who for Japanese speakers — pronunciation and common errors

Pronunciation

Japanese lacks the labio-velar glide /w/ before the high back vowel /u/, often causing speakers to substitute /h/ with an epenthetic /u/: /huː/. This results in a realization closer to 'foo' or /ɸɯː/ rather than the English /huː/.

Grammar

Japanese relative clauses precede the noun they modify without a relative pronoun (e.g., 走る人 hashiru hito / 'running person'). Transfer of this head-final structure often results in omitting 'who' as a subject relative pronoun in English sentences.

Examples

• Who is that person standing by the door?
• The manager is looking for the employee who left the office lights on last night.