Frequency differences between English and Japanese?

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - Printable Version

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Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - gibosi - 2009-05-14

The following site seems to purport that the sound frequencies of Japanese range from 150Hz to 1500Hz, whereas, the frequencies of English range from 2000Hz to 12000Hz!! I find this very hard to believe... I don't hear this difference... So I wonder if they are talking about non-vocalized sounds?

And the article claims that this is the reason why Japanese have so much trouble with English:

英語が苦手の日本人、真の原因はコレだ！Vol.5　英語の「周波数」とは何か？

http://allabout.co.jp/study/bizenglish/closeup/CU20030430biz15/index.htm

Anyway, this is a really tough read for me so I am hoping that someone with better reading skill will take a look at this page and help me understand it.

Thanks in advance

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - mentat_kgs - 2009-05-14

You understood the text well.

Yeah, it seems crazy. But I the frequencies they talk about are inside the range of human voice. 60Hz - 1000Hz. But audible sound is 20Hz - 20000Hz, so I'm still inclined to think this is just BS.

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - Codexus - 2009-05-14

I've heard that theory before. Apparently it's some kind of lame excuse that some Japanese that have not been able to learn English successfully have made up to explain why they couldn't possibly have succeeded.

It's so ridiculous that it's hard to believe that some people take it seriously.

I guess it's nice to have an excuse.

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - kazelee - 2009-05-14

Not ridiculous. An excuse, yes. But not ridiculous. Some people think perfect pitch is something we are born with. There are people who have gone through training and proved this wrong.

After a certain age the amount of listening and training necessary to distinguish "foreign" sounds should, theoretically, go up. More time required gives appearance of difficulty. "Appearance" is everything.

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - ahibba - 2009-05-14

Didn't you hear about Dr. Tomatis' experiments?

http://www.tomatis.lu/language-coaching/?page=method&language=en

http://www.tomatis.com/English/Articles/languages.htm

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - Squintox - 2009-05-14

Is this the "English sounds that cannot be heard by the Japanese ear" and vice-versa myth? It's almost funny O_o

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - Tobberoth - 2009-05-14

Squintox Wrote:Is this the "English sounds that cannot be heard by the Japanese ear" and vice-versa myth? It's almost funny O_o

That's true though, Japanese people can't hear some English sounds just like the average American can't hear TONS of Chinese sounds. Babies learn to ignore sounds not included in their languages, it's an ability that has to be trained to regained.

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - Jarvik7 - 2009-05-14

Tobberoth Wrote:
Squintox Wrote:Is this the "English sounds that cannot be heard by the Japanese ear" and vice-versa myth? It's almost funny O_o
That's true though, Japanese people can't hear some English sounds just like the average American can't hear TONS of Chinese sounds. Babies learn to ignore sounds not included in their languages, it's an ability that has to be trained to regained.

While that's true, it's usually phrased in Japanese to mean that the Japanese ear is physically incapable of it. Also, the Japanese stomach cannot properly digest Thai rice. Nihonjinron ftl

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - mentat_kgs - 2009-05-14

Well, then it is one more good reason to do AJATT.

Frequency differences between English and Japanese? - snallygaster - 2009-05-14

I think anyone with basic knowledge of acoustics will immediately understand this is BS.
To give an indication, telephones typically only transmit frequencies under 3000 Hz, which is pretty lo-fi, but as we know, it's more than sufficient for intelligable speech in English, or any language.
Acoustically, most natural sounds comprise not a single frequency, but a range of frequencies. Hissy sounds like English S, T, and F or Japanese S/T have a lot of high-frequency content and if you couldn't hear high frequencies it would be difficult to distinguish, say, デ from テ. More pure tones (vowels) have most of their energy in the lower frequencies, but well below 2000 Hz, which is beyond soprano range. If you could only hear 2000-12000 Hz, you'd go insane because it's pretty grating.
I don't think anyone is actually taking this "theory" seriously, but if you want I'll post a frequency response graph of English & Japanese speech. But without even doing the graphs, I can tell you they'll be pretty much the same regardless of language.

Besides, is there any doubt that the record for highest-pitched voice must be held by a Japanese woman?