>>35352959Because it's incredibly difficult for them to learn and differentiate sounds that they don't usually use. Japanese uses a phonetic unit called mora, a combination of a consonant and a vowel sound. So foreign words have to be approximated to be written correctly.
More importantly, Japanese only has about 20 sounds: 15 consonant phonemes and 5 vowel phonemes. Compare that with English which has 24 consonant sounds and 20 vowel sounds for a total of 44 sounds. While slightly different, most sounds made in Japanese are found in English, but the reverse isn't true at all. That's why it's relatively easy for an English speaker to learn to pronounce Japanese correctly, while the reverse is incredibly difficult.
Most people point out that the Japanese "r" sound is sort of between the English "l" and "r" sound and how it's used for both, but there are a ton more of examples like that. For Japanese people, there really isn't any way for them to differentiate the following sounds when writing or speaking, even if they know they're pronounced differently. (This isn't a comprehensive list by any means, btw).
ti and chi
si and shi
l and r
tu and tsu
tha and sa
the and za
vi and bi
-er and -a
-oth and -osu
fu and hu
south vs sauce vs source vs sus all sound the same
Even those who become fluent in English will sometimes still have trouble differentiating between "l" and "r" when listening for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception_of_English_/r/_and_/l/_by_Japanese_speakersSo it's not as easy as "just learn it". They have to be surrounded by English speakers in their daily life to become more fluent with regards to pronunciation, and that kind of situation is incredibly rare in Japan.
