I've observed a number of cases in which a Japanese word spelled with an *r* is pronounced in English translations with an *l* sound. I have been told that this is because *r* is pronounced *l*, and I have also been told that Japanese has no *l* sound. What is going on then?

gmackematix

According to this, Japanese does not have a sound equivalent to "l" or "r" but something in between called an alveolar flap. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotacism Mar 17 06, 12:06 PM

xfacilitatorx

Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r (whether as an alveolar tap, alveolar trill, or the rarer uvular trill). Rhotacism is a speech impediment, natural or regional. http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Rhotacism Mar 17 06, 1:15 PM

Flynn_17

Japanese has no real sound for the letter *l* just as Chinese has no real sound for the letter *r*, but what one has to consider is that Japanese uses fully formed words while Chinese is a language of individual sounds that combine to make a language. http://www.stockinformation.com/JAPDICT3.htm Mar 17 06, 2:56 PM

kaylofgorons

Thanks. So this ambiguity I've been seeing/hearing is the English tranlators picking whatever sound they think belongs. (Kirara pronounced Kee-la-luh) Mar 17 06, 3:17 PM

wajo

Yes, that's right kayl. Similarly the Japanese 'shi' sound is somewhere between English 's' and 'sh'...which is even more complicated because they don't have a 'th' sound - so 'th' also becomes 's'. Another difficult one is ye/e as in year/ear. But my (Japanese) hubby's least favourite English word is probably 'really'...takes him about a minute to get it out. :) Mar 17 06, 3:54 PM

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