The Japanese have an s sound in their language. I think everyone knows this. Even if you know only a few Japanese words (Sayonara, Gaybot-san, etc.) you have heard it. However, the s sound can not be joined with the vowel i. I know this is true in Korean as well and probably some other languages. For example, a Japanese person might try to say, "Sit down!" but will instead produce, "Shit down!" This, of course, is hilarious and need not be corrected. Still, some people ask me what the difference between "see" and "she" is.
"You can say set, right?"
"Set."
"Right, so just take that same beginning sound and then say ee. So, see."
"She."
"Uh, ssss-ee."
"Ssss-she."
"Uh, better."
I've tried telling people that when you say sh, your tongue doesn't touch anything, but when you say s, you tongue touches a bit behind your teeth. Now I find out that when a Japanese person says an s, they touch their tongue to their bottom front teeth instead of the top. So for the last few days, I've been periodically trying to say say an s like the Japanese. It's helping me sound like a real idiot.
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