Speaking English: How to say P, F, B, V

Video Description

http://www.engvid.com/ Do you want to sound like a native speaker? Practice your pronunciation with me! P, F, B, and V can be difficult to pronounce, especially since some languages do not have these exact sounds in their alphabet. In this lesson I will teach you how to easily start pronouncing these letters correctly. You'll also learn the difference between voiced and unvoiced letters. Improve your pronunciation of English words with me, Ronnie! http://www.engvid.com/speaking-english-p-f-b-v/ TRANSCRIPT Welcome to the pronunciation lesson with Ronnie. That took me a bit, but I've gotten it now. Today, I'm going to teach you the differences between one, two, three, four letters in English that are very difficult. But after you hear and see this lesson, it's going to be a lot easier for you. Again, with most letter sounds in English, the reason why it's so difficult is because in your language, maybe you do not have this sound at all. Or the sounds in your languages are very, very similar. So instead of saying a P, it's a mix between a P and an F. So let's go through one thing that's very, very important when you're learning any word that you're going to say, and it is what I've written in blue here: unvoiced and voiced. Do you know what the difference is between "unvoiced" and "voiced"? I will teach you. What you've to do is you have to put your hand on your throat. Not too hard. Don't kill yourselves. And you're going to make this sound. Just the letter. You're going to "puh, puh, puh." Now, when you make the "puh" sound, you've to be careful of two things. The first one is your mouth. What is your mouth doing? Okay? When you make the P sound, your lips have to go together and blow out like you're smoking. So it's "puh, puh". Okay? I like to call this "kiss mouth". So when you make a kiss mouth, it's like you're going to kiss someone. You go, "puh". Or you can call it a "smoking mouth". It doesn't matter. When you are saying the P sound, you're going to make your kiss mouth, "puh"; you're going to put your hand on your throat; and you're going to realize that your throat or your vocal cords do not vibrate. So try. "Puh, puh". You should not feel any vibration in your throat. This non-vibration is called "unvoiced". So if something is "unvoiced", it means it does not vibrate in your throat. So "unvoiced" means no vibration. Okay? So the P sound is a kiss with no vibration. Let's look at an example of a "voiced" letter. We're going to make the same mouth style, and we're going to blow a kiss or a smoke. But the difference between the P "puh" and the B, is that when we make the B sound, you have to vibrate your throat or your vocal cords. So you have to go "buh, buh, buh". Your lips are making the same movement, but the vocal cords are going to vibrate. So try this. "Buh, buh, buh." Then, if you do it without voicing it, it's "puh, puh, puh". So your lips are making the same movement, but your vocal cords vibrate and do not vibrate. So if it's voiced, it means that your vocal cords vibrate. The next letter that a lot of people have problems with is the F. Now, when I make the F sound -- "fff, fff" -- I need to do something very important. I need to take my teeth and stick them out over my bottom lip. I like to call these "beaver teeth". Have you ever seen a beaver? Do beavers have teeth? Sometimes, the animal beaver has teeth. And beavers have very predominant -- very big front teeth because they chew trees. So when I say "beaver teeth", I mean you stick your teeth out like a beaver. Okay? So this sound is very different from the P and the B sound because first of all, your mouth is making a different position. So when you make the F sound, your teeth are out, and it is unvoiced. So again, you're going to put your hand on your throat and go "fff". The air is going to come out at the bottom of your teeth between your bottom lip and your top teeth. So it's "fff". It feels like you're pushing the air down. "Fff." With the P and the B, you're pushing the air out like you're smoking. With the F, the air is going down. So try. "Fff, fff, fff." When we say the V sound or the "vuh", again, we're going to have beaver teeth. So you're going to stick your teeth out, except this time, it is voiced. So like the F sound, same mouth position, but you must vibrate your vocal cords. So it's "vuh, vuh, vuh." This is rather difficult, so I suggest you practice. "Vuh, vuh, vuh." It might take a little bit of time and a little bit of practice for you to get it. But the important thing for you to understand is that F does not vibrate, and "vuh" vibrates. So a lot of people maybe have problems with the B and the F, okay? So you've to look at this. The B is a kiss mouth, "buh, buh". And the F is a beaver mouth, and it's "fff, fff".