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Thai girls and the letter R


Lusty

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Why do many Thai women have such a problem with the R sound?

My GF pronounces every word that begins R with an L but she can say "Rama" without any problems.I just tell her to apply the same sound to words like Rice,Rusty,Road etc but she seems unable to grasp this ::.Any suggestions much apprieciated.Thanx ::

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Lusty - 'l' and 'r' seem pretty much interchangeable here: 'aroi' / 'alloy' etc. Often the 'r' is trilled so it is not that they are incapable of pronouncing it - it just gets treated casually. I have kids quite happily saying 'library' in English.

 

I wonder if a parallel could be drawn with UK Eng. speakers often substituting 'f' for a 'th' sound? 'I fink I'm fucking thick vo''

 

Anyway - Lusty sounds better than Rusty and it is apposite.

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Lusty said:Why do many Thai women have such a problem with the R sound?
Actually, it is Issan women who have problems with the letter R. Why? Lao was no such sound and their Thai is heavily tinged with Lao and their parents/grandparents prolly did not speak proper central Thai either. So they learned incorrectly when growing up.

 

Pure central Thai does have the R sound. Listen to radio or TV news broadcasts and you will hear the proper enuciation.

 

Cheers,

SD

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Lusty said:

Why do many Thai women have such a problem with the R sound?

My GF pronounces every word that begins R with an L but she can say "Rama" without any problems.I just tell her to apply the same sound to words like Rice,Rusty,Road etc but she seems unable to grasp this ::.Any suggestions much apprieciated.Thanx ::

 

Hi

 

My wife has the same problem ::

Time will fix this ...her sister has been in OZ over eight years and speaks very well..and no R/Ls.

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suadum said:

Actually, it is Issan women who have problems with the letter R. Why? Lao was no such sound and their Thai is heavily tinged with Lao and their parents/grandparents prolly did not speak proper central Thai either. So they learned incorrectly when growing up.

 

Pure central Thai does have the R sound. Listen to radio or TV news broadcasts and you will hear the proper enuciation.

Cheers,

SD

 

Hi SD,

 

Issarn women only? :)

I hear people all over thailand pronounce R as L regardless of their origin.

By the way in Issarn the R is normally substituted by an H-sound not L, like in hotel, hot.. Hong Haem, Horn etc.

I think it has more to do with upbringing and education than anything else.

 

Cheers

Hua Nguu

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it's not only Isaarns and not even only Thais. there are many Asians outside Thailand as well with exception of malay, indonesians and philippines.

in korean for example the letter r and l is the same! also in chinese there is no sound close to the western guttural r

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samak said:

it's not only Isaarns and not even only Thais. there are many Asians outside Thailand as well with exception of malay, indonesians and philippines.

in korean for example the letter r and l is the same! also in chinese there is no sound close to the western guttural r

 

Stranded out here in the west, without any Thai's to talk to, one of the learning aids I use is a DVD for children. The theme of the story is the importance in the differentiation between the 2 sounds and important roles they play in the language.

If this CD has been prepared for Thai children, it must be common issue.

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Hi,

 

>>>Why do many Thai women have such a problem with the R sound?<<<<

 

It's comes from where they are from. In issan, 'r' is often replaced with 'L". A lot has to do with laziness, also.

 

Even at the bkk taxi stand. "ow bai phahoyotin soi jet"

 

Soi alai?

 

Mai chai..Soi Ari. khao jai mai?

 

:: forget it already. 2 hours later, you might even be near the place.

 

HT

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I asked a motor bike taxi at Pattaya bus station to take me to Soi jet(I was looking foward to a decent pork chop in the the Pig and Whistle).

I ended up at a place called See Jet which is an old Chinese cemetary:: :(.A few phone calls EVENTUALLY got me where I wanted to go.

The particular girl I was with told me that "Taxi rider need know why tink tonk falunge need go Chinese cemetery at midnite to look for pee ::.TiT!

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