Hello Scott, i was that poster. Do you have Japanese students in Bankok?
Let me be brief: Over 120 years the Japanese chose the letter /r/ to describe their 5 sounds that much more closely resemble an /L/. This is because it is 'flapped', wherein the tongue touches the alveolar ridge just behind the teeth for all of those sounds. You can listen online here;
The five symbols are written /ra/ /ri/ /ru/ /re/ /ro/, and are in the 9th row down on the chart on the above site.
When you click on each, you will hear clearly that the sounds is very much like an /L/, with the second on, written as /ri/, being very much like /di/, or the letter 'D'.
It is my belief that this issue is the greatest pronunciation problem for the Japanese, and also all foreigners
who speak English with them, and who try to speak Japanese using the alphabet letters. (It will become the meat of my Master's thesis in the fall...) The most common word for Westerners is 'ramen' that noodle soup. The Japanese call it 'Lahmen'...
Anyway, good luck with your teaching.
Chris P.
ps; is your family name French? My Grandmother's maiden name was Gagnon...
--- On Wed, 4/2/09, Scott Gannon <scott_h_gannon@...> wrote:
From: Scott Gannon <scott_h_gannon@...> Subject: [iatefl_pronsig] The Japanese "r" To: iatefl_pronsig@... Date: Wednesday, 4 February, 2009, 6:03 PM
Hi,
recently someone posted a very informative message about the pronunciation of "r" for Japanese speakers. I've lost the message and name of the poster. Respond please.
Hi, Judy Gilbert asked me to forward this to the group: You might find the website below useful. Cambridge University Press has produced a series of...
Hi, Â recently someone posted a very informative message about the pronunciation of "r" for Japanese speakers. I've lost the message and name of the poster....
Hello Scott, i was that poster. Do you have Japanese students in Bankok? Let me be brief: Over 120 years the Japanese chose the letter /r/ to describe their 5...
I thought I would reply to this before I go on vacation for a week. ... Actually there were alternative systems that used the letter <l> as well. I think the...
The Japanese interlanguage substitution tends to sounds like E [s] or [sh]. ... Actually, to correct myself. Students quickly perceive and produce the voicing,...
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