Hi, everyone.
The other day I learned an interesting thing! I knew that Spanish background speakers say /b/ for /v/ in English, but didn’t know that applied to people’s names as well. So if you are called Valentina or Viviana in English, in Spanish the names are Balentina and Bibiana. I thought the names stayed the same in both languages!
In English the /v/ and /b/ are pronounced as two different sounds. For example it is ‘Very’ and not’ Berry’- a berry is a small round fruit! Similarly, we cannot ban the ‘ban’ from going into the area, but we can ban the ‘Van’ from going into the area!
Try this tongue twister: They banned the very big berry van from going near the bent vent after the vote on the boat.
Have fun speaking more clearly.
Esther Bruhl, Speech Expert.