The /b/ sound and the /v/ sound are both made with the lips. They are both voiced. /b/ is what we call a plosive; the breath comes out in a little explosion, whereas the /v/ is a fricative; you put top teeth to bottom lip and blow gently.
Break both branches!
Vincent's got a very nice vine
My favourite tongue-twister is one to do with classes around Halloween. It's short and deceptively easy:
Stupid superstition!
Say it once. No problem. Say it over again, and again. It's fun to have students try. They stumble on the second or third repetition; the vocal tract can't transition quickly enough from /stju:/ to /su:/. It's fun, but don't worry about it!
How about "Some stupid students shouldn't start studying shortly." ?
Train your vocal organs. Practise. If you stumble, try again.
Is good pronunciation important? Of course it is, because bad pronunciation prevents communication. We should try and improve the way we pronounce the language we are learning by listening to good models and imitating them.
When we learn to speak, the muscles in our vocal tract learn patterns. I think we need to train our speech muscles in the same way we train our bodies' muscles for physical fitness. Lots of repetition, mistakes, correction, repetition.
So now for today's tongue-twister.
The third thrush saw through the thick fog.
the uses a voiced sound and third, thick , thrush use voiceless th.
