You think it means that? - What? Why!!!
The right one is pronounced "RIGHT"
And the one with the sunshine is "RIGHT" ... wait... they sound the same?
Hey guys and girls on Ask Japanese this is Cathy Cat. We often get asked why Japanese people
can not distinguish between L and R
and if they can do that.
We are gonna go and find out if that is true and we're gonna go and Ask Japanese.
I will say two words to you.
Please try and tell me their meaning.
We can't do English! - Not at all!
I suck at it so much! - I can't!
Let me give you word number one: Light.
Lychee fruit? - Light.
Light?
It has two meanings. - It means bright!
It means that?
What? Why!!!
It's either an R or an L
Light.
She means right!
Light.
I think that one means right.
I think that means light. The bright shining one.
Light.
Lychee fruit?
Light
I can only think of the fruit.
No clue.
Light.
It either means Lychee or right but it sounds like a fruit to me.
Light.
Light? - Right?
Light. - She means shining light.
Light.
What do you think I mean?
The bright light.
Light as in spotlight.
RRRight.
I think you mean lamp.
I think it's right, the direction.
Right.
Say it one more time!
Right.
I think that one actually means light.
The bright one.
Tell me I am wrong. - I have no clue girl.
I think that one is the one with the L
LIGHT
What? - Too difficult? - Say it one more time.
Right.
I am sure that one means light and such.
Light. - Don't ask me! No clue.
I will vote for right.
Both of you chose a different letter. That's interesting.
So one more time. Light and Right.
They all sound the same to me.
Right.
Light as in not heavy? - Right as in the direction?
Which letter?
L or R?
I think the first one was L and this one is R.
So she means right?
Right is correct!
The first one was light for not heavy things or for the shining light.
You got it.
Right.
What? - That one is an R
R I G H T
Migi in Japanese
The next one is right.
Right direction. - Something being on the right.
How confident are you in your answer?
I feel fairly confident.
I think the second word starts with R
Oh bingo!
You guys figured it out the fastest.
Really? We did a good job.
You didn't even question it.
How did you figure it out?
She speaks English. - I can speak a little.
Have you ever been abroad?
Not at all, but I used to work at LUSH.
Thanks to that, I got to speak some.
She used to do the product description to customers in English apparently.
So you had many foreign customers?
Yes, quite a lot.
Did you get English training, or did the store encourage you to speak it?
There wasn't a course but
In my store, there wasn't anyone else who could speak English.
I thought in that case, I need to try and speak more.
So you studied by yourself.
I think the foreign visitors might feel worried, coming to a foreign place...
and then having people try to sell them things in a foreign language.
I thought I would personally like to interact in a language I can understand.
Nice one.
How did you remember English at that time?
I used to listen to many English songs.
I listened to it and tried to get used to the language.
I also researched things by myself, and how they are spoken.
Like "it means pimples in English!" I looked it all up and remembered it.
So you had the interest in music to help you too.
Yes I did.
Maybe it was easier to get used to foreign pronunciations then.
I think that was a big influence.
Why do many Japanese struggle with L and R?
They don't exist in Japanese.
Yeah. Ra Ri Ru Re Ro are Japanese pronunciations.
We don't focus too much on the L and R distinction.
We don't roll our tongue when we do the R sound either like RRR
In other languages, like French they might roll their tongue.
We don't do that. I think that's the reason.
We are not used to them, so they are harder to understand.
One more thing I want to ask you... can you try pronounce Right and Light yourselves?
What? - Start!
Light... Right....
How about you? - Light and Right.
The tongue goes back. I can't do it well either.
Then there is the American English and the British English too!
I can't distinguish them but...
Some people put their tongue down or up. - I go up up!
Who of you got it right?
Ta-da!
Is it hard to find a difference between L and R? - It is.
What's the hardest part?
The part where you bend your tongue.
It's hard to find out what means what.
But you know about bending tongues?
I listen and I guess that it might be the case.
But I don't understand the pronunciation.
Cause I can't say it myself.
You got it right. Why so?
You said right the way I say "right".
And since it was similar, I thought that must be right.
I was guessing but it seems I got it right.
Can you try and pronounce Right and Light?
I pronounce it Right
And the shining one Right. Wait. That sounded the same.
Give it a try. Right is pronounced...
Light.
And the shining light is... - Light.
They seem a little similar.
I can't distinguish them.
They're the same to me.
And the winner is...
Ta da!
No way. - Why did you think that?
L as in.....
I wasn't sure though.
La.... I wasn't guessing.
Maybe it was just my intuition. No clue.
In you English class in school, was your teacher speaking in a Japanese accent?
Was his pronunciation good?
I think it was good.
Once during a test the CD player was broken.
And then the teacher did it all.
He sounded so foreign, I didn't understand him.
It was difficult.
We had foreign teachers, and our class teacher was an English teacher too.
That English teacher is super happy right now going "Yay I did it!"
I heard L and R are difficult for Japanese people.
We are checking that today.
What's difficult when you use those letters.
Hmmm in Japanese RA is all the same.
We don't have a difference.
We look at the shape of the other's mouth when we speak and decide if it's L or R.
What was difficult for you just now?
In Japan we don't distinguish between R and L
people don't correct us on it. And we change it back to Japanese in to the RA RE pronunciation.
People don't correct you? Even your teachers? - Pronunciation is not important.
In Japan reading and writing is more important than pronunciation.
So you teachers don't help you with pronunciation? - They don't.
Our teacher's pronunciation wasn't good either.
That's why.
So your English teacher's pronunciation was Japanese too?
Totally Japanese.
You managed to get it right too. How did you do that?
The R sounded more like your tongue was rolled.
Can you pronounce the difference?
No... - I've never cared about that.
Let's try it together then. First.... light.
Right...
Well done. Thank you.
L and R, you could see that it's not only a problem of pronouncing L and R right
it's also a problem of understanding L and R right.
That is because it is not used in the language. You always have to
think that a language is something so engraved in your culture
into your daily life. If it's very different, especially those big differences
that don't exist in your language are harder to do. For example...
The TH sound is a big issue with many people who try to learn the English language.
I remember in my German class,
we had a class in which half of the class, we all sat down and had to practice
the TH sound. We had a really good teacher at that time.
So we were all just like.... TH .... The ... The
THE
We all just sat in class, literally all the students just like...
The... This... There... Then...That...
And that's how we tried to learn how to do the TH sound
And that's the same thing in Japan, you have to practice the L and R sounds
Some mentioned it's the rolling of the tongue...
or if you don't roll the tongue...
That makes it a lot harder. For example the...
aThe "TY" when I say me name as "CATHY" in Japanese, didn't used to be
a thing in Japan. So when older ladies try to my name,
They have problems with the "TY" sound"
So they will use the "TE" sound instead because that's what they are used to.
Instead of calling me CATY they will call me CATE
Because the TY sound is a rather new thing
that has gone into the Japanese language now.
Young people don't have a problem with that too recently.
So that's the differences L and R.
How is that with you, is there any language you are learning and what is the real
big difference, of learning that language?
Let us know in the comments down below.
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