Trippingly on the tongue
So after years of struggling in French between the Japanese practically virtual non-pronunciation of an r and the growling in the back of the throat trying to produce a roll kind of like an r, today, for the first time, I was -- able -- to trill -- an r! Yattai!
So overjoyed by the breaking down of this barrier even the tiniest bit, I spent the next half hour before my theater class simply walking around repeating words like "rojo" and "Ricardo" to practice the sound before I lost the ability again. Satisfied that I could reproduce the sound if necessary with some effort, I then walked into class and sat down. Spotting my friend Austin, whose name in Spanish is Lupe, I turned and greeted her in Spanish . . . and I trilled the "L."
. . .
Yes, yes, it seems that Japanese will be with me a long time yet.
So overjoyed by the breaking down of this barrier even the tiniest bit, I spent the next half hour before my theater class simply walking around repeating words like "rojo" and "Ricardo" to practice the sound before I lost the ability again. Satisfied that I could reproduce the sound if necessary with some effort, I then walked into class and sat down. Spotting my friend Austin, whose name in Spanish is Lupe, I turned and greeted her in Spanish . . . and I trilled the "L."
. . .
Yes, yes, it seems that Japanese will be with me a long time yet.