4 ms·

Wait a sec...I named my son Berend...and my last name means “son of fire”. Crap, my kid is going to be a pyro.

by cwbrandsma 6y ago

PakG1 6y ago
You got it wrong, it's a fantastic superhero origin story. Well, hopefully superhero, not supervillain. :)
sk0g 6y ago
Now it sounds like an Chinese/Japanese person saying bellend. Hope they stay away from the UK!
- KMag 6y ago
  Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese (and presumably most/all other dialects) distinguish r from l. You're thinking of some Japanese/Koreans having trouble due to those languages using a single phoneme that's somewhat between r/l. Also, it's a bit racist to not point out that it's only some Japanese and Koreans that have trouble pronouncing r and l.
  - garmaine 6y ago
    It’s not racist. It’s phonetics. Foreign kids who grow up Japanese have the same issue.
  - DonaldFisk 6y ago
    Cantonese doesn't have an r phoneme, just l, and only initially. In casual speech, initial n and l are pronounced the same.
  - sk0g 6y ago
    I'm not so sure about the Cantonese/ Mandarin part, since a fair few professors I've had, had those as a native tongue. Hell, even my thesis supervisor was, with whom I communicated extensively. I can't really pinpoint where the struggles lie, but I get the general feeling that for Chinese native speakers there's a three way confusion between n, r, and l, and it's heavily dependant on the placement in the word, as well as the level of stress on the letter. I don't think recognising phonetic differences between native speakers of different languages is racist. The language I grew up speaking didn't differentiate between w and v, so unless I'm making a conscious effort against it, they will all sound like v's. When someone points it out, I don't find it racist at all. Re: Koreans - never realised! I haven't had many interactions with people of Korean descent, so it's an oversight on my part there.

Wait a sec...I named my son Berend...and my last name means “son of fire”. Crap, my kid is going to be a pyro.

PakG1 6y ago

You got it wrong, it's a fantastic superhero origin story. Well, hopefully superhero, not supervillain. :)

sk0g 6y ago

Now it sounds like an Chinese/Japanese person saying bellend. Hope they stay away from the UK!

KMag 6y ago
Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese (and presumably most/all other dialects) distinguish r from l. You're thinking of some Japanese/Koreans having trouble due to those languages using a single phoneme that's somewhat between r/l. Also, it's a bit racist to not point out that it's only some Japanese and Koreans that have trouble pronouncing r and l.
- garmaine 6y ago
  It’s not racist. It’s phonetics. Foreign kids who grow up Japanese have the same issue.
- DonaldFisk 6y ago
  Cantonese doesn't have an r phoneme, just l, and only initially. In casual speech, initial n and l are pronounced the same.
- sk0g 6y ago
  I'm not so sure about the Cantonese/ Mandarin part, since a fair few professors I've had, had those as a native tongue. Hell, even my thesis supervisor was, with whom I communicated extensively. I can't really pinpoint where the struggles lie, but I get the general feeling that for Chinese native speakers there's a three way confusion between n, r, and l, and it's heavily dependant on the placement in the word, as well as the level of stress on the letter. I don't think recognising phonetic differences between native speakers of different languages is racist. The language I grew up speaking didn't differentiate between w and v, so unless I'm making a conscious effort against it, they will all sound like v's. When someone points it out, I don't find it racist at all. Re: Koreans - never realised! I haven't had many interactions with people of Korean descent, so it's an oversight on my part there.