Japanese has very few sounds. Only 5 vowels (+ 3 diphthongs and 5 long sounds) and 16 consonants (d, t, h/f, m, n, b, p, r, g, k, ch, j, sh, s, z, y), compare with 13 vowels (+ 8 diphthongs) and 24 consonants in English, or 14 vowels (+ several diphthongs) and 22 consonnants in French. As a result the Japanese kanas always cause trouble to understand imported (English) words, but also give a hard time to Japanese learning English or French.
Few are the Japanese that haven't confused these words :
fast & first
bath & bus
Satan & Saturn
...
The most common mistake is due to the same pronunciation of "l" and "r", or "b" and "v" :
rice & lice
reach & leech
erection & election
rate & late
lover & robber
verge & barge
veal & beer
very % berry
vote & boat
vow & bow
Do you have any funny examples ?
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