This document provides guidance on common pronunciation conflicts that English learners face between certain letters and sounds in English. It discusses the differences between B/V, CH/SH, E/I, the letter H, TH voiced and unvoiced, J/Y, S/Z. Mispronouncing these letters can change the meaning of words or distort the message. Mastering the individual sounds can help reduce the influence of one's native language and improve English pronunciation.

1. Conflicting English Alphabet
sounds
A guide to some tricky sounds in
English

2. Pronunciation Conflict
• For most of English learners, it is always concerning
to sound natural when speaking to native speakers.
Many ask themselves the reason why it is so difficult
to speak English without an accent, which comes
from the influence of your native language.
• In truth, the first step to speak a new language
should always be learning individual pronunciation
of the basic sounds to be able to eliminate the first
language influence.

3. B vs. V
• One of the most common phonetic
mistakes we encountered is the
confusion between the B and V sounds.
• In American English there is a distinct
difference in the fact that the /b/ is an
abrupt sound, while the /v/ is a
friction, or vibrating sound.
• Mispronunciation may cause a
disruption in the flow of conversation.
Mispronounced words may change the
meaning of a word of distort the
message.
/b/ ≠ /v/
Voice – Boys
Vote – Boat
Vase – Base
Vein – Bane
Valet – Ballet
Van – Ban
Vet – Bet

4. Ch vs. Sh
o These two letters create confusion to
many as to whether the “CH” sound is
either a /ch/ sound as in “Children” or
an /sh/ sound as in “Show”.
o Why is this happening? The reason may
be that the letter C in different
languages has two phonetic sounds, /s/
and /k/.
o This may account for why the C is often
mistaken with the S sound in /ch/ thus
resulting in the mispronunciation.
/ch/ ≠ /sh/
Chair – Share
Cheat – Sheet
Chip – Ship
Batch – Bash
Catch – Cash
Ditch – Dish
Witch – Wish

5. E vs. I
• These next two letters are notorious
for causing a slew of phonetic
mispronunciations because the letter
“E“in English is called /ee/ and in
other languages the letter “I” is also
called /ee/ .
• The fact that both the letter “E” and
“I” are vowel sounds and the amount
of words in which these two letters
appear are countless results in
constant mispronunciations and an
apparent accent to the end listener.
/i:/ ≠ /I/
Feet – Fit
Eat – It
Keen - King
Sit - Seat
Heat – Hit
Feast – Fist
Sleep – Slip
Sheep - Ship

6. The Letter H
• The next letter in question is our friend
the letter H. In some Alphabets it
makes no sound at all, while in English
it usually has the distinct aspiration
sound of /ha/.
• In standard American English the H
sound in grammatical words is
generally NOT pronounced when it
follows a consonant in the middle of a
sentence: “Please get him a paper.”
• However, the H sound is pronounced
when the word is stressed: “Officer,
that’s him.”
• Hotel
• Speak
• Small
• Adhere
• Human
• Helium
H is silent in some words of
Romance origin:
• Initially in heir, honest, honour,
hour; for American English usually
also herb, and sometimes homage.
• For some speakers, also in an initial
unstressed syllable, as "an historic
occasion"; to retain the "an" and
pronounce the H may be considered
affected.

7. The TH
• The TH sound both voiced and voiceless uses
different mechanics to be produced and with
different phonetic symbols.
• When it is voiced the TH sound is represented
with /ð/ as in the word mother. To produce this
sound the vocal chords must vibrate.
• The other sound of TH is the voiceless sound,
represented with /θ/ and is generated by
placing the tongue between the teeth, as we do
with the Spanish Z in words like: zapato, arroz.
o Mispronunciation conflicts when the “H” piece
is assumed as soundless.
o “They” becomes “Day”, “That” becomes “Dat”
/θ/ ≠ /t/
Fourth – Fort
Math – Mat
Both – Boat
Eighth – Ate
Tenth – Tent
/ð/ ≠ /θ/
Father - Both
Mother - Earth
Other - North
Than - Nothing
That - South

8. The J vs. Y
• The English phonetic sound of the letter J is
usually associated with the Spanish sound
of the letter Y. Examples:
▫ “Yellow” becomes “Jello”, “Year” is “Jear”
▫ The letter J in Spanish represents the sound of the
previously mentioned letter H in English which
again in Spanish is silent.
• Oddly enough via phonetic observation, the
bilingual Spanish speaker does not usually
change the J sound in a word for an English
H, instead they use the English J sound for
both English words with J and Y.
/j/ ≠ /Y/
John – Young
Major – Mayor
Jam - Yam
Pager - Payer
Jack – Yak
Gel - Yell

9. The Letters S and Z
/z/ ≠ /s/
BUZZ
LAZY
ZOOM
ZONE
BLAZE
GIZMO
SIZZLES
SHOWBIZ
BAPTIZED
• The other confusion that tend to occur is
with the mispronunciation of the letter Z
pronounced as S.
• This happens because the Z sound has been
left unused in many Spanish speaking
countries, remaining only in some
academic levels and in Spain where even
the letter C produces the Z sound as well.
• This causes that English learners
pronounce words incorrectly.
▫ “Zero” becomes “Sero”. “Brazil” becomes “Brasil”

10. Thanksandkeepthisinmind:
Exploring your
potential and
taking advantage
of the present effort
depends mostly on
your decision of
achieving the
dream of being a
proficient speaker,
but it also takes
hard work and
commitment.
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