What's the official way to prononce "Reala"

[firecracker]

You know it's not that there's no "L" sound in Japanese language, but it is that there's no difference between "L" and "R" when translated from English and other languages. In other words they are mixed and pronouced in the same way, and usually it sounds rather closer to "L" than "R."

So, Reala to me sounds more like "LI-A-LA(H)." "LI" as lily.

[Photo Engineer]

I was giving deference to one method of transliteration to the "RA, RI, RU, RE, RO" form.

To me, L and R are a mixed sound in Japanese, neither an L nor an R.

I prefer your method.

PE

[Ray Rogers]

Yes. Certainly most Japanese words with this sound are in fact closer to "L"
and yes, the actual sound in many cases has a touch of "d" in them.

(I would normally write Reala as "Liala" if working in Japanese;
the "Lee" form I first wrote was intended to be a short cut for some people.)

4 days ago when I was sitting in Narita airport I found myself laughing at a (Japanese) charter bus driver who was thoughtfully mispronouncing Japanese City names for the benefit of his foreign clients.

[nicefor88]

When a muslim friend of mine says it it sounds like re-Allah.

[firecracker]

Originally Posted by Photo Engineer

I was giving deference to one method of transliteration to the "RA, RI, RU, RE, RO" form.

To me, L and R are a mixed sound in Japanese, neither an L nor an R.

I prefer your method.

PE

Yes, it is "RA, RI, RU, RE, RO", not "LA, LI, LU, LE, LO" when spelled, and that's part of what's confusing, I think.

[firecracker]

Originally Posted by Ray Rogers

Yes. Certainly most Japanese words with this sound are in fact closer to "L"
and yes, the actual sound in many cases has a touch of "d" in them.

(I would normally write Reala as "Liala" if working in Japanese;
the "Lee" form I first wrote was intended to be a short cut for some people.)

4 days ago when I was sitting in Narita airport I found myself laughing at a (Japanese) charter bus driver who was thoughtfully mispronouncing Japanese City names for the benefit of his foreign clients.

It is very common that when Japanese pronouce the word "rice" in English and if they are not careful about the sound, they tend to pronouce it more like "lice."