We May Have Found The Most Difficult Word For Japanese To Pronounce

Do you ever wonder why Tim Horton’s “Rrroll Up The Rim” contest have three R’s And two L’s?

Tim Hortons has an annual contest named “Rrroll Up The Rim To Win” where you roll your coffee cup rim to win prizes.  If you’re feeling really Canada otaku, here’s some interesting information about the game.

The “Rrroll Up The Rim To Win” contest is played every February until around the end of March.

Although we commonly just call it the “Roll Up The Rim game”, you might notice that the official name is spelled with three R’s and two L’s.    In it’s original advertisements on TV and radio,  “Rrroll Up The Rim To Win” was pronounced with a difficult rolling of the “R” sound, like what you might hear in French Canada, or what many Canadian children have to practice in French school.

“Roll” is a pretty difficult word for Japanese to properly pronounce, since it contains an “R” and an “L”, so we think that “Rrroll” might be the most difficult word ever for Japanese to pronounce, and “Rrroll up the rim” would be a 10/10 tongue twister for Japanese.

Check out the video below to see an original TV advertisement to hear the pronunciation.

Also, make sure you check out our video here on how to roll up the rim to win!


Translated by Haruna

The Children’s Beans Poem

Here’s a common poem children tend to recite in Canada.  We like it because when translated to Japanese, it sounds incredibly stupid!

Beans, beans are good for your heart!

The more you eat, the more you fart!

The more you fart, the better you feel,

So eat your beans at every meal!

 

In Japanese:

豆、豆は心に良い!

もっと食べて、もっとおならをしよう!

もっとおならをすると、もっと気分が良くなる!

だから毎食豆を食べよう!

 

In Romaji:

Mame, mame wa mahō no furūto!

motto tabe te, motto oto o kanadeyo u!

motto oto o kanadere ba, motto kibun ga yoku naru!

dakara maishoku mame o tabeyo u!

 

Here’s a second variation!

Beans, beans, the magical fruit!

The more you eat, the more you toot!

The more you toot, the better you feel!

So eat your beans at every meal!

 

In Japanese:

豆、豆は魔法のフルート!

もっと食べて、もっと音を奏でよう!

もっと音を奏でれば、もっと気分が良くなる!

だから毎食豆を食べよう!

 

Romaji:

Mame, mame wa mahō no furūto!

motto tabe te, motto oto o kanadeyo u!

motto oto o kanadere ba, motto kibun ga yoku naru!

dakara maishoku mame o tabeyo u!