More on how to improve pronunciation of English consonants: B & P

Happy Thanksgiving! Painting by Norman Rockwell.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how to improve pronunciation for B and P in English. This has been one of the most viewed topics so far. In addition to writing my opinion on the subject, luckily I received some great feedback from readers all over the world. I also found excellent pronunciation tips from BBC. The video has a U.K. accent but the message is the same: learn the 40+ sounds of English. Watch the short video! Also check out the BBC’s General & Business English site. Of course the BBC is an English organization, so the accent is slightly different than American English.

Kimmo Kosunen, Director at Tellus Group LTD, kindly suggested some additional comments that I will incorporate in my own teaching. Kimmo is an expert and has allowed me to share his thoughts, which clarify and amplify my own words. He writes, “When you explain how to pronounce the /b/ sound, worth mentioning [is] that – although there is no actual sound produced in the throat – the student should be able to feel his/her vocal cords constrict AND VIBRATE slightly. “

Kimmo also points out that, “When you tell the student to produce the bbbbuuuuh sound, might this possibly encourage him/her produce a vowel sound after the /b/ - especially confusing with /b/ in final positions (students producing ‘bibbuh’ instead of ‘bib’)?

Finally he offers “a practice we have found useful to demonstrate the difference between /b/ and /p/: students can practice this with a sheet of paper, the top of which they hold a couple of centimeters/an inch or so from their mouth, HANDS HOLDING THE PAPER HALFWAY DOWN THE SHEET; when they RELEASE the pressurized air /p/, the top of the paper should move noticeably and there should also be a noise produced by the air hitting the paper – in case of /b/, the top of the sheet should not move at all, nor should there be any sound of air hitting it.

Finally, it might be a good idea to illustrate the different positions of the tongue when these sounds are produced – the back of the tongue [should be] raised to direct some of the air through the nose in case of /b/ but not so with /p/… To demonstrate this to the students, they COULD BE asked to pinch their noses shut and then produce the sounds – there should be a noticeable difference in the airflow through the nose.”

Thanks to Kimmo for the additional explanation! As written in the previous article, mastering spoken English requires mastery of all the vowel and consonant sounds. However, once you achieve basic mastery of each sound, your English will sound much more fluent. Later you can work on further improvement of each sound.

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Food remaining after a meal that is stored to eat later is called leftover food. I am having leftovers for dinner tonight. What about you?