Sound of letter V
Im listening to different audio, and some times the letter V sounds like "b" other times i hear a slight v sound
The word I'm listening to vive = "I think it means" live
Example: Ella vive en un apartamento
6 Answers
actually, the V sound is called "labio dental" thats mean the sound is produced between the upper teeth and the lower lip.
The B sound is "bilabial". the sounds is produced between the two lips together.
¿B de burro o V de vaca?
I have been told by many Spanish speaking friends that there is only one sound. So to be sure you have the right spelling of the a word you need to verify the spelling by using the above question.
I have noticed that as well. Often the "b" sound opens up and there's a definite "v" sound in there.
I'm sure it's regional. I didn't hear anything but "b" sounds in Madrid, but in Valencia, where the Valencian language is spoken, it has the "v" sound (labio-dental), and you often hear it when they speak Spanish. For the last two years, we have had someone living in our house from Valencia and I can tell you I hear an awful lot of "v" sounds.
I have a very hard time making my v sound bilabial, because of course it's not in English. Also, since I achieved working foreign-language proficiency in French first (which has the "v" sound as well) before I even tried to learn Spanish, I'm pretty well-entrenched, especially with regard to vocabulary that overlaps with Spanish (and in Spain, there's quite a bit of vocabulary overlap with French words--I got through my first month in Spain simply speaking French with a Spanish-y pronunciation, lol!)
I clearly need to figure out a) whether I need to "clean up" my pronunciation and go to all "b" sounds, or b) file this one under "not a strict rule".
it is somewhat regional but the letters V and B are pronounced basically the same and often the pronounciation is between the English V and B sound.
It's definitely regional, although I had one Spanish book that taught me así: If B or V starts a word, you pronounce them like an English "B." If it's in the middle of a word, you form your lips like you are going to pronounce an English "B," but they don't quite touch. There are some exceptions, like if it's proceeded by an "M," then it's a hard "B" sound like it would be at the beginning of a word. Either way, it's not a raspy "V" sound like you would make in English.
In my own personal experience, I have mostly heard the sound of the letter V as B. There are even natives in my school whom I have seen misspell Spanish words with a B where there should have been a V, such as estubieron instead of estuvieron.
En mi propia experiencia personal, usualmente yo he oído el sonido de la letra V como B. Hay nativos en mi escuela que les he visto escriben mal las palabras con un B en lugar de un V como estubieron en vez de estuvieron.
However, the others answers are right! It is certainly regional.
