Poot dai nit noy krap!

More.

Have you ever wondered why Asians say "hello" as herro and a word like "courage" comes out as coulage? I always thought that it was because Asians didn't have an "L" or an "R" in their language, but as far as what I've learned about Khmai, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese, this is not the case.

In Thai, for example, there are tons of words with R sounds and L sounds, the problem is that they're considered interchangeable when speaking Thai. They are not interchangeable when speaking English. So if I want to say 120 in Thai I can say roy yee sip or I can say loy yee sip and the listener would understand me just the same. Conversely, in English, a Land Rover is much different than a Rand Lover. It also happens that when r's occur in the middle of the words they are often dropped. A great example is when kids call to me and I hear: khu khap! I know what they are really saying is kroo krap, which is the way you address a teacher.

So next time you hear an Asian mix up his L's and R's, don't make fun, because in their native language it's perfectly acceptable to interchange.