"b" vs. "v" - pronunciation (closed)

Question

I am still having difficulty with the pronunciation of the letter "v". While in DR I said "Hasta la jueves" and pronounced the "v" as a "v". The persons to whom I was talking gave me some ribbing and indicated that I should pronounce it as a "b" sound. When I hit listen on the translator, it is difficult to distinguish. Now I am reading "Spanish for Dummies" and their pronunciations all show as "bvee" wherever the letter "v" is used. Even in "por favor". Is there a hard and fast rule? Is it colloquial and varies by area? I don't even know how you would pronounce "bvee". I know I should attempt to write this in Spanish but fear I would lose the gist of my question. Ayudame, por favor. Gracias.

Answer 1

No sé. My spanish professor teaches Spain's Spanish, and she doesn't pronounce the "v" as "b". I'm only in Spanish 101, so I'm sure others know more. Adiós.

Thank you for the input. - drewrywpg, Nov 25, 2011

Your Spanish teacher is mispronouncing it. - Goyo, Nov 25, 2011

Answer 2

In my experience you can switch all vs for bs, and all bs for vs, and no one will notice unless you write it. However, I wouldn't recommend doing that, it's better to try and speak correctly.

Still... they are so similar in sound that, like I said, no one will probably notice (they might just attribute it to your accent, for exmaple, I have known mejicanos and chilenos that speak this way, and it has rubbed off on me greatly).

I've never come across any special rules as far as pronunciation. I believe the letters are always pronounced more or less the same.

Answer 3

It is rather colloquial depending where in Spain the speaker comes from, some pronounce the V with a quite an explosive B sound whilst others sound it as a sort of cross between b and v.

Answer 4

There are countless threads here on this subject

Thanks goyo, please make a search on this site, thanks a lot

Answer 5

There are countless threads here on this subject. The correct response is that Bs and Vs are pronounced exactly alike in Spanish. The pronunciation is more like an English b than and English v, but neither one is exactly right.

I encourage you to do a search in our search box, above for all the threads and advice.