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