Real clips from the app. Turn your sound on.
V has a soft buzz before the vowel. B starts with a small pop.
This can be trained
Hearing B and V apart is a skill, not a talent. In a study of high variability phonetic training by Iba and colleagues (2004), 39 Japanese learners trained for 10 sessions over 4 weeks, with words from 5 different talkers and feedback after every answer. By the end, they were significantly better at picking out V.
Studies: Iba et al. 2004
Easy
7 pairsShort, common words. For consonants, the sound is at the start of the word.
- berry · veryWhere the sound is: Start of the word
- best · vestWhere the sound is: Start of the word
- ban · vanWhere the sound is: Start of the word
- boat · voteWhere the sound is: Start of the word
- bat · vatWhere the sound is: Start of the word
- bet · vetWhere the sound is: Start of the word
- bent · ventWhere the sound is: Start of the word
Medium
3 pairsClusters, word endings or less common words.
- bowel · vowelWhere the sound is: Start of the word
- curb · curveWhere the sound is: End of the word
- dub · doveWhere the sound is: End of the wordNote: dove = /dʌv/ (the bird)
Hard
3 pairsMiddle of the word and longer words.
- marble · marvelWhere the sound is: Middle of the word
- rebel · revelWhere the sound is: Middle of the wordNote: rebel = noun /ˈrɛbəl/
- saber · saverWhere the sound is: Middle of the word
How to hear the difference between B and V
Listen just before the vowel. B starts with a small pop. V starts with a soft buzz. The skill is hearing that difference in every voice.
How B and V are made
B is a stop. Both lips close, then open in a small pop. You can't hold a B.
V is a fricative. Your top teeth rest lightly on your lower lip, and air buzzes through the gap. Your lips never close, so you can hold a V: vvvv.
Why do B and V sound the same to Japanese, Korean and Spanish speakers?
Your first language teaches your ear which differences to notice. Japanese has no V, so loanwords use B: video is ビデオ (bideo). In katakana, best and vest are both ベスト, and boat and vote are both ボート. Before training, Japanese learners in a 2004 study by Iba and colleagues heard V correctly only 64% of the time.
Korean has no V either, so it's usually replaced with ㅂ, the closest Korean sound to B.
In Spanish, the letters B and V spell the same sound. Between vowels it softens, with the lips nearly touching, which can sound like V to English ears. So Spanish speakers mix them up both ways. In the same study, Spanish learners got V right 87% of the time.
What to listen for
At the start of a word, best opens with a short pop and goes straight into the vowel. Vest opens with a soft buzz.
Word endings are harder. Curb stops short as the lips close, sometimes with no pop at all. Curve fades out with a faint buzz or hiss. Dub and dove work the same way.
The middle of a word, as in marble and marvel, is hardest. Listen for a tiny break. On a B, the lips shut and the sound dips for an instant. On a V, it keeps flowing.
How to practice hearing B and V
Use many voices. Every speaker makes B and V a little differently, so many voices teach you the sound, not the speaker.
Check each answer right away, while the word is still in your ear. Keep sessions short and frequent. Start with pairs like best and vest, where the sound comes first. Then move to curb and curve, then marble and marvel.
Watch the mouth when you can. V is easy to see: in the same study, native English listeners identified it 91% of the time from silent video of the speaker, and learners who saw the face in training improved more than those who only listened. On the phone, you only have your ears, so train them too. How fast you improve varies from person to person.
How the app uses this list
Each session plays 20 words from your current level, each one spoken by a different voice. Score 17/20 or better and the next level opens.
Be first to hear the difference.
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