Japanese Pronunciation

Wheee_It's_Me! · Post by **Wheee_It's_Me!** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:03 am

Okay I'm a lil confused on something. I sorta overheard this conversation today where this guy was claiming that the Japanese can't pronounce r's...and interestingly enough the people around him all nodded their heads in agreement. I got to thinking about it though and I realized that there are quite a few "r" words in Japanese and when I hear them used in anime they always sound like r's.

So I went into Google and typed in "Japanese can't pronounce" and WOAH...what a bunch of conflicting information. There's people claiming they can't pronounce r's, others claiming they can't pronounce L's, I's, V's, yadda yadda yadda.

So I'm wondering, just what is the deal? Is it just certain WORDS that don't translate well? Or certain letter combinations, like let's just say round, roust, rouge, or any other rou word? Or maybe is it just certain Japanese dialects? Can someone shed some light on this issue?

TheKorovaMilkbar · Post by **TheKorovaMilkbar** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:17 am

Hmm...well, I guess it might just be something like a cultural difference in the way certain letters are pronounced. Like say for instance German. Their r is a sound that kinda has to come halfway between the back of your throat and the roof of your mouth. And I SUCK at it. My german friend always just shakes her head when I try and pronounce certain words.

I imagine that it is based on the way each culture is raised to pronounce it. Like maybe the r sound a japanese person makes is normal, in japan. But say if they were to try and pronounce it our way it wouldn't feel natural as they mouthed it and would sound even wierder. lol, we might even sound wierd to them. I am not very good at pronouncing japanese words. Certain sounds in the language I just have a hard time with, maybe that's what they're experiencing.

just a thought. 8)

Kalium · Post by **Kalium** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:24 am

Well, in many languages the difference between B and V is much smaller than in English. In some, there is no difference, leading to a sound that stands in for both. As early language development shapes the muscles of the mouth as well as the mind (this also explains accents, BTW), it tends to be understood as "Japanese can't pronounce". When a language lacks a sound (like consonant endings in Japanese), the closest approximation tend to fill in.

TheKorovaMilkbar · Post by **TheKorovaMilkbar** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:25 am

BTW, it's nice to have something intellectual to speak about for once.

AMVfreak · Post by **AMVfreak** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:39 am

Japanese people commonly cant pronounce R's and L's
they say the R that is pronounced (a-rr) into (err)

and when they say L that is pronounced (luh) they also say (err)

radar = raderr

apple = apperr

the reason why they cant is because R(arr) is pronounced (aaaru) in japanese and L(luh) is prounced (lu) in japanese.

theres a lot more shit but this is the most common

cilu · Post by **cilu** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 6:41 am

I read somewhere that when kill bill was released in japan it was named smt like kiru biru. I don't know if it's real but do you remember hellsing... Arucard instead of Alucard. and i saw some otherexamples but can't remember them now

DrngdKreationz · Post by **DrngdKreationz** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 6:53 am

Kiru Biru would be the proper spelling for it like above was stated except for the occasional "N" the Japanese language lacks Consonant endings all together. but I can't remember wich rule it is but if the U comes at the end of the word its usually swallowed back making it practically silent.

Also About the whole R thing. Its true, Without proper training Most japanese do not have the ability to pronounce an English R like we do. hell It got to a point where when I was learning I could barely speak anything that had an R in it. because it would get stuck somewhere in between the english/spanish/japanese R and I would pretty much just trip over my own tounge. There are more but I'm too sleepy to remember them all.

Coffee 54 · Post by **Coffee 54** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 8:35 am

Everything you ever wanted too learn about the Japanese language for free:Japanese-Online

Org Profile · Post by **Otohiko** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 9:34 am

r and l are simply interchangeable in Japanese.

Obviously, there's a phonetic distinction, and to you as a speaker of english, they are phonologically different. However, to japanese, they're phonologically one and the same. The only real feature that essentiall distinguishes them is that 'l' is lateral, while 'r' is not. Japanese simply doesn't take that distinction into account. So, one and the same. Don't let your ears fool you. Generally, they'll say it however they're used to saying it without really paying attention whether it's an 'l' or 'r'. Just as most English people will use a retroflex or a non-retroflex 'r' depending on their habit, or interchangeably (like me), without anyone really noticing.

***

That's the linguist's explaination for you

Touya_girl · Post by **Touya_girl** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 9:55 am

Thanx for the info