Don’t get me started. I really don’t know how they do it myself and I have been in Japan for 27 years now. Some words they can tell apart, others they can’t. In every English class I have taught over the years, I always caution them to check the dictionary, even if they are convinced they have it right.
But it’s a two way street. There are Japanese sounds that no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot pronounce right. Usually, that involves the “ou” combination. There is a tiny “twist” between the two letters when they are a part of a word that is instinctive for Japanese speakers, but which Americans simply cannot hear.
Go figure...
Thanks for the insight, that is interesting. My expose to Japanese speakers is unfortunately limited to this one woman. As I said, she is extremely intelligent so for the life of my I cannot understand how she can correctly pronounce the R in the word “Ryan” yet cannot properly pronounce the R in the word “X-Ray”. What’s more, she doesn’t hear the difference. :-)