F vs H Hearing F and H apart

How to hear the difference between F and H

Listen for the friction. F is air pushed through a narrow gap between the upper teeth and the lower lip, so it hisses softly. H is just an open breath, with nothing in the way. The skill is hearing that friction, or its absence, in every voice.

How F and H are made

For F, the upper teeth rest lightly on the lower lip and air pushes through the gap. The friction gives F a soft, steady hiss, a little like wind.

For H, the mouth is already shaped for the next vowel and air simply flows out from the throat. Nothing touches, so there's no hiss: H is a breath in the shape of the vowel that follows.

Why do F and H sound the same to Japanese speakers?

Japanese has no F. Its closest sound is the f of ふ (fu), made with both lips rather than teeth and lip, and it belongs to the h row of kana: は, ひ, ふ, へ, ほ (ha, hi, fu, he, ho). So to a Japanese ear, F and H can sound like two versions of one sound.

Before oo, Japanese only has ふ, which sits between F and H, so food and who'd are the hardest pair of all. Before other vowels, katakana mostly keeps them apart: fall is フォール (fooru) and hall is ホール (hooru), fight is ファイト (faito) and height is ハイト (haito).

In a study by Lambacher and colleagues (2001), 104 Japanese students of English took English H for F almost one time in five (19%), and the two were hardest to tell apart before the oo vowel.

What to listen for

Listen to the start of the word. F begins with a soft hiss that you can hear before the vowel starts. H has no hiss, just breath, and the vowel seems to start almost at once.

F also lasts a moment longer: the hiss at the start of fall runs longer than the breath at the start of hall. If the start sounds like a steady wind, it's F.

Before oo and the vowel of fur, the lips round for the vowel and H can pick up some friction of its own, so food and who'd or fur and her are the hardest pairs. Leave them for last.

When it matters: meaning

Mix them up and you get a different word. To fall is to drop, a hall is a large room. To fold is to bend in half, to hold is to keep in your hand. To fight is to struggle, height is how tall something is. Fair means just, hair grows on your head. Fire burns, to hire is to give someone a job. Fur is an animal's hair, her is a pronoun.

"I'm afraid of heights" and "I'm afraid of fights" are different fears, and "Hold it" and "Fold it" are different instructions.

How to practice hearing F and H

Use many voices. Some speakers make F almost silent and others give it a strong hiss, and H ranges from a clear breath to almost nothing, so many voices teach you what always separates them.

Check every answer right away, keep sessions short, and go in order: pairs before open vowels, like fall and hall or fight and height, then before ee and i, like feel and heel or fit and hit, then fur and her.

F is made with the teeth on the lip, like V. TellApart has B · V as a collection too.

How quickly you improve differs from person to person, so aim for short, regular sessions.