Practice Your English Pronunciation /b/ vs /v/ Sounds | Course #14

In this video, I'm going to focus on two very important consonant sounds: /b/ and /v/.

I know they sound quite similar but they are different and they are very important in English.

So I want you to be able to hear the difference and pronounce them differently.

Let's get started with two example words.

The first example word that I have for you is ‘ban’.

Can you hear the /b/ sound? ‘ban’

Now the second word is ‘van’.

Can you hear the different /v/ sound?

'ban' ‘van’

Now I know guys it seems difficult they sound quite similar but they are different.

We're going to practice together.

And I promise you by the end of this video you will hear the difference

And you will be able to pronounce them differently.

So let's get started.

Okay, guys.

First, let's learn how to make the /b/ and /v/ sounds in English.

You can pronounce them correctly and you will hear the difference between the two sounds.

Also - very important to know about the I.P.A. spelling.

You can watch how I move my mouth.

And please try to repeat after me in this video.

I know you can master these sounds.

Let's do it.

First, let's practice making the English consonant /b/ sound in English.

So listen to me very carefully.

What you're going to do - to produce the sound -

is first you have to know it's a voiced sound.

Which means that when you produce the sound, you have to feel some vibration in your throat.

And what you're going to do is basically push out the air with both your lips.

Like I said /b/ Watch my mouth.

/b/

Now, let's repeat.

Repeat after me.

/b/

/b/

/b/

Let's now practice with the word ‘ban’.

Please repeat after me.

‘ban’

‘ban’

‘ban’

Good.

And now let's practice the /v/ sound in English.

So this is a little bit different.

It is also voiced, so you are also going to have that vibration in your throat.

But this time, your lips are not going to touch each other.

And your top teeth are going to be against your bottom lip.

/v/

Can you see this?

/v/

Let's practice. Repeat after me.

/v/

/v/

/v/

Let's take the word ‘van’.

Please repeat after me.

‘van’

‘van’

‘van’

Good job.

Okay, guys. We're now going to practice with minimal pairs.

Words that sound very similar but the actual sounds are different.

And they are very useful to help us hear the difference between the two sounds.

First, let's focus on the sounds themselves.

And I want you to repeat after me.

First, the /b/ sound.

/b/

/b/

/b/

And now to /v/ sound.

Repeat after me.

/v/

/v/

/v/

Let's now do both. Please repeat after me.

/b/

/v/

/b/

/v/

/b/

/v/

Good.

And now let's take our words: ‘ban’ for the /b/ sound and ‘van’ for the /v/ sound.

Please repeat after me.

‘ban’

‘van’

‘ban’

‘van’

‘ban’

‘van’

Excellent, guys. Moving on.

Okay, guys. Let's now go through minimum pairs together.

Now watch how I move my mouth and always repeat after me.

Let's go.

bale

veil

bane

vein

bat

vat

beer

veer

bent

vent

berry

very

bet

vet

best

vest

bid

vid

bile

vile

boat

vote

bolt

volt

bow

vow

bowels

vowels

curb

curve

dribble

drivel

dub

dove

fibre

fiver

jibe

jive

lobes

loaves

rebel

revel

Great, guys.

Let's now look at some sentences containing these consonant sounds.

The first sentence is,

‘The bear has vile berries in his bowels.’

Now, I want you to repeat after me.

‘The bear has vile berries in his bowels.’

Good.

The second sentence,

‘She has the best vest.’

Repeat after me.

‘She has the best vest.’

And finally,

‘The bat and dove veered very fast.’

Can you repeat after me?

‘The bat and dove veered very fast.’

Great job, guys. Moving on.

Let's now move on to listening practice.

I'm now going to show you two words.

I will say one of the two words.

And I want you to listen very carefully and to tell me if this word is ‘a’ or ‘b’.

Let's get started.

Okay, guys. Here are the first two words.

Now…

‘berry’

Which one do I say? ‘a’ or ‘b’?

Listen again.

‘berry’

‘a’ of course, guys.

‘b’ would be ‘very’.

Here are the other two words.

Which one do I say?

‘vote’

‘vote’

‘a’ or ‘b’?

‘b’ of course. ‘vote’.

‘a’ is ‘boat’.

Here are the other two words.

Which one am I saying?

‘vow’

‘vow’

It's ‘b’, ‘vow’.

‘a’ is ‘bow’.

And then…

‘bolt’

‘bolt’

It's ‘a’, ‘bolt’.

‘b’ is ‘volt’.

And then…

‘fiver’

‘fiver’

‘a’ or ‘b’ guys?

It's ‘b’, ‘fiver’.

‘a’ is ‘fiber’.

And then…

‘rebel’

‘rebel’

Is it ‘a’ or ‘b’?

It's ‘a’, ‘rebel’.

‘b’ is a ‘revel’.

Which one am I saying now?

‘curb’

‘curb’

It's ‘a’, ‘curb’.

‘b’ is ‘curve’.

What about now?

‘veil’

‘veil’

‘It's ‘b’, ‘veil’.

‘a’ is ‘bale’.

Next two…

‘vet’

‘vet’

It's ‘b’. ‘a’ is ‘bet’.

And finally,

‘bowels’

‘bowels’

Is it ‘a’ or ‘b’?

It's ‘a’ guys. ‘b’ is vowels.

Great job, guys.

I know you now have a better understanding of the consonant sounds /b/ and /v/ in English.

It takes a lot of listening and speaking practice to master these sounds, but I know that you guys can do it.

And with practice, you'll be able to pronounce these sounds in a short time.

And you will also train your ear to hear the different consonant sounds.

Please make sure to watch my other English pronunciation videos if you want to improve your English skills.

See you next time.