Ni-Eru-Dī-Kē

Hello

In the Japanese "around the house" lesson, there is Ni-Eru-Dī-Kē and it seems Eru mean in this case, area. May you confirm this ? Why Eru is positionned there ?
Thank you

Olivier

Hi Abgueguen, this is just the real estate convention for : # of bedrooms, Living room, Dining room, Kitchen, so the form is always #LDK (in this order). If it is a one bedroom with no kitchen, then it becomes: 一LD. If it's a studio with no bedroom, then just LDK.

So 二LDK means two bedroom apartment with living room, dining room and kitchen.

Yes, but why "eru"?

"Eru" is how the Japanese phonetically pronounce the letter "L" using their native syllabary as an approximation of the sound: エ [e] ル [ru]. Since the "el" sound/syllable for saying "L" doesn't exist in Japanese, the closest approximation is this e-ru combination sound, so that's what they use/pronounce. 

By the way, the L/R sound is a merged approximation of the ら/ラ・り/リ・る/ル・れ/レ・ろ/ロ voicing/sound, but it's actually neither. "L"/エル　has more of a very slight, transitory "d" sound, so it's more like "e-du" sound rather than a strong "R" sound.

Thanks a lot. This is clear now