A short instructional podcast episode by Hadar Shemesh teaching the difference between the English voiceless P (aspirated) and voiced B (vocal-cord vibration). The episode explains articulation mechanics, demonstrates with lip and throat examples (including F/V and S/Z comparisons), offers practice techniques (whispering to produce P, controlling vocal cords), and closes with a subscribe/rate CTA and Instagram handle.
Welcome to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar, and this is your how to pronounce Friday. And today we are going to focus on one of the sounds in American English. I'm going to teach you how to pronounce it, and then we'll practice it together. Are you ready? Warm up your tongue, because this is going to be fun. Let's get started.
Today we're going to talk about how to pronounce the B sound and the P sound and how to not confuse them. Now, let's begin at the beginning. These two consonants are a consonant pair where they're both pronounced the same except for one thing that distinguishes the pronunciation. Now, that one thing is the voice. The P sound is produced with the lips or closing. The air pressure builds up, and then you release the air with a puff. Puh, puh. Here, it's just the air that comes out through your mouth. For the B sound, everything happens exactly the same way, only this time, the vocal cords are vibrating. B. Take a look at my lips. P, B. Same thing, right? Pay. Bay. The P sound is usually aspirated in American English when it appears at the beginning of the word or at the beginning of a stressed syllable, as in the word pay. So it feels like you have a little H right after P. Pay, people. It's like you're whispering before you are putting pronouncing the vowel that comes after the P people. Picture. Okay, so that's the P sound for the B. You want to activate your vocal cords. Now, to understand how to activate your vocal cords intentionally, let's try it with a different consonant pair. So let's start with an F sound where the bottom lip touches the top teeth. Now put your hands here on your throat. Now turn it gradually to a V sound. A V sound. We created a different sound, but we haven't changed anything here. Right, let's do it again. Now, did you feel the vibrations here on your throat? These are the vocal cords vibrating, creating a different sound, but still while keeping everything the same. So, same thing with the sound and the B. To make the B sound, you want to activate your vocal cords. So again, let's start with a F V sound. For others, maybe the S versus Z sound. S versus Z might be easier to practice. So try this. S Z. The most important thing is that you recognize when your vocal cords start vibrating. And then the same thing you want to start doing with a P sound and the B, activate the vocal cords. Now, what we've done here is we learned how to pronounce the B sound for people who already know how to pronounce the P sound and tend to substitute the B with a piece. However, some speakers may do the other thing. They know how to pronounce the B, but the P is difficult for them. So let's start now from the B and understand how we pronounce a P sound. So let's start with a B, which might be easier for you. For example, for Arabic speakers, there's only B in the language and not a P. So let's start. Now, say the word bay. Bay. Like Baywatch, right? And now I want you to whisper this word. Now, when you're whispering a B sound, you're actually pronouncing a P sound. Listen. The beginning is the same. The whispered bay versus the word pay, pronounced normally. So again, a whispered B sound is actually a P sound. So that's how you can start practicing it. Let's say you want to say the word pack, pack, and what comes out is back, back. So let's start with whispering the word pack, pack, back, and then start with a whisper and move on to the word pack, pack. And make sure that you control your vocal cords so they don't vibrate. And as you pronounce the P sound, pay, picture, people, and pack.
Okay, that was your how to Pronounce Friday episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you like the podcast, then consider subscribing to the podcast. And if you feel really crazy, you can even rate and review the podcast. And you can find me at Hadar Accentsway on Instagram, where you can DM me and ask for all the crazy, fancy, confusing words that you'd like to know how to pronounce. Have a beautiful day, and I'll see you next time.
