Author | Lightnews

Any language variant is hard to understand if you’re not used to it. I actually think the outlier is European Spanish, but lots of British people study that variety in school, so it “feels” familiar. When watching my kdramas with subs in European Spanish I sometimes have to pause to look up slang.

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 12h

😹

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 15h

I also think it’s interesting that some Thai people replace the r sound with an l sound. The same thing happens in Spanish. A Puerto Rican accent replaces the -r at the end of words with -l. That’s why Bad Bunny says “Nuevayol” instead of the standard Nueva York.

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 15h

I don’t use Tiktok but I found this video on Youtube about the Thai r sound. Yes, it sounds like Spanish.

youtube.com/shorts/WNGbN...

Are R & L the same sounds in Thai? #languages #thai #learnthai

YouTube video by Kat Talks Thai

youtube.com

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 15h

a close up of a fluffy orange and white cat looking at the camera

Alt: a close up of a fluffy orange and white cat looking at the camera and nodding in agreement

media.tenor.com

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 15h

I don’t speak Thai. Is the r similar to the Spanish rolled r?

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Reposted by Shiawassee

Agnatha Christie @agnatha-christie.bsky.social · 15h

The only permissible aristocracy is all cats.

a close up of a white cat sitting on a table .

ALT: a close up of a white cat sitting on a table .

media.tenor.com

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 15h

As a native English speaker the language whose pronunciation stumped me was Arabic. My teacher kept talking about “deep consonants” and I was definitely in over my head.

Probably I gave up too soon; if I watched as much TV in Arabic as I do in Korean I’d be able to pronounce ع by now.

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 15h

I think the trick about r is that we use that one letter to describe so many different sounds that actually have very little resemblance

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 16h

Many people around the world struggle with the English “th” sound. Perhaps you’ve seen this ad for English lessons? It made me chuckle.
youtu.be/0MUsVcYhERY?...

Berlitz German Coastguard

YouTube video by Christian Hvatum

youtu.be

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 16h

My wife liked it too!

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 16h

YES

a cat is sitting on a window sill with blinds

Alt: an orange cat is sitting on a window sill with blinds and nodding its head up and down yes

media.tenor.com

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Shiawassee @shiawassee.bsky.social · 16h

My theory is that both English and French have sounds that are not common in Korean, but that South Koreans begin studying English at a very young age and devote a lot of time and effort to it, whereas French is not as much of a priority.

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