Name: 為什麼有些亞洲人的口音會在英語中互換L和R？ (Why some Asian accents swap Ls and Rs in English)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T08:22:37.000Z
Duration: 8 min 57 s

There's a saying in Hong Kong kung fu movies: “Wai faai bat po.”

香港武打片有句話說：唯快不破

意思是：只要快速，就無法被擊敗

That's in Cantonese, a language with tones, which English speakers have trouble distinguishing.

這句是廣東話，一個有聲調的語言。英語系的人通常無法輕易分辨聲調，所以當美國人用錯誤的聲調

So when an American says that phrase with the wrong tones— “wifi bat po”—you get a Cantonese meme.

說這句話的時候  ＂WIFI 不破＂，就成了一個廣東話的笑話。

"It became kinds of a joke that people will send to each other. It's like oh, this badass wi-fi is so good."

這成為了一個廣為流傳的笑話，大家互相開玩笑地說，這個WIFI很厲害。

“Wai faai bat po.”  -"It's quite funny."

If English is your first language though, you might be more familiar with a different joke: “Supplies!”

如果英文是你的母語，你應該聽過另一個笑話："Supplies!" (surprise)

That's the notion that East Asians mix up their Rs and Ls in English: “Oh herro prease.”

有個概念是東亞人常常會把英文的R和L發音搞混。"Oh herro prease" (oh hello please)

It's a running gag in "Lost in Translation," an Oscar-winning film about two Americans who are sad in Japan.

在【愛情，不用翻譯】：奧斯卡得獎影片，故事講述兩個在日本的悲傷美國人的故事，這個發音的哽貫穿了整個劇情。

The movie makes communication with the locals seem hopeless.

這部電影讓和日本人溝通看似非常困難。

“Lip my stocking.” “Hey? Lip them?”

"Hey. Lip (Rip) my stocking." "Hey? Lip them?"

And at one point Scarlett Johansson's character asks: "Why do they switch the Rs and the L's here?"

史嘉雷喬韓森扮演的角色問到：為什麼他們老是把R和L調對？

This movie may be a bit rude, but it's not a terrible question to ask.

這部電影有點無理，但是這不是一個爛問題。

Because if you're genuinely curious, a foreign accent gives us a chance to learn something about another language.

如果你真感到好奇，從一個外國人的角度來研究口音，可以幫助我們學習其它語言。

So this trope has been applied to Japanese, Korean, and Chinese speakers.

這個例子可以用在日文、韓文和中文系國家。

"McFry! (McFly)" "Herro (Hello)" "Fa ra ra ra ra (Fa la la la la)"

But, all of these languages deal with Rs and Ls in different ways.

但是，這些語言對於R和L的發音都不一樣。

First though, we need to talk about the R sound in English.

首先，我們來看R在英文裡的發音。

It turns out that there isn't just one way to pronounce it.

Eleanor Lawson uses ultrasound to study English phonetics.

艾倫娜羅森利用超音波來研究發音。

"You have trilled R's which are sort of a rrr sound. You can probably hear my tapped R. So I do a ara sound. Varied. You can have a retroflex R where your tongue essentially curls upside down under your palatal arch."

我們有顫音的R，聽起來是...你可以聽到這個拍打的R音，所以我發了ara這個音。我們還有個卷舌的R，簡單來說就是將你的舌頭翻捲，碰觸上顎。

"Run. Run." She says the bunched R, which is common in North American English, is particularly complex.

"Run. Run." 她更進一步指出，在北美英文裡常出現的捲縮R，更是複雜。

How would you tell someone where to put their tongue to make that R?

你會如何解釋，在發這個R音的時候，舌頭的位置在哪？

The middle of the tongue rises up in the mouth, while the root of the tongue is pulling backwards.

舌頭的中間部位抬起，同時舌頭的根部向後拉。

You might have some lip rounding as well.

R sounds like this, where the airflow isn't blocked by the tongue or the lips, are called the “approximates” in phonetics.

這類的R音，就是空氣從裡向外，沒有被舌頭和嘴唇阻擋到，叫"相似音"。

"So forming all of these structures at the same time could be very difficult for someone who is not used to producing that."

要把舌頭和嘴唇同時到位，對於不習慣的人來說是很困難的。

The R sound is one of the last consonants that English-speaking kids learn to say.

R是英文裡最後一個子音，也是孩子最慢學到的音。

It takes up to 5 adorable years for them to figure it out.

有些孩子需要花上5年的時間才能學會。

And the L sound in English can change depending on its position in a word.

L音則是會隨著字的拼法而有所不同。

像是"ladle"或是"level"這兩個字，

That first L is a "clear L." You can probably feel your tongue touching the top of the mouth, right behind your front teeth as in “led.”

第一個L是"陽聲"。你可以感覺得到舌頭碰觸上排牙齒後方，和"led"一樣。

But the L at the end of the word is a “dark L," where the tip of the tongue might not even touch the top of your mouth at all.

但是，在尾端的L則是"陰聲"，舌頭的尖端不會碰觸到上顎。

"A dark L is where the back of the tongue is moving up toward the soft palate and it gives it an o-ish sound like an O."

發陰聲的L，舌頭的尾端會推向喉嚨，所以聽起來類似O的音。

So the English R and L are complicated, but still, "Lat Pack," rrr, llll, they seem like pretty different sounds.

總結，英文的R和L很複雜，但是"Lat pack"，rrrr，llll...它們聽起來是完全不同的音。

從西班牙文的角度來看，也許有幫助。

“Salero. Salt Shaker. Salero, salero.”

This R is made with a flap of the tongue on the ridge behind the front teeth.

這個R，是將舌頭近前端的部分碰觸上顎和牙齒銜接處

That's not too far away from where the L is pronounced.

Japanese has that R sound. It doesn't have the lll in “lake” or the rrr in “red.”

日文的R就是如此。但是它沒有Lake的lll音，或是red的rrr音。

"We have ra ri ru re ro, which sounds kind of similar to both L and R."

我們有 ra, ri, ru, re, ro，發音似L和R的綜合體。

Those are the 5 syllables in Japanese that contain the tongue-flap sound: “ra ri ru re ro."

日文的這五個音，就是彈舌的R音。Rai, ri, ru, re, ro.

When they're converted into the Latin alphabet, they're spelled like this, with the letter R.

當它們用拉丁字母來拼音時，使用的是R

But the Japanese R sound “ra” is actually closer to our L sound “la” than it is to the English "ra."

但是日文的R音，其實比較接近L音，la，而非英文的ra。

"My name is Mariko and for all of my English-speaking friends, their intuition to say is marie-ko. And how I explain to them is just imagine my name spelled with M-a-l-i-k-o and then you should be fine."

我叫Mariko。我的英語系朋友們都很直覺的發成Marie-Ko。我解釋給他們的方式是，想像我的名字拼法是M-a-l-i-k-o，這樣就對了。

When words migrate from English to Japanese, both Rs and Ls become Japanese Rs.

當英文轉移到日文，R和L兩者都被日文的R給取代了。

There are thousands of these loan words that Japanese speakers have to relearn with rrrs and llls, which are two sounds that Japanese ears weren't tuned to distinguish in the first place.

日文裡有上千個這種外來字，日本語系的人必須重新用rrr和lll學習，因為他們的耳朵打從一開始就無法判斷兩者的差異。

Like Japanese, Korean doesn't have the English rrr sound. They have this letter. It's "rieul."

同日文，韓文也沒有英文的rrr音。他們有個字母，riel

"Like my tongue is going straight up to the roof of my mouth, eul."

我的舌頭是平平的向上碰觸我的上顎，eul。

"Rieul." It takes on a different sound depending on its position within the word.

Rieul 這個字母的發音會隨著字的拼法而改變。

So when it's followed by a vowel, it has the flap sound like a Japanese R.

它後面如果是母音，它的發音會類似日文彈舌的R。

That also means it's written with the letter “R” when converted into Latin script. “Duriseo.”

這也代表轉化成拉丁拼音時，是使用R，“Duriseo.”

But when it's at the end of a word "jebal" or is followed by a consonant "deullida," it sounds more like an L sound and it's transcribed in the Latin alphabet as “L.”

但是當它是在字尾的時候，或是後面接了子音，它聽起來比較接近英文的L，拉丁字母拼音時，使用的是L。

So it's pretty unlikely that Korean speakers would say “herro” since their L sound can map on to the English L.

所以，韓國人比較不可能會說herro，因為韓文有明確的L音。

But the “dark L” doesn't exist in Korean.

So when they're new to English, Koreans might use their own L sound in spots where we would use a dark L, near the end of words.

所以當韓國人初學英文時，他們會用韓文的L，來替代英文字尾部的陰聲L。

“As the story unfolds, someone may change the world.”

隨著故事的展開，某人會改變這世界。

There are at least 8 major Chinese languages, but we'll look at Mandarin and Cantonese.

中國有至少八個常用語言，但是我們只看普通話和廣東話。

They both have a clear L sound, and it's restricted to the beginning of syllables.

它們都有明確的L音，但是限於字發音的開頭。

So the notion that they would switch “fa la la" into “fa ra ra,” it's just wrong and the makers of a Christmas story should feel bad.

所以，認為他們會將fa la la發成 fa ra ra是錯誤的概念，製作【聖誕故事】電影的人應該感到羞愧。

Like Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese don't have the dark L sound as in “pull.”

同韓文，普通話和廣東話沒有Pull裡的L陰聲。

But when they come across an L near the end of a word in English, they tend to pronounce it more like a vowel.

所以當他們遇到英文字尾的L時，他們會發成母音。

"A hundred years old, 90 years old. I said we should respect this kind of people."

像是一百歲或九十歲的高齡老人，我覺得我們應該尊敬這種人。

他選了他能選的最冷的地方，真的。

At the beginning of a syllable, it sounds like this: "Zrr. Zrr. So like actually, maybe the R sounds more like the S in "treasure."

在一開頭的音節，它聽起來像 Zrr ，所以其實這個R可能聽起來比較像 treasure 的S。

And at the end of a syllable: "Er. It means son."

如果是在音節的結尾呢：Er，就是兒子的意思。

Cantonese, on the other hand, doesn't have an R sound at all.

另一方面，廣東話完全沒有R這個音。

So when speaking English, they sometimes use a W sound or an L sound.

所以當他們講英文時，有時會發成W或L。

"We just tried very hard to prove ourselves."

Our ability to produce sounds in a new language, depends in part on whether those sounds are meaningfully distinct in our first language.

在新的語言裡，我們製造新聲音的能力，部分取決於這些聲音在我們的母語中是否有意義上的區別。

So a Japanese speaker hearing lll and rrr, it's a lot like an English speaker hearing tones in Chinese.

所以一個日語人士聽到L或R時，就很像英語母語者聽到中文的腔調一樣。

"Ma. Ma. Ma. Ma. Yeah, I know, people's mind is just blown away."

媽，麻，馬，罵，對我知道大家聽完都覺得更困惑了。

We all carry the rules of our native language with us when we learn new languages.

當我們在學新語言時，我們都帶著母語的發音規則。

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為什麼有些亞洲人的口音會在英語中互換L和R？ (Why some Asian accents swap Ls and Rs in English)

accent

intuition

brilliant

position