We have all heard those jokes about Chinese people mixing up L and R sounds while speaking English. What causes this? Is it related to the vocals of Chinese language and the way they speak their own language?
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When we learn to speak as children, our brain makes the connections it needs to make the vocal sounds for the language we’re learning. You need those brain connections to make that sound. So if you learn Chinese as your first languange, and don’t speak English a lot, then your brain will not create and keep the connections needed to know how to make English sounds like R/L.
It’s not impossible for your brain to make the connections in later life, but it takes a LOT longer, and is best done by immersing yourself in the language and speaking it a lot.
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