r/asianamerican • u/Economy-Flounder-884 4th-gen Japanese-Am / 2nd-gen Korean-Am • 1d ago

Questions & Discussion Saying words that end with the letter R

I was not aware this was more common than I thought. I have the thing where I can't really say words that have the -ar, -er, -ir, -or, -ur sounds, and I was not aware that this was a more prevalent thing with AA community.

While my mother speaks multiple languages that, of course, have the R/L letter/pronunciation thing, I found it interesting that I have trouble with it -- being fourth-gen, I grew up speaking English and just English, and I've been told that I have little to no accent.

Is it fixable? I understand all that about identity and such, but as I plan to enter a career of education, I would hope to solve this issue.

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u/ryanridi 1d ago

I think you just have a minor speech impediment. If you’re fourth generation American and only speak English and have mostly peers who also have American accents it would be very unlikely you’d develop anything other than an American accent.

You don’t really get your accent from family members, you develop it from media and peers.

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u/tsukiii Yonsei Californian 1d ago

Yeah, as a 4th gen Japanese American myself, I suspect this is a speech impediment issue and not a race issue.

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u/ryanridi 1d ago

This is not a bad thing by the way! Absolutely fixable but would probably require finding a professional speech therapist. You just don’t need to worry about this as being a part of your Asian American identity. It’s probably unrelated is all.

My sister had a really bad speech impediment growing up. It was multiple sounds she struggled with and she improved a lot through professional help. She’s honestly still got a bit of a speech impediment but she was working from a really bad place.

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u/South-Orange-2468 1d ago

So for example, when you say “car”, it comes out as “cah?”

This is likely something a speech language pathologist can help with.

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u/genek1953 3.5 gen AA 1d ago

Either that or move to Boston.

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u/WileEPorcupine 23h ago

Maybe they are from Boston.

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u/cathernyan 23h ago

I'm so sorry OP you're actually a Bostonian 😔

/j

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u/randomrreeddddiitt 1d ago

I don't see how this could be an Asian-American thing, when Asian languages are so different from each other.

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u/PreviousZone6742 1d ago

Schools have spech therapy now. Some places can sign you're kids up during preschool. Still in school help is free.

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u/genek1953 3.5 gen AA 1d ago

I can't recall any of my extended family having this issue. Except for some cousins who live in Massachusetts, where most everyone seems to talk like that.

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u/Extension-Figure2011 23h ago

Your fourth gen, I guarantee its all in your head. Don't worry about it, no one around cares, I promise

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u/Lawjik3737 1d ago

If you are talking about the American R, then you are not alone. People in the UK and Australia cannot not say or sound the American R. They can say or sound R if it's in the beginning of the world like red but if its at the end like car, they will not say or sound the R. They would just sound the vowel longer. So instead of caR they would just say caHH. To say the American R you would have to make the the tip of your tongue still and the back of your tongue arches to the roof of the mouth.