tbear31 Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 I don't know if this is true, but I was told that in the Laos language (Lao?), there is no 'r' sound (I think there is an 'r' in thai). So those girls from the northeastern region have an especially bad time with pronouncing it. Everytime I tried to say 'ngern' I got laughed at, so I cut them some slack with the 'r's. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeng bireley Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 In lao in virtually all cases they use a "H" instead of "R" eg. roon, hot in thai, is hoon in lao though with a completely different tone. I think this is the same with most major esarn (lao based) dialects. The major esarn dialects are much closer to lao than thai, though quite often people from esarn say there dialect is not lao but thai. I've read a few times that using the "L" sound for "R" is a central thai dialect thing, which makes sense because when people are doing this they are speaking thai as distinct from esarn dialect in which there is no "R" anyway. I think it might be a laziness thing but it would probably require a linguist to give an exact answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiff Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 I didn't think Thais knew 'R' either, but last night I meet one girl with an accent just like people from Scottland..You know what I mean? Really " RRRRrr" I just loved it. I found it sexy. She was from somewhere east in Thailand. Does this mean I should look for sanuk in Scottland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 Thai's actually do have an R in the language, it is in the alphabet. Ror Reua. Some dialects dont have it though. the girl with the Rolling R is probably Khmer, ie Cambodian speaking. Buriram, Surin Sisaket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 Hi Just to point out, the Japanese have hard time with the Western "L" and "R" too. They have "L/R" type of sound, transcribed to Roman alphabet as RA - RI - RU - RE - RO. But the sound is not really the Western "R", more like the "L" but not really that either, sort of in-between. And they often make the "L/R" mistake when trying to speak or write in English (perhaps in French, Spanish, German et al as well). But I get riled at how most Westerners pronounce the ancient city of Kyoto, even those who've been there for the Global Warming conference. Most say "ki - yo - to". I tell Americans that there is no such city in Japan. But many cannot grasp the sound of "kyo", although every little kid in Japan can say it easily. Just imagine Bruce Lee twirling to kick you in the balls. I just think not all the world's linguistic sounds (sorry I don't know the right word) can be fit neatly into Roman alphabet and vice-versa. Ciao! micsnee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coops Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 You could ask your lady friend to say revolver... also grill can be tricky.. the R thing is kind of slang laziness - r can be pronounced but will usually be rolled, something i cannot do. Thai language only has certain double consonants used in the language - kluay for banana etc etc is no problem, but some double consonant combinations are not present in thai so will be 'impossible' or nearly so.... incidentally, the language has only a certain range of sounds to end each syllable - even though the thai script may write as a certain sound, it will be spoken differently - hence, the other many difficulties with certain sounds only at the end of words, like belt. The t will disappear, but in other positions in words, like the front, there's no problem... cheerio coops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 quote: Originally posted by coops: You could ask your lady friend to say revolver... also grill can be tricky.. I dread the word "parallel". Ciao! micsnee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 14, 2001 Report Share Posted December 14, 2001 Most Thais can say words like:- real, road, red, read, ready, rain, etc. They start these words with ร (rha rheu) They can also say words like:- leaf, lead, lake, lace, lady, licence, etc. They start these words with ล (lha ling) Ok, no problem so far, once drilled and "reminded" that they are only being lazy if they substitute "L" for "R". The problem comes when the two sounds are combined R before L as in:- "Really, I saw a gorilla driving a corolla." These are the combinations which take a huge effort for Thai speakers to master. Advanced students and those who have spent time abroad find the combination easier which points to familiarity as the cure. I agree about cantonese speakers having the same problem, hence the "you wan flied lice" type jokes. My first wife was a gwilo (cantonese speaking westerner) and she had truoble with R & L after spending the first 17 years of her life in HK. Conversely, can you say snake in Thai? In Thai:- งู It's "nguu" though not like the african stressed n's. Try it out next time you are about to slag a Thai girl's English. [ December 13, 2001: Message edited by: coquetislander ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coops Posted December 14, 2001 Report Share Posted December 14, 2001 thai for snake..... had a laugh with a brit friend, who's fallen for thailand (working down in Songkhla). To learn how to start a word with 'ng' :- say 'singer' - ok, no problem now, 'inger' - easy now, 'nger' - errrr only thing he could get out was 'ner'. ah, well. And how about those tones.... coops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted December 15, 2001 Report Share Posted December 15, 2001 Many of the older generation complain about the same thing and get pissed off at the younger ones who use the L instead of R or just forget about the R altogether. It is just laziness of the younger generation. I have met a few people who really get pissed off at the students when they say "KU" instead of "KRU" (teacher) and really give them a stern warning that there is no such word as KU in thai and that they should speak Thai properly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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