This is funny: “I freely confess that we don’t have the rigid distinctions between R and L that the English do. ” No kidding. My wife is from บุรีรัมย์ (sp?) but half the people I met there say บุลีลัมย์ but if you ask them how to say ร they sound like Italians trrrrrrrilling their Rs.

For Americans, this is terrible. L and R are DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

So, going back to the original post, Thai people do NOT generally know the difference between L and R
To an English speaker, R and L are Night and Day. Completely different sounds.

sorry, but thats the best put down ever. I am the best at everything. hehehe

If Sebastian is curious I’d be happy to provide him with several scholarly articles on the use of L and R sounds in Asia which support fully Mia’s opening sentence, though in highly technical language.

I suspect he might not be curious because in spite of his claim to fluency in Thai, he fails to appreciate or respect the culture that underlies the languages and in fact created it. Thai people pronounce L and R the way they do for highly complex linguistic reasons, not because they are lazy or because of an inferior educational system.

Sebastian himself writes in a rather ungrammatical English, which is nonetheless understandable. He deserves congratulations for learning English and using it, in spite of many errors. I suspect he also has an accent when he speaks English. I would not criticize him or claim he is lazy simply because he has failed to perfect his grammar and syntax. On the contrary, I applaud his accomplishment. He might extend the same courtesy to Thai people who have worked hard to learn English.

I think you made a mistake at the very first sentence. What makes you think/believe that Japanese don’t use any strong R or L ? I lived in Japan a while and can speak good Japanese and can write both Katakana and Hiragana. The Japanese know how to use a R and a L unlike you Thais who always confuse the R and the L. How I know that? I stayed in Thailand a few years and speak fluent Thai. Also I can write Thai and stayed in many different areas all over the country. I agree that Thais like the easy way and don’t see a problem making a L out of a R but it leaves anybody else confused. The other issue is the bad quality of education in Thailand if it comes to English. I love Thailand and the Thai people but I think they should improve with their language skills. The main problem is the education as I said. The children learn to speak wrong English at the schools and will not be able to improve a lot when they’re older. Anyway you should be very sure about what you are talking about before giving other people lessons. The Thais speak much worse English than you are admitting here. In my experience they would say “za-coon” instead of “school”. The other problem is that they are not really willing to learn. I was teaching Thais a million times how to pronounce and spell English words but they would always use the wrong words again and even teach those wrong words to others. If it comes to Thai I am sure 90% of all Thais get the R and the L confused BUT they know how it’s spoken right and written as well. If it comes to English I am sure that 99% of all Thais get R and L as well as H or TH confused which leads to huge misunderstandings with foreigners. I am pretty sure Thais often don’t know what they are talking about in English. I don’t understand why they don’t use the small afford to look the word up on the internet or learn how to pronounce it from native sources like foreign TV or music ? I don’t try to make Thais look bad here but I speak from experience. Once again, what experience did you have with Japanese to start your article/lecture like that?

Such a smart tip, thanks!

While reading your tip, I’m trying to say “will – lao” or “ball – lao” myself.

It works!!!

Mia