Why do oriental asians mix-up "L" and "R" ?

[AYJAYDEE]

I dont know but it's annoying. It's like talking to a kid who hasn't learned to speak properly.

have you learned to speak thai 100% properly??

It's not about learning a foreign language. Thais for example often fail to pronounce the R in their own language.

news for ya pal! they dont HAVE R in their language!! unfrickinbelievable!!!!!

[wprime]

The R sound in Thai is rolled, so when you say it lazily you get an L sound (only at the start of syllables). It's not the same as the R used by most English speakers which when spoken lazily gets a W.

[Gsxrnz]

The R sound in Thai is rolled, so when you say it lazily you get an L sound (only at the start of syllables). It's not the same as the R used by most English speakers which when spoken lazily gets a W.

Agreed re the Thai R. When "school" is pronounced correctly both syllables have a real rolling R.

Re the English R and W. I'd say that anybody who cannot pronounce R (or L) and instead speaking a W would be classed as having an impediment, not just speaking lazily/casually.

EG: I love Rugby spoken as I wuv wugby would be considered an impediment - unless the speaker is purposely using W for R and L in a form of baby/fun talk.

[wprime]

The R sound in Thai is rolled, so when you say it lazily you get an L sound (only at the start of syllables). It's not the same as the R used by most English speakers which when spoken lazily gets a W.

Agreed re the Thai R. When "school" is pronounced correctly both syllables have a real rolling R.

Re the English R and W. I'd say that anybody who cannot pronounce R (or L) and instead speaking a W would be classed as having an impediment, not just speaking lazily/casually.

EG: I love Rugby spoken as I wuv wugby would be considered an impediment - unless the speaker is purposely using W for R and L in a form of baby/fun talk.

It's just how the English R would sound if spoken lazily, the English R is fairly easy to sound so you tend to only get young children making this mistake. My main point was to show that the English R and the Thai R are different sounds as many English speakers don't understand how Thai people can confuse the R and the L as in English they are very different from each other. The English R sound is produced like the W except with the teeth touching at the start and the lips opened wider. The Thai R is produced like the L but with the tongue backed behind the teeth.

[AYJAYDEE]

The R sound in Thai is rolled, so when you say it lazily you get an L sound (only at the start of syllables). It's not the same as the R used by most English speakers which when spoken lazily gets a W.

Agreed re the Thai R. When "school" is pronounced correctly both syllables have a real rolling R.

Re the English R and W. I'd say that anybody who cannot pronounce R (or L) and instead speaking a W would be classed as having an impediment, not just speaking lazily/casually.

EG: I love Rugby spoken as I wuv wugby would be considered an impediment - unless the speaker is purposely using W for R and L in a form of baby/fun talk.

It's just how the English R would sound if spoken lazily, the English R is fairly easy to sound so you tend to only get young children making this mistake. My main point was to show that the English R and the Thai R are different sounds as many English speakers don't understand how Thai people can confuse the R and the L as in English they are very different from each other. The English R sound is produced like the W except with the teeth touching at the start and the lips opened wider. The Thai R is produced like the L but with the tongue backed behind the teeth.

keeping in mind that the thai R is ror rua not R.

[wprime]

The R sound in Thai is rolled, so when you say it lazily you get an L sound (only at the start of syllables). It's not the same as the R used by most English speakers which when spoken lazily gets a W.

Agreed re the Thai R. When "school" is pronounced correctly both syllables have a real rolling R.

Re the English R and W. I'd say that anybody who cannot pronounce R (or L) and instead speaking a W would be classed as having an impediment, not just speaking lazily/casually.

EG: I love Rugby spoken as I wuv wugby would be considered an impediment - unless the speaker is purposely using W for R and L in a form of baby/fun talk.

It's just how the English R would sound if spoken lazily, the English R is fairly easy to sound so you tend to only get young children making this mistake. My main point was to show that the English R and the Thai R are different sounds as many English speakers don't understand how Thai people can confuse the R and the L as in English they are very different from each other. The English R sound is produced like the W except with the teeth touching at the start and the lips opened wider. The Thai R is produced like the L but with the tongue backed behind the teeth.

keeping in mind that the thai R is ror rua not R.

Or rue (as in the Thai word for season).

[A1Str8]

 

 

I dont know but it's annoying. It's like talking to a kid who hasn't learned to speak properly.

have you learned to speak thai 100% properly??

 

It's not about learning a foreign language. Thais for example often fail to pronounce the R in their own language.

 

news for ya pal! they dont HAVE R in their language!! unfrickinbelievable!!!!!

They do.

[AYJAYDEE]

nonsense. they have a consonant which sounds close to our R but it isnt an R.

[bifftastic]

I guess if you can't yet say in Thai 'new wood doesn't burn, does it?' then you have your answer.

I have no idea what that means.

But as it has been posted by samran, i guess it is bashing TV posters?

The Thai version of that sentence uses the word 'mai' which, with different tones, is the word for new, wood, burn, no, and the question word.

It is a sentence used as a kind of tongue twister for tones and vowel length which are very important in Thai, and not so important in languages like English.

[Neeranam]

Or rue (as in the Thai word for season).

raw reu doo, actually.

[paz]

It is peculiar, especially since there are quite a few words in Thai have an "R", even start with one: rong rian (school), mai roo (don't know), to name two.

I understand that the actual proper way to pronounce Thai words is with the "R", not the "L".

But comparing it a bit, using "L" requires less effort that "R".

I guess that could be the answer.

Yes. I've been told by Thais that is for laziness. They are perfectly capable of pronouncing the R, unlike some Chinese.

[papa al]

Thank you all for your pithy comments.

"People are hardwired fairly early in their lives for sounds. If a sound is not heard and "registered" by the brain at a young age, and I have read this age might be as early as five years old, then the chances are that an adult will have an extremely hard time making that sound or even really hearing it."

True, but my Chinese, Japanese, Thai friends CAN pronounce R and L , but frequently transpose. Therein lies the mystery.

"Actually orient can even apply to ppl in iran. Take oriental rugs for example. Those are from turkey or the middle east and not from the far east but they are called oriental."

So true! These terms have multiple meanings/connotations, and are somewhat relative.

"If you care to read on textbooks talking about geography they call countries like turkey the near east, the middle east is the middle east and countries like japan the far east."

Also true. Yes and Californians consider New Yorkers "eastern."

Here is a quiz for you all:

In which of the United States lies

1...the most southern point,

2...the most northern point,

3...the most eastern point,

4...the most western point?

I will buy a beer for the first to get this correct.

...answer tomorrow.

Alaska

We have a winner:

Paradoxically, the easternmost location on earth would lie at 179.9999... degrees east longitude =

the westernmost location at 179.999...degrees west longitude = international dateline which passes thru the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

Therefore

1. Hawaii

2. Alaska

3. Alaska

4. Alaska

[ExpatOilWorker]

Yeah...!

[ChrisB87]

They have both R and L in their alphabet and can say them just fine.

Because for some words it isn't important.

Sometimes, they must use an R and other times they must use L, but then there are the words where they can be interchangeable without affecting the word.