Ok guys, hear me out! If you know anything about Japanese people or the Japanese language, you know that they struggle with their R’s. It’s very hard to get them used it, but if we work smarter not harder here, I feel there is a better solution right in front of our faces: the Boston accent. Think about it. They don’t pronounce R’s either! So, if they learned to speak with that accent, not only would they be alleviated from that pronunciation burden, but they would also sound more natural, adapting to a regional dialect that would normally most likely only be used by somebody who grew up or spent a significant amount of time in that area. Now I know what you’re gonna say: “They could just learn the British accent. That also don’t have any R sounds.” And to that I say, hey, I’m American. Gotta cheer for the home team, am I right? Anyway, just wanted to get this out there, see what y’all thought about it. Feel free to share your own opinions of regional dialects that would work well for a Japanese English learner.
8 comments
Speaking as an American myself, if Boston is your “Home Team” you’re cheering wrong.
As an Australian, we also don’t have rhotic r, so it’s a lot easier for students to copy my pronunciation, haha.
Listen, there’s already a bad enough stereotype of the Japanese accent while speaking English. You can jump right into the harbor with that accursed Bawston accent.
Sincerely, a (former) New Yorker.
(if you can’t tell, this is being tongue-in-cheek)
Or Liverpudlian
I’m always confused by the idea of a ‘British’ accent.
> Now I know what you’re gonna say: “They could just learn the British accent. That also don’t have any R sounds.”
Which “British accent” would that be? South West England is dominated by rhotic English speakers. Scottish English is almost universally rhotic. Wales and Ireland? It varies.
Your opinion is silly.
Learners want to sound like they went to college, not like they grew up near one.
It’s really not so difficult for Japanese speakers to learn a decent approximation of /r/.
It’s kind of silly to suggest that we try to teach them an accent that would be even more difficult for them to approximate.
But it IS amusing to think of Japanese running around going, “I told Maaaah to paaahk the caaah in Haaavad Yahhhd.”
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PS. My partner is a M@sshole and said he fully supports your idea, ROFL. 😉