Si si si ge si si zi."

By the way, the Mandarin speakers say that Cantonese speakers always sound like they're arguing. In some ways I can see this though. Cantonese is a much more guttural language, and it can seem argumentative to some if you sprinkle a bit more animated conversation onto it.