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[username]

Is there any difference between ล and ร when Thais speak them as usual?

[David and Bui]

My experience is that it is a regional thing. Where I come from in the South, for example, the "ล" sound is never substituted for the "ร" sound. On the other hand, the "ร" is not trilled, but it is a single tongue touch.

[DonSena]

Is there any difference between ล and ร when Thais speak them as usual?

[l] and [r], in spoken Thai, are in "free variation", as they don't instinctively hear the difference and there no particular environments in which one or the other is chosen. Thus, in spoken Thai, [l] and [r] are allophones of one phoneme, which could be represented as either /l/ or as /r/ (but not both).
They hear [ram-khaan] and [lam-khaan] 'to feel annoyed, worried' as though they were identical, even though the orthography would indicate /ram-khaan/.

In standard Thai, /l/ and /r/ are distinct phonemes, as there are minimal pairs (examples of word pairs) that differ only in the occurrence of /l/ or /r/.

Even in standard Thai, there are allophonic sets of variants that are separate phonemes in English. In (US) English, we hear the difference between 'peak' /pik/ and 'pick' /pIk/. The /i/ is upper-high front, tense; the /I/ (written as a capital 'i') is lower-high front lax. In Thai, [i] and [I] are in "complementary distribution" -- where one occurs, the other does not; and vice-versa. In short, closed syllables, [I] is chosen; elsewhere, [i] is selected:
/kìt/ 'activity' => [k`It]; /kìit/ 'to obstruct' => [kìit].

[Tgeezer]

My experience is that it is a regional thing. Where I come from in the South, for example, the "ล" sound is never substituted for the "ร" sound. On the other hand, the "ร" is not trilled, but it is a single tongue touch.

This has been running for some time on Thai visa. I didn't know that Southern Thai doesn't roll or trill ร and a google translate recording actually does have r not ร as I know it. I have spent a great deal of time leaning to say ร so am reluctant to let go of it with the inevitable result that ร often comes out as ล !

[Natapol]

In central thai spoken language in general, there's no difference.
Except you are speaking on a stage in an official or formal event, or news reporter, it is a must to speak correctly.
You may notice the difference in 7 AM/PM radio thailand news.

[Tgeezer]

In central thai spoken language in general, there's no difference.
Except you are speaking on a stage in an official or formal event, or news reporter, it is a must to speak correctly.
You may notice the difference in 7 AM/PM radio thailand news.

A retired Thai teacher from the state system came up with a very Thai answer I thought; she said that there were two ร in Thai ร and ล !
Brilliant don't you think?
If a word is หรอก and you hear หลอก then it can only mean that the sound ล represents ร.
Is there a language somewhere which doesn't have l also: Herro is it me your rooking for" or is that just a joke?

[username]

Thanks for all the replies. And regards from Nakhon Sawan. i got to ask this question here already how the ร and ล are different. The answer wasไม่ลู้ I can't hear any difference between ร and ล but when i ask "can you read this for me?" it's รู้.