So the English R and L are complicated,
所以,英语里的R和L的发音其实是很复杂的,
but still, "Lat Pack," rrr, llll-- they seem like pretty different sounds.
尽管如此,“酥帮”,R,L,听起来还是有很大的不同的嘛。
It might help to look at Spanish - say the word salero.
或许,先了解下西班牙语会对我们理解这个问题有些帮助,比如“salero"(盐瓶)这个单词。
“Salero. Salt Shaker. Salero Salero”
“Salero,盐瓶,Salero,Salero。”
This R is made with a flap of the tongue on the ridge behind the front teeth.
这个R是舌头弹一下门牙后部上颚中间的位置发出来的。
that’s not too far away from where the L is pronounced. Salero, hora, varios, oruga, pare.
这个R的发声位置发L这个音的位置不远。Salero(盐瓶), hora(小时), varios(各种), oruga(毛毛虫), pare(停).
Japanese has that R-sound.
日语里也有这种R。
It doesn’t have the lll in “lake” or the rrr in “red.”
但没有“lake”中L的发音,也没有"red"中R的发音。
We have ra ri ru re ro, which sounds kind of similar to both L and R.
我们有らりるれろ ,听起来和L和R的发音都有点像。
Those are the 5 syllables in Japanese that contain the tongue-flap sound: “ra ri ru re ro"
这是日语里五个弹舌音,らりるれろ
Try saying them: “ra ri ru re ro.”
试着念一下:らりるれろ。
When they’re converted into the Latin alphabet, they’re spelled like this, with the letter “r”.
当这几个音转换成拉丁字母时,是这样标注的,用的是r这个字母。
But the Japanese R-sound is actually closer to our L-sound “la” than it is to the english "ra."
但日语里的R这个音其实更接近于我们的la,而不是ra。
"My name is Mariko and for all my english-speaking friends, their intuition to say is Mariko.
“我的名字本来是'Mariko(麻里子),但我所有讲英语的朋友下意识地都会说成Ma'riko(玛丽珂)
And how I explain to them is just imagine my name spelled with M-a-l-i-k-o and you should be fine.
我怎么向他们解释这个发音呢?我就跟他们说,想象下我名字的英文拼写是Maliko就可以了。
When words migrate from English to Japanese, both Rs and Ls become Japanese Rs.
当单词从英语引入到日语时,R和L两个音就都变成了日语里的R音。
“Garasu.” “Karendaa.” “Boringu.” “Raito.”
ガラス(玻璃),カレンダー(日历),ボーリング(保龄球),ライト (光/灯/右/正确)
There are thousands of these loan words that Japanese speakers have to relearn with rrrs and llls,
日语里有几千个这种形式的借词,学习这些单词的时候,说日语的人是需要重新学习R和L的发音的,
which are two sounds that Japanese ears weren’t tuned to distinguish in the first place.
因为这两个音日本人从一开始就不太能分得清。
Like Japanese, Korean doesn’t have the English rrr sound.
和日本人一样,韩国人也没有英文中的R音。
They have this letter.
他们只有这个字。
It's rieul." "leer?" "lee-ul." "lee-er." "Ul." "Ul"
这个字念“ rieul”,“是lee-ul”,“lee-er”,“是Ul”,“Ul”。
"Like my tongue is going straight up to the roof of my mouth. Ul. Rieul."
“我的舌头是垂直往上顶到了上颚的,Ul。Rieul。”
It takes on a different sound depending on its position within the word.
这个字在单词的不同位置中会有不同的发音。
So when it's followed by a vowel, it has the flap sound like a Japanese R. “Duriseo. Duriseo."
当它后面跟元音的时候,它和日语里的R一样,也是一个弹舌音,Duriseo(两个人),Duriseo。”
That also means it’s written with the letter “r” when converted into Latin script. “Duriseo.”
这也意味着,转换成拉丁字母时它就成了字母r。“Duriseo.”
But when it’s at the end of a word or is followed by a consonant,
但当它放在单词末尾(比如“拜托了”这个词)或者在辅音前(比如“听见”这个词)的时候,
it sounds more like an L-sound and it’s transcribed in the Latin alphabet as “L”.
听起来就和L更像一些,标注的拉丁字母也是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,说韩语的人是不大可能把“hello”说成“herro”的,因为他们的L音是可以和英语的L音对上的。
But the “dark L” doesn’t exist in Korean.
但韩语中没有“模糊音L”。
So when they’re new to english,
所以当他们刚接触英语的时候,
Koreans might use their own L sound in spots where we would use a dark L, near the end of words.
韩国人或许会在L位于单词词尾,应该发“模糊音L”的时候发成他们自己的L音。
"As the story unfolds, someone may change the world."
“随着故事的展开,有人或许就会改变世界。”
There are at least 8 major Chinese languages, but we’ll look at Mandarin and Cantonese.
汉语至少有8种主要的方言,但我们今天主要讲普通话和粤语的情况。
They both have a clear L sound.
普通话和粤语都有“清晰音L”的发音,
And it’s restricted to the beginning of syllables.
而且这种音都是出现在一个字的开头。
Leng. It’s like ‘pretty.’
靓,就是“漂亮”的意思。
La. ‘drag.’
拉,就是“拉,拽”的意思。
So the notion that they would switch “fa la la" into “fa ra ra” is just wrong and the makers of a Christmas Story should feel bad.
所以,这种认为他们会把fa la la 念成fa ra ra 的想法也是错误的,《圣诞故事》的创作者应该对此感到羞愧。
Like Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese don't have the dark L sound as in “pull”.
和韩语一样,普通话和粤语都没有”pull“这个词中出现的那种“模糊音L”。
But when they come across an L near the end of a word in english, they tend pronounce it more like a vowel.
但当中国人遇到英语单词尾部的L时,他们会倾向于把它念得更像是一个元音。
"A hundred years old, 90 years old. I said we should respect this kind of people."
“一百岁的老人,九十岁的老人,我说我们应该尊重这些人。”
"He chose the coldest possible. Really."
“他选了最冷的地方,真的。”
Mandarin does have an r sound.
普通话的确也有R音。
At the beginning of a syllable it sounds like this: "zrr. zrr.
在一个音节开头的时候,它的发音听起来差不多是这样:日~~。
"So like actually, maybe the R sounds more like the S in ‘treasure.’ zrr Rènxìng."
“所以,其实,这种R音更像是“treasure"中S的发音,日~~任性。”
And at the end of a syllable: "er." It means "son."
而在一个音节末尾的时候,它的发音又变成了“er(儿)”,意思是“儿子”。
Cantonese, on the other hand, doesn’t have an R sound at all.
另一边,粤语就完全没有R音。
So when speaking English, they sometimes use a w sound, or an L sound.
所以讲粤语的人讲英语的时候,他们有时会使用W或者L来代替英语里的R音。
"We just tried very hard to prove ourselves."
“我们只是非常努力地想证明我们自己。”
Our ability to produce sounds in a new language
我们发出一种新语言里的那些音的能力
depends in part on whether those sounds are meaningfully distinct in our first language.
部分取决于这些声音在我们的母语中是否被和某种意思联系在一起而做了区分。
So a Japanese speaker hearing lll and rrr-- it’s a lot like an English speaker hearing tones in Chinese.
综上所述,一个以日语为母语的人听到L音或者R音就和说英语的人听到汉语中的声调差不多。
Leng. Leng. Leng. Leng.
愣,靓,灵,岭
Ma. Ma. Ma. Ma. Yeah I know, people's minds just blown away.
妈,麻,马,骂,嗯,我知道,大家伙儿肯定都已经听蒙了。
We all carry the rules of our native language with us when we learn new languages.
我们在学习新语言的时候,都会带入我们母语的规则。
"Accent is your identity.
“口音也是你的身份
So I don’t want to sound like an American person or British person."
所以我并不想去模仿美国人或者英国人的口音。”
So if you hear a foreign accent, remember that it’s a unique hybrid,
所以,如果你听到了一种外国口音,记住,那是一种独一无二的混合。
it's like a lion with stripes — something you can only get if you’re brave enough to venture beyond the comfort of your mother tongue.
就像是狮子身上的条纹,只有你足够勇敢,去探索母语这一舒适区之外的领域才能获得。