I understand English-speakers trying to learn Cantonese have a similar problem.
In the English speaking world, not being able to hear regional differences at most gets you some gentle (or not so gentle) teasing. When I moved (as a child) from Michigan to Ontario, I could not hear the difference between ten/tin or pen/pin. Michiganders pronounced them exactly the same and you simply depend on context to know which is which. In Ontario my schoolmates teased me for using the "wrong" word. On the other hand, my Kansas-bred mother could not hear the difference in the names of two kids in the Sunday School class she taught: Don and Dawn. To her, they sounded exactly the same, but the Michiganders insisted they were different and the kids would giggle when she called a child by the wrong name.
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Date: 2011-10-01 04:19 pm (UTC)In the English speaking world, not being able to hear regional differences at most gets you some gentle (or not so gentle) teasing. When I moved (as a child) from Michigan to Ontario, I could not hear the difference between ten/tin or pen/pin. Michiganders pronounced them exactly the same and you simply depend on context to know which is which. In Ontario my schoolmates teased me for using the "wrong" word. On the other hand, my Kansas-bred mother could not hear the difference in the names of two kids in the Sunday School class she taught: Don and Dawn. To her, they sounded exactly the same, but the Michiganders insisted they were different and the kids would giggle when she called a child by the wrong name.