History Main / JapaneseRanguage

The above is a bit extreme, [[TruthInTelevision but there is some truth to this]]: Japanese has neither the English R nor the English L - it has a sound that might be best described as a combination between an R and L,[[note]]physiologically this sound does exist in several dialects of English but for psychological reasons sounds quite different: it's the alveolar tap used to make the quick 't' or 'd' sounds in words like "better" or "rider" in North American or Australian accents; one context where it is used to represent R in English is in certain Scottish accents. The way in which this sound is pronounced in Japanese can best be described as a "flicked R", as it requires one to rapidly flick the tongue off the roof of the mouth while pronouncing an "R" sound--think of trying to say "P'''r'''ince of P'''r'''ussia" but actually saying "P'''d'''ince of P'''d'''ussia"[[/note]] leaning a bit more towards "l", if not for the incredible variation it sees in various dialects of Japanese. So, a native Japanese speaker who's not fluent in English can have difficulty telling when to use an R or an L, or will simply use their native R/L sound (which quite often sounds like the wrong letter to an English native) or an L in all cases. The biggest hurdle for Japanese natives is often making the tongue movements necessary for a sound that simply doesn't exist in their native language (equivalent foreign phonemes that English speakers struggle with are things like French 'r',[[note]]A ''uvular trill'' made with the back of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, somewhat like a rasped 'g'[[/note]] or Welsh 'll' [[note]]A ''lateral fricative'' made by pressing the tongue against the palate and hissing air past the sides of it[[/note]]). The same is true of Korean - it has Rs and Ls, but these are different allophones of the same phoneme, which is pronounced as an L when it's at the end of a syllable (which doesn't happen in Japanese).

Also applied to other [[InterchangeableAsianCultures Asians]] -- even if the accent doesn't fit,[[note]]Though Chinese from certain regions are prone to r/l mistakes as well; in fact, the situation is the opposite in Cantonese, which has the L sound but not the R sound. A Cantonese speaker may tend to pronounce English "sorry" as "sorly", or "[[{{Website/Reddit}} reddit]]" as "weddit".[[/note]] or with exaggerated accents of their own.

This sort of problem can occur in non-Asian languages as well. In Spanish, both "V" and "B" are pronounced like the English "B" (except between vowels, in which case there can be a sort of subtle cross between the two that doesn't exist in English - and that most Spaniards eschew anyway as soon as they leave kindergarten). It goes to the extent that many native Spanish speakers have a hard time differentiating between the two in their own language, and this can become a trouble when speaking English. Curiously, Japanese also has this exact issue in addition to the L/R thing. Also, Arabs struggle to pronounce "P" and "V", replacing them with 'B' and 'F' respectively -- see more on ArabBeobleTalk. Central and Eastern European languages can have a similar problem with "V" and "W" -- see VampireVords.

* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'': This trope, combined with the Japanese confusion between 'B' and 'V', led to [[Myth/NorseMythology Verthandi]] becoming Belldandy from the original Japanese to ''English''. Belldandy, or more appropriately, Berudandi, is the closest Japanese can get in regards to a phonetic spelling of Verthandi in Japanese kana. Considering when the series first started, both Fujishima and various translators let the error stand, since that's how fans knew the name. The Scandinavian translations get the various names of the deities correct. It should also be noted that the translators started getting the names correct for new deities and such over the course of the series.
* A recurring instance of this comes in many {{Mecha}} series, where the giant robots' heads-up displays will read "ROCK ON" instead of "LOCK ON". Banpresto included a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of this in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games, where [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Wing Gundam Zero's]] targeting display says "ROCK" on the left side...and "[[RockNRoll N ROLL]]" on the right.

* ''Film/AChristmasStory'': "Tis the season to be jorry. Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra, ra, ra" May be a {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing, since the old Asian man immediately yells at them, "Not 'ra-ra-ra-ra' -- falalalala!", and gives up when they fail to get it right. And they may have been simply jerking their boss's chain for the Parker family's amusement, ad they immediately switch to another L-heavy carol, rather than something else.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' did a cross promotion with ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'' in which Altair's costume could be unlocked for Snake. The trailer announcing this ended with Creator/HideoKojima saying "Did you rike it?" in a hilariously thick phonetic accent, which [[MemeticMutation the Internet leapt on]] for WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s and other such injokes. Noticeably averted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'', in which Kojima's AuthorAvatar says "Snake, what took you so long?" with an accented but still clear 'l'.

** Freya's long-lost love, Sir Fratley, is supposed to be named Flatley, a reference to Michael Flatley, the famous step-dancer known for the Riverdance. This is backed up by the sandstorm-strengthening ritual in Cleyra being very Riverdance-esque.

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* The Super Famicom PlatformGame ''Jerry Boy'' (released in the U.S. as ''[=SmartBall=]'', and not to be confused with a different SNES game titled ''Jelly Boy'') has a main character resembling a blob of jelly. This is justified by him originally being an ordinary boy named Jerry, and a risqué pun on [[VirginShaming "cherry boy"]] may also have been intended, but the title screen of the unreleased sequel unambiguously says ''VideoGame/JellyBoy2''.

-->'''Thomas Edison''': All right, fess up! Which one of you saw the word "robo" and mistook it for "lobo"?

* A ''[[Website/NotAlwaysLearning Not Always Learning]]'' story has a Japanese student in an English class telling a story that ends up derailing into ToiletHumour:

* A ''[[NotAlwaysRight/SisterSites Not Always Learning]]'' story has a Japanese student in an English class telling a story that ends up derailing into ToiletHumour:

* No one is quite sure if Ling Yao's bodyguard is [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Lan Fan or Ran Fan]] in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. Likewise, the city controlled by Father Cornello is called Reole in the English manga, but Liore in ''Brotherhood'' and Lior in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime]]. The former is likely the intended spelling, after Réole, a commune in southwestern France. The Ishvalan people are sometimes called Ishbalans.

** When facing [[ItMakesSenseInContext some astronauts]] in the Japanese dub, Nagisa and Karma are still prone to this while the astronauts have SurprisinglyGoodEnglish.

* ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'': Kaji's attempts to speak to Americans in Rebuild 2.0. Everyone else who speaks English in the film is [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish really quite good]], but Kaji is ear-crunchingly awful. If it weren't for the subtitles he'd almost be unintelligible.

* [[WordOfGod According to senior manager Seth Killian]], ''VideoGame/FinalFight / StreetFighter'' character Rolento was originally to be named Laurence/Laurent, but then this trope got a hold of his name.

The above is a bit extreme, [[TruthInTelevision but there is some truth to this]]: Japanese has neither the English R nor the English L - it has a sound that might be best described as a combination between an R and L[[note]]physiologically this sound does exist in several dialects of English but for psychological reasons sounds quite different: it's the alveolar tap used to make the quick 't' or 'd' sounds in words like "better" or "rider" in North American or Australian accents; one context where it is used to represent R in English is in certain Scottish accents. The way in which this sound is pronounced in Japanese can best be described as a "flicked R", as it requires one to rapidly flick the tongue off the roof of the mouth while pronouncing an "R" sound--think of trying to say "P'''r'''ince of P'''r'''ussia" but actually saying "P'''d'''ince of P'''d'''ussia"[[/note]], leaning a bit more towards "l", if not for the incredible variation it sees in various dialects of Japanese. So, a native Japanese speaker who's not fluent in English can have difficulty telling when to use an R or an L, or will simply use their native R/L sound (which quite often sounds like the wrong letter to an English native) or an L in all cases. The biggest hurdle for Japanese natives is often making the tongue movements necessary for a sound that simply doesn't exist in their native language (equivalent foreign phonemes that English speakers struggle with are things like French 'r'[[note]]A ''uvular trill'' made with the back of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, somewhat like a rasped 'g'[[/note]], or Welsh 'll' [[note]]A ''lateral fricative'' made by pressing the tongue against the palate and hissing air past the sides of it[[/note]]). The same is true of Korean - it has Rs and Ls, but these are different allophones of the same phoneme, which is pronounced as an L when it's at the end of a syllable (which doesn't happen in Japanese).

Also applied to other [[InterchangeableAsianCultures Asians]] -- even if the accent doesn't fit[[note]]Though Chinese from certain regions are prone to r/l mistakes as well; in fact, the situation is the opposite in Cantonese, which has the L sound but not the R sound. A Cantonese speaker may tend to pronounce English "sorry" as "sorly", or "[[{{Website/Reddit}} reddit]]" as "weddit".[[/note]], or with exaggerated accents of their own.

* A Japanese commercial for Jelly Beans (cell phones, not the candy) was accompanied by a song about... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPH4NI7EFh8 Jerry Beans]].

* ''ComicBook/AmericanBornChinese'' is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang that features Chin-Kee, a hollibel Chinese steleotype who tarks rike this. [[spoiler: This trope is actually being deliberately invoked in-universe, as Chin-Kee, who is in reality the legendary Monkey King (ItMakesSenseInContext), actually speaks perfect English, and is speaking in this manner for reasons that are never adequately explained.]]

* Nute Gunray in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids''. [[spoiler: This is later a clue that he's taken over R2 when the droid starts speaking like this ... even though what Pete says isn't what the characters hear anyway.]]

** The main heroine in the MSX version of ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'' is named "Horry". Later releases of the game spells it "Holly", but not before the "Horry" spelling showed up in the Previous Operations text-only recap of ''[=MG2=]'' in ''Metal Gear Solid''. Speaking of which...

*** In a strange aversion for DistancedFromCurrentEvents reasons, in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' [[http://kotaku.com/5844190/what-osama-bin-laden-and-metal-gear-solid-have-in-common Kojima confirmed]] that the spelling/writing of Raiden's name was changed at the last minute from kana to kanji so that this would not transliterate his name into (bin) Laden, as the game was released shortly after September 11, 2001. Hideo Kojima was very nervous about this as the story (coincidentally) involved terrorists attacking New York.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', one of The Boss's credits as "the Mother of Special Forces" is that she was one of the reasons for the formation of "Rayforce". The real-world organisation is called Layforce.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' did a cross promotion with ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'' in which Altair's costume could be unlocked for Snake. The trailer announcing this ended with Creator/HideoKojima saying "Did you rike it?" in a hilariously thick phonetic accent, which [[MemeticMutation the Internet leapt on]] for WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s and other such injokes. Noticeably averted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidGroundZeroes'', in which Kojima's AuthorAvatar says "Snake, what took you so long?" with an accented but still clear 'l'.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': {{Lampshaded}} in Avicebron's Interlude, when he decides to hold a "Strongest Robot in History" competition among the Heroic Spirits, and someone enters Hessian Lobo as a contestant.

* ' In the same movie, a Japanese man asks Bill Murray's character if he knows "Lat Pack". Bill replies, "Oh, Rat Pack?" to which the Japanese man nods.

* Subbers of ''Anime/InuYasha'' can't seem to decide between "Kilala" and "Kirara". Actors in the dub say "Kilala".
** Though "Kirara" makes more sense (this ''is'' Feudal Japan we're talking about).
* Ravi/Labi/Rabi/Lavi from ''Manga/DGrayMan''. Even the official publishers don't know how to translate this guy's name!
** And then there's Arystar Krory, whose name is supposed to be a reference to Aleister Crowley ("Alistair Crawley" could be an acceptable version)...

* ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD'' gives us the term "dunpeal", which is what happens when the word "{{dhampyr}}" is subjected to this trope about ten times.

* The L/R confusion is actually not just a staple of East Asian languages. It happened in ''all'' Romance languages after the break-up of Latin. You can also find this sort of variation in some African languages and even European ones--consider, for example, the Spanish and Portuguese words for 'white', ''blanco'' and ''branco'' or 'beach', ''playa'' and ''praia''. Likewise, Algeria is ''Argelia'' in Spanish. Even English and French have that effect, even though it seems to work in opposite directions: French has ''titre'' ('title'), derived from Latin ''titulus'', while English has ''purple'', from Latin ''purpura''. In general, some European languages and dialects have trouble with English Ls and Rs as well. Molisan, for example, has L and R sounds, but Ls and Rs are silent if preceded by certain vowel sounds. Attempts to render these in English are difficult even for experienced speakers, a common mistake is "Rey cherry" (really chilly).

* One member of the main trio in ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' is a Finnish girl named "Lotte". While the Japanese actors themselves actually do a very good job of properly enunciating the L in her name, there's one instance where it was mistakenly written out as "Rotte".

The Japanese L/R can also occasionally sound to English-speakers like a D (specifically, the "tap" that replaces unstressed /t/ and /d/ in North American and Australian English), but not much seems to be made of this in media.

Also applied to other [[InterchangeableAsianCultures Asians]] -- even if the accent doesn't fit[[note]]Though Chinese from certain regions are prone to r/l mistakes as well; in fact, the situation is the opposite in Cantonese, which has the L sound but not the R sound[[/note]], or with exaggerated accents of their own.

* Done in the ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' dub for the voice of [[MoeAnthropomorphism Japan]], as part of the dub taking the NationalStereotypes comedic basis of the series UpToEleven.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FriskyDingo'', Grace Ryan goes undercover as a Japanese woman and takes it UpToEleven with this trope, actually replacing her L's with W's more than R's.

*** It should be noted however, that ''Karen'' is a common name in both the English '''and''' Japanese languages (though in Japanese the E sounds ''even more'' like a short I), in English it was derived from Kathrine, and its Kanji [ 可憐 ] means lovely when referring to a girl or flower.

This sort of problem can occur in non-Asian languages as well. In Spanish, both "V" and "B" are pronounced like the English "B" (except between vowels, in which case there can be a sort of subtle cross between the two that doesn't exist in English - and that most Spaniards eschew anyway as soon as they leave kindergarten). It goes to the extent that many native Spanish speakers have a hard time differentiating between the two in their own language, and this can become a trouble when speaking English. Curiously, Japanese also has this exact issue in addition to the L/R thing. Also, Arabs struggle to pronounce "P" and "V", replacing them with ‘B' and 'F' respectively -- see more on ArabBeobleTalk. Central and Eastern European languages can have a similar problem with "V" and "W" -- see VampireVords.

* ''Podcast/RandomAssault'': The hosts are not above doing offensive Asian accents. Played straight with the title of episode 020: "Ret's Get Lacist!!"