Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
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Today I'm answering your questions about the P sound sounding like a B.
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Every once in a while, I get a question about the P sound sounding like a B.
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For example, people have asked about the words: spoon, rapport, and pepper.
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And I know that some teachers teach that these Ps should be a B.
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I disagree with that.
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Let's talk about why.
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The thing is, it's not about this sound being a P or B.
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It's about the sound being very light.
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If you make the P light, it sounds great.
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If you make the B light, it sounds almost the same.
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Also good.
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But if you make the B sound heavy: sboon-- it doesn't sound so good anymore.
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Sboon.
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So it's not about changing the P to a B.
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It's about knowing how to make a light P.
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If someone makes the P sound by itself, it sounds like this.
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Pphh--- phh--- phh---
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It's over exaggerated. In a word, that's not how we actually do it.
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So if people think that 'Pphh--' is the P sound, then ‘spoon’ would be: spoon.
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And that's not how we pronounce that word.
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It's not: spoon— spoon—
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It's also not: sboon— sboon—
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The right sound is: spoon— spoon— a light P that releases directly into the vowel.
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So how do we get this light P?
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We need to change the idea. P is not pphh---
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P is p- p- p- p- much lighter a much smaller release.
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Spoon. Poon— poon— spoon— spoon—
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We go right from the release into the vowel without pphh-- hh-- hh-- all of this extra air.
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Spoon— spoon—
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pe— pepper— pepper—
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A light feeling in the P, not too much air: pphh--
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Right now, try this out loud with me:
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sp-- sp-- spoon— spoon—
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Let's do some more words.
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Pe— per— pepper— pepper—
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Are you practicing out loud? Please do.
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Pepper— pepper—
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Awww. My dog growing up was named Pepper.
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This is a picture of me and Pepper.
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P- p- Port— port—
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report— report—
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Pam— sp— spam—
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Spam—
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Sp-- spam—
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Span-- sp--
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speed—
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speed—
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pen—
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spin—
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spin—
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pace—
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space—
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space—
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Sp-- pell—
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spell—
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spell—
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So don't try to change the P sound to a B.
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Just make sure you're making it a light sound and you'll sound great.
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If you're not sure about the sounds of American English,
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check out this playlist here.
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I've made a video for each sound.
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New videos
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