G'day, how's it going folks! Today, I am going to be touching on what three deceptively hidden mispronunciations are. What does that mean? Well, this "deceptively hidden" means that it is quite tricky for us to find any of those faults. Anyway, I am going to elaborate this further.

Amongst other things, the "Th" sound is one of the hardest ones for many English learners to crack as they seem not to pronounce it super-consciously. Simply, if you are not aware of the conspicuous distinction between the "Th" sound and the "S" sound, then you will never understand and improve your pronunciation. You need to get it right in the first place. Ok, what is it, then? The short answer is like this:

With breath with fricative movement of your mouth = θ

No breath with fricative movement of your mouth = ð

No breath with no fricative movement of your mouth = s

Fricative movement of your mouth means that there is a friction between your upper teeth and lower teeth, so your tongue has to be between them. If you didn't know this concept, then you'd be mispronouncing the "Th" sound all the time. What about "With breath" or "No breath"? When it comes to the "Th" sound, there are two different sounds. For instance, the "th" sound for "theme" is sounded like "θiːm", not ðiːm. So, "With breath" is like air coming out from your mouth. You've got to feel how it's like. In terms of "No breath", by contrast, almost no air comes out from your mouth. How do we understand and feel what it's like? Well, you put your hand in front of your mouth to see whether air is coming out from mouth or not. Practice is everything.

Next up, "V" or "W" sound. These guys are also another tricky ones. Vet? Wet? Have you experienced this kind of mistake before? The short answer is:

With fricative movement of your mouth and only your upper teeth can be seen when pronouncing it = v

No fricative movement of your mouth, both your upper and lower teeth can be seen momentarily = w

Last but not least, "b" or "p" sound, which I suppose many of you guys are probably struggling to get it right. Bee? or Pea? Can you clearly understand the difference? So, "b" is one of the voiced sounds, which means that when you are pronouncing this sound, you can surely feel some vibrations around your neck. By contrast, you don't feel any vibration when you are pronouncing "p" sound, which is called unvoiced sound. In terms of air, it comes out from your mouth.

I am teaching pronunciation as well, so if you are keen on improving and fixing it, then please feel free to contact me. Thanks for reading my blog. Chao!