n = l in Fujian?

[frank]

Hi all,

I've recently come across some people from Fujian and i find it very hard to understand them when they're talking Mandarin.
E.g. their /n/ (both in initial as in final position) comes very close to an /l/, to name the clearest difference.
Is anybody here familiar with the variant of _Mandarin_ as spoken in Fujian. (Not that i wouldn't be interested in the local tongues .
And where does that n>l thing come from? Interference from one of the local languages? Or is this swithch n>l also common in other Chinese languages?

Groetjes,

Frank

[anders]

Many Mandarin dialects (and dialects of other groups as well) confuse n and l in various ways; in some they are in free variation, as in Lánzhou; others have only l (Nánjing) or only n (Chóngqìng)