Why some Asian accents swap Ls and Rs in English
A linguistic stereotype, explained.
This video is presented by Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/Vox/
Thank you the Video Lab members (Janet, Martian, and Mariko) who helped me with this video. To learn more about the Video Lab and sign up, visit http://bit.ly/video-lab
Check out Yuta’s Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/YPlusShow
And browse Dr. Lawson’s ultrasound examples here: https://www.seeingspeech.ac.uk/r-and-l-in-english/
A foreign accent is when someone speaks a second language with the rules of their first language, and one of the most persistent and well-studied foreign-accent features is a lack of L/R contrast among native Japanese speakers learning English.
It’s so well-known that American soldiers in World War II reportedly used codewords like “lallapalooza” to distinguish Japanese spies from Chinese allies. But American movies and TV shows have applied this linguistic stereotype to Korean and Chinese characters too, like Kim Jong Il in Team America: World Police, or Chinese restaurant employees singing “fa ra ra ra ra” in A Christmas Story.
However, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese are completely different languages that each handle L-sound and R-sounds differently. In this episode of Vox Observatory, we take a look at each language and how it affects pronunciation for English-language learners.
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@DualityOttawa
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
I watched this video 6 years ago and it sent me down a rabbit hole. I now have a deep love for linguistics with a focus on phonetics all these years later, lived in 4 different continents as well ❤ time is so cool
@MaeWoodland
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
5:03
@loserkid9973
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Genius people have accents period!
@suomeaboo
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
"you speak english cause it's the only language you know, i speak english cause it's the only language you know"
@lolhcd
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Funny how English is almost the only European language that does neither the uvular fricative/guttural R (French and German "throat R") nor the alveolar trill/tap R (Other Romance language R or Russian R). Instead, English uses one that sounds closest to the Chinese "R". Ironic how they make fun of something they don't have themselves like that one desparate person in a bully group trying to tag along with others.
Sometimes, English does have an approximant that can sound like an alveolar trill/tap in words like "through, threat, thread" etc. but for most of the time, it's an alveolar/postalveolar approximant like in "run, read", very close to Chinese r.
@skotmatthews8940
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
I mean most English speakers when speaking ither languages sound funny too, im sure. Its just a matter of perspective and since English is what us English speakers know, we only know that perspective
@PaElvan
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Indian R 😮😊
@caloocanboy5800
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Ive been learning japanese for almost 2 years now, I only understand why they pronounce it from this video, so well explaned.
@tack3545
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
1:08 “rrrr…rude” lol
@mauriciopitta
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
A person who speaks two languages is a bilingual person. Those who speak only one are called Americans.
@TheHardStyleLife
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Growing up in Australia, can perfectly pronounce asian languages. Try singing other languages dramatically speeds up the process
@yasinfrei
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
I only see an English problem
@kadinnui2282
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
I feel kinda weird not noticing what was wrong with the chinese and korean accent's for "r" or "l", sounds good to me. And I am slavic…
@MaxIronsThird
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
she took that personally
@joanlapeyra
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
1:09
“This movie might be a bit rrrr-“
Me: Racist!
“rude.”
@johnnycasteel7
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
I’m a master of nonregional diction
@johnnycasteel7
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
So Luffy from one Piece is right or?
@philosophyofiron9686
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
"Glove," "Globe," and "Grove" are great examples of when one language doesn't make meaningful distinctions between sounds that another does, as in Japanese, all three of these words come out identical. Also, English fails to meaningfully distinguish between vowel sounds that Korean actually writes differently in its phonetic spelling.
@philosophyofiron9686
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
One of the strange quirks I found in many people's English pronunciation coming from Mandarin has been a tendency to DROP "er" sounds that appear at the end of a word. I've taught literal pronunciation class, and asked students to repeat words like "hamburger" and "refrigerator" after me, and over and over again, they keep saying "hamburg" and "refrigerate." I've yet to see a linguist explain this
@kamabokogonpachiro6099
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
This leminds me of the “erizabeth flom Ros Angeres” meme😂
@tetegfge
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
but my first lanuague is finnish and i still sometimes say l as r. For example i always say triangrr instead of triangle
@Tiktok1stArmoredDivision
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Why should the filmmakers feel bad? you can't expect them to master linguistic aspect of asian languages just as asians aren't expected to speak perfect engliah.
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