Say What?

I don't know enough about the Vietnamese language to understand why, but W's, L's and R's are all glommed together into one pile when they speak English--easily interchangeable--except that whichever of the three letters they're aiming for, they will always come up with a very round W sound.

The name Larry is mistakenly written as Rally, but comes out sounding like.. well,... a wascawwy wabbit.

When I was here last time, the little waiter downstairs (I would say wittle waiter, but that would be wude)... the waiter downstairs wanted to learn from me how to pronounce R and L.
What's the difference, he said?
I wrote out a phrase for him on a paper napkin: "World War One."

"That's too hard!" he said, trying to make his mouth form the word "World" without making it two or three syllables. When I left that night he was still studying the napkin.

But the World War One hiccup didn't kill our friendship. He keeps bringing me his favorite CDs. Last night it was David Wilcox, recorded for him by a Canadian guest.

Tonight it was Louis Armstrong. Or is it Wouis? Who cares.