Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!presby!burdvax!bmcjmp
From: bmcjmp@burdvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Subject: Re: Re: Japanese joke
Message-ID: <837@burdvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-Jun-83 23:36:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: burdvax.837
Posted: Thu Jun 23 23:36:24 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 24-Jun-83 23:35:17 EDT
Lines: 16

Which way do the Japanese really confuse the "r's" and "l's"? Well,
according to "Japanese: A Complete Course for Beginners", by C.J. Dunn and
S. Yanada:

	r  is produced with the tongue in more or less the position of
	   English "d" or "l", but there is no actual contact between
	   it and the gum. It is not rolled.

What happens, then, is that the Japanese have one sound that is similar to
both "r" and "l", written as an "r", and when they learn English
incompletely, they use this sound, which is neither "r" nor "l", for both
letters. So, no matter which letter they are supposed to be saying, because
both letters are pronounced wrongly, our brains interpret the "r's" as
sounding like "l's", and vice versa.

Barb Puder, burdvax!bmcjmp