We'll look at various languages and their common pronunciation mistakes. This lesson is on Pronunciation Mistakes for Korean Speakers and today we'll look at mistakes related to consonant sounds.

One problem for Korean speakers is the differences between F, V and B. F and V don't occur in Korean so some students will create the B sound instead of F and V. They are all voiced sounds and so longer. So what's the main difference that causes problems for students?

How tightly you press your lips together.

Let's look at each sound and then a solution.

1. First, f, /f/.

To form the f sound, the tongue is down and then put your lower lip below your other lip and blow out.

You can bite your tongue and blow out. F is shorter because it is voiceless, while V and B are longer because they are voiced. Also, you blow out for the F sound and not for V and B.

The ways that we can spell the F sound also give students problems. Some spellings of the /f/ sound include f as in free, ph as in phone and gh as in cough.

Let's look at some more examples for the F sound:

1. laugh

2. pharmacy

3. alphabet

4. nephew

5. elephant

6. physical

7. rough

8. enough

9. tough

10.phobia

Here are 2 examples in sentences:

They finished phase 1 and now the ready to move on to phase 2 of the project.

You have to get a physical before they will hire you.

2.Now, the V sound, /v/.

V is voiced and so longer and you don't blow out. Your lips are not as tight as F but tighter than the B sound. The tongue is down but not as much as B.

Still working on

So what's the solution? To form the b sound, press your lips lightly together and then apart. If you press them to closely together, it may sound like a v. You can also bite your lip to make the f to make sure you are pronouncing that sound correctly and the lips are close enough.

Here are some common pairs of words that sound alike and these are called minimal pairs:

Bowed vowed

vest best

vet bet

balance valance

berry very

curb curve

TV TB