Why do Japanese mix up L and R? Ask random people to take the test in Tokyo

[@vitorh3568]

8:34 Cat: first... light Girls: Light Cat: Right Girls: Light Cat: Well done! Thank you! lol xD

[@aprili.3802]

My favorite was moving to Florida and my Japanese friend asked me “how is Frolida?” and that was just in writing 😆

[@IamINERT]

😂😂

[@stevenkranowski5141]

Maybe -- just maybe -- your friend was just trolling you.

[@raine8820]

Steven Kranowski It actually happens

[@aprili.3802]

Steven Kranowski nope. He wasn’t.

[@LisandroLorea]

Frolida is learry rame. Onry soccers rive zer.

[@Subjectivity13]

I need to know so much more about that vampire girl! I wanted a full interview with her. I am fascinated. Even the American flag lips on her shirt baffled me. She is an enigma.

[@zoomzabba452]

She's on Instagram now

[@camelxravennova]

1:01 the guy wearing the choker is so cute

[@kazuki10500]

LuckyLeeks You think so because you are gay.

[@Kyutmio]

YES

[@consueloschiavolin6034]

Yeah I think this too :)

[@McCaffreyMelon]

I like that girls spiked teeth 😍

[@ricowhiterider]

Haha me too although I usually find piercings disgusting xD

[@StrikitRich]

@@ricowhiterider They were moving around, so it the spikes were probably an appliance, like a retainer.

[@fatalcode4996]

now she can eat whole pigs

[@zoomzabba452]

@@StrikitRich she's on Instagram now. Totally a piercing.

[@TheOneBoQuA]

@@zoomzabba452 what's her account? 🤔

[@123JAPAN]

It's difficult for me to pronounce”L”😭 I should practice more!!

[@mikemustmurder]

I'm the same way with pitch tones in japanese, bridge and chopsticks sound identical 😭

[@dslight113]

L is tip of tongue against roof mouth R is backside tongue to roof mouth . its the most simple thing ever to learn ^^

[@zaidahds]

Arweis rememba, we don'to teiku eirs.

[@HiddenAnonymous]

Right-O Light-O I enjoy these videos. Very entertaining. And that female with the metal teeth bling was very cute.

[@Armando_Gtz]

I wonder what's the "O" for, is it like a way to express a question for what they are saying? I hear that way of english words often by non-fluent english speakers

[@ParadiseDB7]

@@Armando_Gtz because that's how the Japanese alphabet works. There is no individual letter "T". Aside from N, every character is a consonant and vowel. I.e ta, te, ti, to, tu, etc.

[@dslight113]

@@ParadiseDB7 so why won't they just copy what english people say / if i hear the word toilet i will say toilet and not toileto. kinda like a parrot you feel me.

[@ParadiseDB7]

@@dslight113 different vocal capabilities. Same reason Spanish people might say an "R" word while rolling their tongue, meanwhile I, and most native English speakers, cannot. It takes time and a lot of practice to be able to learn the different vocal patterns.

[@dslight113]

@@ParadiseDB7 hmm maybe . but i have no problem copying a spanish person without any dialect to it . same goes for english german , i am a dutch person so i know none of these languages from birth,. but i still can. thats my reasoning behind why i say its easier then people think , and tb fair its how much effort u put into it , if i want too speak without dialect or just a total new language i just have to compare my way of saying it 2 others on the other side of the world native tongue preffered ofcourse and i wonder why is it that i a western guy can copy a japanese person but they can't do mine :P ? weird right. since birth we are the perfect copy machine's sure everything takes time but thats not the point tbh .

[@aprili.3802]

Pronunciation is SO important. If you aren’t learning it, you’re not going to be understood, and you’re not going to be able to understand native English. Japanese schools need to stop focusing on reading and writing and focus on speaking and listening comprehension.

[@mikemustmurder]

I mean... you can still understand them when they talk

[@IceMetalPunk]

Except in 2019, the vast majority of communication is textual, so reading and writing is also extremely important for comprehension. All need to be considered equally.

[@aprili.3802]

I think people are misunderstanding my point, I never said reading and writing aren’t important, but if you want to be able to communicate with foreigners or travel abroad, reading and writing is only going to get you so far. Schools need to emphasize speaking and listening because right now, they’re getting practically zilch.

[@aprili.3802]

mikemustmurder generally yes. They tend to have a lot harder time understanding us though. If I speak at my natural speed, or use phrases like “wouldja” or “didja” or even “I’m” “didn’t” “aren’t” etc....or sometimes they’d get stuck on a word they couldn’t understand and when they wouldn’t figure it out, they’d say it back in katakana English like “ohhhhh! Of course! You mean (katakana word).” I’d tell them “NO. The katakana word isn’t going to help you out in the world!” Learning the correct pronunciation goes hand-in-hand with listening, it really does.

[@Subjectivity13]

Pronunciation is a huge challenge for Japanese people, and it's very unlikely that they'll need to speak English at any point in their lives. It's still a pretty isolated country, and they have plenty of their own entertainment and jobs that never require any English. So, focusing on pronunciation would be putting them through a huge amount of work just to learn things they won't use, and will end up forgetting. A few of them take an interest in it, but mostly it's just a class they need to pass to get through school, and that's it. Just getting the teachers to pronounce English correctly would be challenging enough, not to mention the students.

[@iamo_san]

Japanese English educational system is very poor. After graduating university, most of my friends started studying English again because they need it for their jobs. English classes usually start from secondary school so many of us study it for at least 9~10 years all together but not many are able to speak it.

[@Jrock-Rue]

As a Swedish person we are supposed to roll the R, but I have a speaking disability where I can't roll the R. And that effects both my English & Japanese. For my England "The" & "Three" sound more like "De" & "Free". And for my Japanese I have a hard time with "Ryo" & "Ryu".

[@Lambda_Ovine]

My sister had a tone of issues as a kid with rolling R. She was told to put a pencil underneath her tong and try that way. I don't know, you might want to try it maybe?

[@Jrock-Rue]

@@Lambda_Ovine I had a vocal coach that told me to say "tidipp tidapp todull, tripp trapp trull" that kinda worked. I just haven't been practising a lot.

[@うう-g6l]

Cathy 先生にLとRの発音教えてもらいたい笑笑

[@SalsaKetchup]

I'm trying to learn Japanese, in the main app that I use every day, I quickly found that having rōmaji turned off was the way to go (within the first half-hour)! Rōmaji is the course of more problems than solutions especially as I'm dyslexic. With my dyslexia, the biggest problem is with my short term memory so, at first trying to deal with matching up sounds to Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji or trying to read and then say from the Japanese syllabary before hearing what a word/phrase/sentence was very hard but now I'm mostly ok with Hiragana, have problems still with Katakana and can get some Kanji right. I have a very long way to go and as I keep reminding myself 日本語はかんたんではありません! But as long as I see small progress, like being able to understand more of what I hear or read as time goes on then I'm happy about my efforts.

[@zoomzabba452]

My Japanese teacher told us to ignore when to use the different tone. Pretty much "if you can speak the language, you will learn the right ways over time".AKA "Foreigner always sounds strange"

[@Menace__]

In many instances, English teachers in Japan happen to be...let's say 'intermediates' themselves. There is a lack of focus on pronunciation, so Japanese students end up putting their tongue on the roof of their mouth to pronounce "r" sounds, when that just is not how it works in English.

[@arcanask]

@Stoner Something At least we don't spell color wit a "u".

[@itzqwerty5576]

Colour?

[@naufalalauddinhilmi2922]

I wouldn't say that was exclusive to japan as r usually pronounce by putting your tongue on the roof in any other country beside English. English r is just special.

[@Lambda_Ovine]

Yeah. The tip of the tong does not even touch palate at any moment when you pronounce the English r. I mean, I don't blame the Japaneses or anyone having issues with that phoneme. That is a very peculiar sound.

[@Lambda_Ovine]

@Stoner Something Assuming that is true, what does that has to do with anything?

[@id9099]

すごい容姿してるのにそれに反して勉強熱心なのすごい笑

[@near7269]

Of course, Light is a synonym for Kira :P

[@TehRedBlur]

I'm actually learning Japanese, and because the phonology is a lot simpler than English, I've found Japanese words fairly easy to pronounce. The initial "H" sound in は　ひ　へ　ほ isn't really the same as the "h" sound in English, but it's similar enough and simple enough that I was able to figure it out with only a bit of practice. No, the REAL challenge is the pitch-accent, which is totally absent from English!

[@prog112]

Yeah, just like English has stress accent if you mess up your pitch accent it can sound reaallly weird and take a bit more mental effort to understand you.

[@Armando_Gtz]

Interesting, I should definitely focus more on studying the language. I've stopped only because I felt overwhelmed at first

[@axellyann5085]

I think the portuguese language is the easiest one to pick japanese to learn, cuz the vowels and syllables sound 90% the same way they sound in japanese. The big difference is how the word is constructed and his intonations. To be real, i guess portuguese is the easiest language to be a base for a lot of other languages, like we can understand spanish and italian (italian reading is more easy to understand) because latin language roots (some things we can understand in french too). And don't forget english language too, but this one depends on people. There people that find easy and others find super hard. Like every other language, if you grow up having contact with, even if you don't want to learn, you will have a good knowledge base.

[@Ccoolty]

Now do an interview with Cathy and ask her to say "Squirrel"

[@JaysMackie]

quarrelsome squirrels

[@kyokazuto]

The L/R thing is so weird to me. It seems like it's the same for Chinese and South Koreans. But I don't get how they can not hear the difference between l and r... I guess it's a thing that I'm just used to but they aren't and it's weird to me.

[@bostontracy5151]

I imagine it’s the same as people mispronouncing Marvel Norse mythology names/words; said words are Danish, where they roll their R’s. For example, instead of pronouncing “Thor” as the “Th” sound and ending with a single “R”, it’s actually pronounced with the “Th” as a “D” type “T” and the “R” is rolled. And there are several other words that are mispronounced, too. A Danish girl made a video, here on KZbin, about the various mispronunciations.

[@flinx]

Cathy could you ask Japanese about omitting the "o" sound at the end of "right-o" or "start-o"? How strange do Japanese think it sounds if they only say "right" and "start"?

[@yukokraus5528]

I agree with you. It bothers me a great deal, too (and my native language is Japanese.) And they think that is English.

[@flinx]

@ Correct, which is why I'd like to know how strange it sounds to Japanese people if they don't end a word with a vowel.

[@AlAn-pj5gu]

At 6:00 I think the guy just had a moment of realization. It'll probably stick to him from that day on.

[@onomatopoeial]

that hair at the beginning was the best so far, stunning

[@Kyutmio]

6:03 Oof i want to know who is this guy with the chocker he is so cute

[@consueloschiavolin6034]

Babyneko :3 yes girl

[@sailorcat]

Yeah, I totally relate the the "th" practicing! xD I'm learning Japanese and it really was a challenge to pronounce the Japanese R. But there are also other sounds that are "mixed" in Japan. Like the "u" is a mix of the German "u" and "ü". Or "fu" is a mix of "fu" and "hu". Or "shi" is a mix of "shi" and "si". At least that's my impression. So they less sounds than other languages, but the sounds they have are often mixes from sounds we know.

[@feistymind4915]

stayed for the guy with the choker

[@icebalm]

Z isn't used in english much, but it's used a lot more in Japanese. I find it hard to tell the difference between sa, su, se, so, and za, zu, ze, zo sometimes.

[@icebalm]

@Gaigaborn 言う方は難しじゃないだ、 聞こえ にくいです 。

[@Armando_Gtz]

There's only one Z word I will always understand. And that is "Za Warudo". Jokes aside, I can see how not having much use for a word can cause more confusion because we aren't used to it. For me it's less of a pronunciation issue and more of a spelling issue. A lot of English words can be silent like Phy, Psy, Pha, as well as the Q's X's, Y's and Z's

[@Armando_Gtz]

@Gaigaborn Genius

[@Mecks089]

To be fair though based upon certain English lettering, Z can be pronounced with X. For example Xeno or Xavier, is pronounced Zeno, and Zavier.

[@skyworm8006]

It's actually used a lot because the -s plural ending of many words is pronounced -z. Maybe the sounds are not as distinguished in Japanese than English or maybe distinguished differently. The sounds we make are very specific that even the same vowel in the same language can be quite different between dialects. I personally have no problem distinguishing sa-za in Japanese.

[@Lambda_Ovine]

When I moved to the US, I encountered a similar problem, because just like in Japanese, the phonetics of Spanish (my first language) are way more simpler than the complexity and subtle differences of the English phonetics. Vowels were something that required years of practice because in Spanish you have 5 letters for 5 unique and very distinguishable sounds and that's it, in English you have 5 letters for a bunch of different sounds, many of them with very subtle differences that can be missed by the untrained ear, and there aren't even rules to tell what sound correspond to what vowel. English grammar is child's play and Spanish grammar is more complex, though.

[@o0...957]

1:19 The car was trying to give a hint🙂

[@vlogoosfera]

I am Brazilian and I feel that the pronunciation of the Japanese language is much easier than the pronunciation of the English language. In a month studying Japanese, I see a significant evolution from many years of studying English. Hey Cathy, could you make a new video about what the Japanese think of Brazilians? Congratulations on the channel.

[@Pedro-S1lva]

Eu também sou braziliano e concordo mano, japonês é muito mais fácil que inglês nesse quesito

[@zazenwind]

I found it interesting how some of the interviewees were good at pronouncing the 'L' sound but not the 'R' sound and vice versa. I am a native English speaker and could not pronounce the Japanese 'R' sound without practicing it quite a bit.

[@DarkPa1adin]

I struggle with th sounds rough or smooth and ending Ls

[@evandarianmai9753]

That could be because the Japanese "R" sound (/r/) varies a lot between speakers and regions, and can be pronounced like the "L" in light, as well as with a flap/tap of the tongue (most typical), or even a with trill (in vulgar speech). Heck, it even turns into a [d] sometimes. Check the wikipedia article for Japanese phonology to read more about it. As a Norwegian, I'm lucky in that we have the same flap/tap sound of [r] as in Japanese.

[@John-Andersen]

My friend's last name is Lafleur which gave his Japanese girlfriend fits at the beginning! His first name is Chuck which is pronounced Chuc-ku. I have always had trouble pronouncing "Ryo... “ and similar words.

[@RyuuTenshi1]

For Danish, it's definitely the 'ø' and 'å' sound that most non-Danish speakers have trouble with 😆

[@quintrankid8045]

I liked the bit about having trouble with th. This is a problem for some native speakers too. In a strange reversal, from the change in Indo-European languages from 'd' to 't', think dentist and teeth, (teeth is dant in Hindi according to the internet) in some places in the US people who aren't careful about their pronunciation will substitute a "d' at the start of words like 'the' pronounced as 'de' or 'that' pronounced as 'dat'.

[@stevenkranowski5141]

I think the main reason the "th" sound is so hard for many people worldwide to pronounce is its rarity. Out of all the world's many, many languages, the only ones which I know to have the "th" sound are English and Greek.

[@quintrankid8045]

@@stevenkranowski5141 I looked it up. It's called a voiced dental fricative. I don't claim to understand these terms. It seems to be in a few other languages besides English and Greek. I think that if it's something you didn't grow up with it's probably difficult.

[@いふ-b6t]

Lは舌先を上あごに付けると習いましたね　これは日本人には簡単 Rは単語のはじめにあれば、ウの口（くち）をして舌先は上あごに付けずに、ゥラ 単語の中や後ろの場合は喉の奥でォアの感じでうめく　元来日本語は喉を使った発音はしないけど、 練習すればすぐできると思います

[@xsteveconwayx]

The way you describe learning in Germany is the same way we learned in America in like kindergarten, even though we could obviously speak English just fine at that point. I think we were 4 or 5 years old. It might've been preschool. I think Japanese people's problem with L and R is they don't know how to move their mouth for the r sound. You don't use your tongue at all. It's about the movement of the mouth/lips only. It appears as though Japanese people keep trying to bring their tongues into it which is just going to make it sound like L.

[@kuroneko1484]

very well practice for japanese language. like that your switched from english to jpn

[@CakeMusume]

You know what is funny? I listen to a lot of j-music and they DO say L sounds unconsciously. There are some times when "kara" and "nara" sound exactly like "kala" or "nala". There is this UVERworld song (Mikageishi) where I can swear he sings "ukeilalelu" instead of ukeirareru lol

[@dragonell_snextlevel6321]

Das Mädchen mit den pircing is ja süß, sehr ungewöhlich so etwas auffallendes zu haben.

[@ashura515]

i work at japanese konbini and everytime they say L or R i have to think twice 😂

[@Arthur-ge9df]

I got a suggestion! You could discuss more about Tsundere Cafe

[@boglarkagabriellabene7857]

私はハンガリー人で私の国でLとRはとてもちがいです。私たちはたくさん母音と子音があるのでたいてい発音を勉強は難しすぎなさそうです。今アジアのことばを勉強してたくさん外国人に会いました。この人の英語とハンガリー語は面白いです。今彼らの努力を知っています。とてもすごいですね~

[@littlewriter2808]

We also had a class like that in my last year of high school where we all practised the TH-sound. You'd get minus points if you did it incorrectly!

[@PenitentHollow]

I'm learning Japanese but I find I only have trouble with the sped up merging of words

[@stevenkranowski5141]

Just curious: Who drew that cool illustration in the background of your host segments?

[@Jessica-df2np]

i can relate to the struggle to pronounce the TH sound in english ;;

[@Lambda_Ovine]

Bite your tong and try to just let air pass through your teeth. Now, to make the sound for the world "the", do the same, but at the same time let sound come from your throat.

[@Jessica-df2np]

@@Lambda_Ovine oh, it really helps! now i just have to practice to sound more naturally. Thank you

[@zoomzabba452]

As a native English speaker, I am impressed by your analysis of the mouth shape and tongue position. I study many languages and find fun in the little tricks like this. Saber mas

[@romajimamulo]

This reminds me of Mandarin "x" vs "sh" (in the romanization). Super hard for an English speaker to tell apart

[@stevierv22]

I think it also depends on the region of Japan, some regions use more R. It's also an intensity issue, i mean if you use only R you would sound like a yakuza member right? Using R all the time sounds more harsh and rude, so it's always nice to have a good balance. Always listen how the natives use it and try to incorporate it in your speech. Can a Japanese native speaker tell me if i am correct on this?

[@BackseatAlpacas]

stevierv22 disclaimer: I’m not Japanese. From what I’ve learned, the R sound in Japanese isn’t a pure R sound. It’s more like a hybrid of L, R and a D sound at times as well. If you listen to the Japanese pronunciation of ramen, you’ll hear “rlamen”. Like it starts as an R then morphs seamlessly to an L. Benri (meaning convenient or handy) is also a word with a unique R sound. It sounds like “bendy” with a hybrid of an R and D sound. Therefore, being able to distinguish between the R and L sounds in English is really difficult.

[@stevierv22]

@@BackseatAlpacas Yes it's between L,R and D and the reason is the position of the tongue. The same happens also with Korean which i'm learning now. It has nothing to do with what i said on my post earlier. In Japanese i find a correlation between roughness of the main two sound L and R. R being on the harsh/rude/abrupt side and L on the soft side but that's just my perception on this.

[@C4s4ndr4]

As an English & Dutch speaker learning Japanese I have the opposite problem, I either hear "L" or "R" when Japanese people speak and I really, really struggle to not roll the "ra, ri, ru, re, ro" sounds when speaking. >.

[@avadakeduhvra]

This is true I hear it in songs all the time hahaha

[@jonathanlange1339]

As a German I think the english R is pretty hard to learn. In german we don't use our tip of the toung at all for the R I think. It all comes from the throat. When I say Ratte (rat) my tounge lays flat as if I say A O E I U.

[@dslight113]

i don't think we roll our tongues when saying R i believe we talk with the front or the back of the tongue try it . L is use tip of tongue , R backside

[@セリ-m4r]

When you say "light", your tongue touches the base your front teeth. But when saying "right", the tip of the tongue doesn't touch anything.

[@feistymind4915]

sstop it with the light and right thing am getting light headache

[@cheriquebutterfly]

In The Netherland we have chilrden who also have big problem saying L or R because L you whould say faster then R and because it a kind battle to get that one it take a while to master. When i was little i got problem saying R they kind teacher hepled saying in a training why place word with R in show me how she did it and u need try to repeat on my own as try pratice when i was done there for the day and say everytime

[@baboon500]

I am American. I feel like Japanese people learn English like how I learned Spanish in school. I took spanish from middle school until end of high school. I can’t even say one sentence in Spanish even now. What happened? owo

[@zoomzabba452]

@ I can read "the food of Mexico is delicious" but there's no chance I could listen quickly enough with a native speaker.

[@roo9642]

How is her Japanese so good man. Just how

[@WANDERER0070]

Atama ii desu

[@koyama_shiho]

Am I only one who have problems with subtitles? No? Yes?

[@thacoga]

what about "alright"? all will give up lol

[@JoaquinPhi]

It would have been perfect if CattyCat show them the two words written and ask Japanese people to read it. The problem begins when they are trying to say it. Nice topic and video..!! Would you ask Japanese about the idea people have around the world that Asian are the most inteligent people in the world follows by white and so on. Do they believe on this that it could sound racist..?? I think it could be a nice topic, hope no one get mad at it. As for me there is no a problem even when i am not asian nor white.

[@marusdod3685]

in my language both L and R have 2 different sounds each

[@-fishingvideos-liorben-hai2447]

Great video my friends

[@jeffschreifels8651]

I assume there are words or sounds in Japanese that English speaking people have a hard time pronouncing. I know there are words like ryori (cuisine) and raishu (next week) that are difficult for me to say correctly.

[@skyworm8006]

The basic sounds are easy to approximate as there is nothing that different but proper pronunciation is much harder.

[@CJ.9]

the "th" the "w" (like in wound") sounds do not exist in spanish (also I think the "Sh", as the letter H doesnt have sound unless it comes next the letter c)

[@Progan666]

I thought this was going to be about mixing up the left and right hand sides and I really thought I could relate so much with the Japanese people for a solid minute or two into the video.

[@Shyntie]

Me has enseñado que el "th" en inglés se hace con la lengua entre los dientes mientras que yo decía "d" que se hace tras los dientes de adelante.

[@张日卿]

英語のr は舌はどこにも触れないから巻き舌　ではない。接近音です。

[@remix2689]

I’ve heard some Japanese pronounce some things that sound like the H sound but say it’s an F sound They more so pronounce it like a fhue as if mixing the f and h sound together. Or a light F sound without the lips touching. If that makes any sense.

[@zoomzabba452]

That's exactly correct! It should start h then quickly shift to f. Almost like running out of breath. That's what I learned in college Japanese.

[@rob9853]

Next level, try the French R

[@Gladiator0719]

Like Filipinos with P & F, Russians and Germans with W & V....

[@catherinebutler4819]

For some reason, now I want to eat a pretzel...

[@vollstaendingennamen]

so, when they listen to lady gaga sing "rara u lala" , they just hear lala u lala. weird

[@fatalcode4996]

I can't say the "R" because it's a problem I have since birth.

[@dukenukem2214]

a have an iranian friend with amazing English skills. But during conversations she alwayys mixes up he and she. Apparently this distinction does not exist in persian.

[@oscare.quiros6349]

It is exactly the same with Chinese. There are a lot of jokes in Spanish about Chinese speaking Spanish confusing the R and the L. Interesting video.

[@TheOrwell57]

Dankeschön

[@drusmith3480]

I Love the girl with silver fangs! 🖤

[@irvineyyh]

I have a hard time pronounce "Thr" like "through"

[@giselle3999]

6:58 tho

[@DarkPa1adin]

While Japanese struggle with starting L or R, English speaking people struggle with ending L!

[@bUtLUtu]

Oh my god I can’t hear the difference in Korean between 발 (foot) and 팔 (arm). Also I can’t hear the difference between ㅐ and ㅔand they will get so frustrated with me.

[@markjustineherrera444]

Right and write

[@Hamza-qu3yp]

Can you guys make a video about religions?

[@StrikitRich]

They have.

[@Jkd_77]

Flocker From my knowledge and insight - 95% of Japan is Shinto, the other 3% is agnostic/atheist and the rest is either Christian or Catholic. And also there are videos on KZbin that has what you’re looking for. 🙂👍🏽

[@Mecks089]

The Japanese are not very Religious. Some are Buddhist, while most are Shinto and that's pretty much it. There are a vast amount of Shrines in several locations amongst many neighborhoods and prefectures, that are dedicated to local Deities and Spirits. But they are appreciated by given an offering, such as a Letter, Toy, Flower, trinkets, etc, etc, sometimes even food and drink, but not worshipped.

[@JustAGuyProduction]

The captions didn't work for some reason.

[@makoto5071]

You should try asking Japanese to pronounce "Earth" =P (Write it on a piece of paper, and have them pronounce it) Most Japanese will pronounce "Earth" as @ss... Hahahahaha. The Japanese language doesn't have any words that have western "R" pronunciation, so both "L" and "R" have the same pronunciation. Ramen (Noodle soup) for example will be pronounced Laamen. Although I am 100% Japanese, I went thru the American education system from Kindergarten to College (was brought up in New Jersey), so I don't have this problem (I hope.. =P ) By the way, Older Japanese (50 and above) call people like me, a "Banana". Why? Yellow on the outside, but white on the inside. =P

[@Zen-ir2np]

Interesting 🤔

[@mikhail.k3943]

No offense, just simply curious. Why does Japanese feel kind of scared or sometimes bad at English?

[@aprili.3802]

Generally speaking, they are not being encouraged to speak/converse in it at school. They are learning to read and write in it, and study grammar, and translate from a text book, but they aren’t getting opportunities to practice listening or having a discussion in English. Also, it doesn’t help that a lot of the teachers who are teaching English don’t actually know how to speak it. When I was a teacher in an eikaiwa school, some of my students were middle school English teachers, but they were in my low-level English conversation classes. They would understand the textbook all right but not understand me when I spoke to them. And it was also challenging for them to speak freely with me. The way English is taught in Japanese schools really needs to change. Bright side, there are some schools hiring native English speakers but I don’t think that’s many of them. I have friends that co-teach English lessons in public schools but they don’t really have control over the curriculum or anything like that...I feel like change is sometimes scary to a lot of the schools.

[@acgm046]

I think they're not normally confident in their English skills, as not many teachers in Japan seem to bother about practicing speaking. They probably focus more on writing and reading, so unless students have spent a significant amount of time abroad, they won't be confident enough to use English in conversation.

[@DiemNguyen-xu1bk]

Do another video to see can foreigners pronounce Ra Ri Ru Re Ro らりるれろ？？？

[@xiaobai7060]

I don't understand Why in Spanish, nouns end in either A or O if they are "male" or "female"... It makes no sense.. How is anyone suppose to know if a TABLE is male or female 🤣. Who decided this stuff? I almost give up sometimes.

[@beepsheep5954]

So pls pronounce this audience "R", "Our","Are","Hour" Good dog...

[@D3athW1ng]

Lol right light 😂 ...Spanish is not a language I see a lot of Japanese folks attempting 🤪

[@You-dm2eh]

deafwing it’s probably easier than English for them to pronounce

[@acgm046]

Japanese people would definitely find it a little easier, because Spanish soft 'r' sounds the same as the Japanese 'r', so no problem with rolling the tongue! In any case, they'd still struggle with the strong 'r" sound and also to differentiate between r and l. The word "Loro" (parrot), for example, can easily show whether they could pronounce the sounds correctly!

[@Armando_Gtz]

Whenever I watch Japanese videos I sometimes pick up on Japanese words that are pronounced just like the Spanish words. Though they have a different meaning than the Spanish word. I think it's like the others are saying about Spanish being easier to pronounce than English.

[@acgm046]

@@Armando_Gtz Yeah. Spanish and Japanese also have in common that they use only five vowels which are pronounced almost the same: a e i o u. That probably makes their overall pronunciation similar.

[@D3athW1ng]

@@acgm046 nice point

[@89CrazyAl]

Vampiress babe!

[@milanlazarevic7266]

Am i the only one with subtitle problem?

[@quintrankid8045]

What kind of subtitle problem?

[@milanlazarevic7266]

@@quintrankid8045 it doesnt work 90% of the time

[@lovespringgreen]

That's strange. I turned on the captions and they worked fine. All the subtitles were there.

[@milanlazarevic7266]

@@lovespringgreen must be only me, ty for rlanswering anyway

[@glycemias7104]

same with me :(

[@Mecks089]

Holyshit a Vampire.

[@creativefeather2968]

I haven't wrapped my brain around the difference between ryokai vs yokai. Do Japanese hear a pronounced difference between the two words? I sure don't.

[@abcdefghilihgfedcba]

Seriously? You don’t? I guess it’s minor but it’s there. I have much more trouble with pitch-accent.

[@thedarkknight9021]

In one word you pronunce the "r"(you can hear it a bit, a very little bit, or maybe it's just me), in the other don't, plus the accent is totally different

[@KotsubuAzki]

こんなにRとLの違い分からんもんか？w

[@djin4095]

Bruh this is lacist.

[@euug0701]

CaTHy, how do Germans pronounce CaTHy if they can't say "TH"?

[@abcdefghilihgfedcba]

Were you not listening? Cathy in her name is not pronounced with the English TH.

[@zoomzabba452]

Caw-teh or Kah-tee

[@recios2328]

I would like you to do an interview about topless in Japan. The other day I watched a report on television about it and it is very common on the beaches of Spain. I wanted to know what people in Japan think about doing topless or nudism on their beaches. Please ✌

[@rolynjava8918]

Can u do what japanese think of the philippines 🤗❤️ 🙏🏻