Consonant Sound / v / as in “very“ – American English Pronunciation

Most non-native speakers don’t have any problems with the American /v/ sound (or at least they think so). However, some people are pretty aware that they have difficulty with it. Regardless of what category you belong to, we hope this video will be worth 15 minutes of your time. In this video, you’ll learn how to make the /v/ sound correctly and how to avoid the most common pronunciation mistakes. You’ll practice making this sound with pronunciation exercises recorded by a professional speech therapist. By the way, we have a website: Quick Links: • Consonant sound /v/, as in “very:“ 00:00 • Overview of fricative consonants: 00:45 • Fricative consonants definition: 01:30 • How to pronounce the /v/ sound: 02:46 • Typical mistakes: 03:53 • Pronunciation exercise 1: 07:45 • Pronunciation exercise 2: 09:45 • Pronunciation exercise 3: 11:12 • Spelling for the /v/ sound: 12:28 • Question from our subscribers: 13:00 Related Videos: #AmericanPronunciation #ConsonantSounds #FricativeSounds ► Consonant Sound /f/ as in “fun“ ► Consonant Sound /v/ as in “very“ - this video ► Consonant Sound /s/ as in “sun“ ► Consonant Sound /z/ as in “zoo“ ► Consonant Sound /ʃ/ as in “show“ ► Consonant Sound /ʒ/ as in “vision“ ► Consonant Sound /θ/ as in “think“ ► Consonant Sound /ð/ as in “this“ ► Consonant Sound /h/ as in “home“ ► Vowel Length Rule: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [THIS VIDEO HAS ENGLISH, JAPANESE, CHINESE, VIETNAMESE, KOREAN, PORTUGUESE, AND RUSSIAN SUBTITLES] Hello there! This is the “Sounds American“ channel. In this video, we’re going to talk about the American consonant sound /v/, as in the word “very.“ You can also hear this sound in words like “voice,“ “five,“ “never“ or “savvy.“ We’ll be using a special phonetic symbol - /v/ - for this sound. Let’s begin with some phonology. Keep calm, it’s not complicated. You may even like it :). The /v/ belongs to a category of consonant sounds called the fricatives. This is the largest group of consonants in American English: it consists of nine different sounds! So, why are they called the fricative consonants? All these sounds are made by partially blocking the air moving through your mouth which creates audible friction. Speaking about the /v/ consonant, this sound is made by partially blocking the airstream with your lower lip and your upper teeth. Most people have the /v/ sound in their native language and typically don’t consider the American /v/ to be tricky. But there are also some people who are pretty aware that they have difficulty with it. To make the /v/ sound correctly, focus on the position of your lips and teeth. First, lightly bite your lower lip. Make sure you do it gently and leave a tiny gap between your lip and your teeth. Now, release a stream of air through that gap, creating lots of friction. The air should flow over your lip. The /v/ is a voiced consonant, so don’t forget to add your voice. Remember, the /v/ is a continuous sound, so you should be able to stretch it out, like this: /v-v-v-v-v/. Now, let’s try saying it: /v/, /v/, /v/. Here are a few typical mistakes that people make when pronouncing this sound. 1. The most common mistake is that non-native speakers devoice the /v/ sound, especially when it occurs at the end of words. Usually, people don’t realize that they pronounce the voiceless /f/ sound instead. Remember, this may be fine in other languages, but the American /v/ is never devoiced at the end of words! 2. There’s no sound /v/ in some languages. Correct, we’re talking about Spanish. The letter ’v’ is pronounced as the /b/ in this language, so it’s not surprising that many Spanish-speaking people do the same when they speak English. [Pronunciation exercise 1] • vacation • vanilla • variety • vault • vegan • verb • verse • vice • view • vile • vine • voice • void • volt • vote [Pronunciation exercise 2] • cover • even • event • ever • favor • invite • level • movie • never • over • private • river • service • seven • travel [Pronunciation exercise 3] • behave • brave • drive • give • have • leave • love • move • of • prove • serve • sleeve • solve • stove • wave