These are the next two consonant sounds: /f/ as in 'fan' and /v/ as in 'van'. So again these
two sounds have similarities but also
differences, of course. What are the
similarities? Well they both use the same
part of the mouth to produce the sound.
The difference is that one is voiced the
other is unvoiced. Which one do you think
is voiced and which one is unvoiced?
Remember the test, put your hand over
your throat and produce the sound. If
there's a vibration,
it means it's voiced, it means you use
your vocal cords to produce the sound. If
it's unvoiced, it just means you're using
just air from your mouth to produce the
sound. So let's try. /f/ as in fan /f/. So as
you can see, the 'f' sound is unvoiced
because there's no vibration when you
produce the 'f' sound /f/. Let's try the /v/ sound.
/v/ there. You can see and feel the vibration now. This means it's voiced. So 'f' /f/ is
unvoiced. 'v' /v/ is voiced. They both use the same part of the mouth, however. Maybe you
noticed the shape of my mouth. Have a
look again as I produce the sound. /f/ fan.
Fan. /v/ van. So they both use the bottom lip and the top teeth. The bottom lip goes
against the top teeth and you push air
out of your mouth. This is how the sound
is produced. /f/ fan /f/ fan.
/v/ van /v/ van. OK. So you should practice that.
If you don't have these sounds in your
native language it's good to remember
the placement of the lips. Very very
important. Now let's go to the first
target sound practice which is for /f/ 'f' the 'f' sound. Remember this is unvoiced. Don't
use your vocal cords when you produce
this sound, just push air out of your
mouth. The bottom lips go on to the top
teeth and you push air. Let's have a
look. Listen and repeat after me. Few. Four. Laugh.
Fifty. Comfortable. Helpful. Photograph.
Finland. Flowers. Very good. So as you saw from the spelling, usually the spelling
for this sound is simply 'f'. Sometimes, or
actually in many cases, it's the 'ph'
spelling which produces the 'f' sound, so
be careful of that. Many many foreign
speakers very often produce the 'p' sound
when they see 'ph' as in photograph, but 'ph'
in English is pronounced /f/ 'f' photograph. So this is a very important point
to remember. Sometimes the 'f' sound is
produced when there's a 'gh' spelling. For
example laugh or cough. Cough is spelt C-O-U-G-H, so sometimes, not always, sometimes the
'gh' spelling is pronounced with an 'f' sound. Keep that in mind. Let's
move on to the second target sound
practice for the second sound. The /v/ sound.
'v' as in van. Remember this is voiced,
so you're using your vocal cords to
produce the sound as well as pushing air
out of your mouth through your teeth and
bottom lip, top teeth bottom lip. 'v' /v/ 'v'. Let's look at this list. Listen and
repeat after me.
Very.
Vote. Save. Have. Leave. Lovely. Village.
Venice. Violin. OK, excellent, well done.
Now I'd like to point something out
about the 'v' sound /v/. When it's at the
beginning of a word it's much stronger
than when it's at the end of a word. Let me give you an example: the word very.
'v' is at the beginning so the sound is
strong. When the 'v' sound is at the end of
a word, for example save, the sound is not
as forceful, not as strong. It's the same
sound but we don't produce as much force. Save save very. Can you hear the
difference? Just keep that in mind.
Some sounds in English, when they're at
the beginning of a word and at the end
of a word, are slightly different.
They're the same sound but the force we
use is a bit different.
Just keep that in mind and be
aware of it. Very good. Now let's look at
the minimal pairs lists. These two sounds
as you can see 'f' and 'v'. The 'f' /f/ is on
the left and the 'v' /v/ is on the right. Listen to each of the pairs and repeat
after me.
Few, view.
Safe, save. Fine, vine. Fast, vast. Ferry, very.
Fan, van. Well done. I hope that's
opened your eyes to the difference
between the two sounds. Let's go to
the target sounds in use. Let's look at
them and listen to them, and produce them in a sentence. So the first sentence
we're focusing on the /f/ sound, the unvoiced 'f' sound. Listen and repeat. Fred found
four hundred and fifty dollars. Sentence
two the /v/ sound, the voiced sound. I've never
visited Venice but I will very soon.
And the final sentence with a mix of the
two sounds. Vicky, the flowers in your
front garden are lovely. I love the vivid
colours and the fine view.
OK, well done. Remember to slow down,
don't rush through these lectures. Focus
on two sounds at a time. Don't rush. It's better to master two or
three or four sounds maximum at a time
and then move on. And don't think
that you're going to reach 100% in one go. You know this is a
process. Don't rush and think you have to
get every word perfect every time you
speak. This is the process of raising
your awareness of pronunciation. This is
a gradual step-by-step process and with
awareness and with study you will
improve over time massively. So just take
your time, don't get impatient and rush
ahead. See you in the next video.