R and L sounds in Japanese..


to ranma@usagi.jrd.dec.com
from Albert Tanone <atanone@freenet.tlh.fl.us>
subject R and L sounds in Japanese..
date Thu, 2 May 1996 00:25:21 -0400 (EDT)
On Thu, 2 May 1996 Lai-Lai Shounen wrote:

> "r" or an "l" sound, but something in between--as Wei-Hwa said, it's just 
> like Spanish.  Romanization is just an interpretation, where you get to 
> find approximations for Japanese by using English.  It's not perfect, but 
> it's close.

I drove my Japanese tutor crazy with this one. I kept pointing to her how 
her 'r' is 'l' but she said it's in between so I kept practicing and 
practicing.

Actually, I drove her crazy with "ame" (sweet) and "ame" (rain). I still 
can't say it right now.

Someone told me you pronounce it like an "r" in that your tongue don't 
touch the roof of your mouth but unlike "r," you only roll your tongue 
once. That last part drove me insane.

...Pascal

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