Many people, including a bunch of English teachers, think you can’t change your accents. That’s not true.

Usually the “rule” is that after you reached your thirtieth birthday, your accent will be fully formed, and you won’t be able to change it. Don’t worry, that’s not completely accurate. Although it’s easier to change your accent when you’re younger, people are able to change their accents at a later age too by doing hard work. What kind of work? You need to practise saying the individual sounds. If necessary use a mirror to look into your mouth.

Huh?

Yes, it’s interesting to see what’s going on in your mouth…

 

How to say V.

Many of you will now think: whew, that’s easy, I know how to say a V. But it’s hard for Spanish speakers. They usually say b. There are a number of other languages where the v is said as w.

 

Now all you need to do is get out your mirror and do the following things:

 

1 Smile. Be nice to yourself.

2 Place your upper teeth on your lower lip.

3 Blow air outwards and let your vocal cords work (make a sound in your throat). The sound will be like a small vacuum cleaner.

 

Practise saying the v-sound several times. If you’re not sure, have a look at the following instruction video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0_Ab-wCNl4

In the video, a lovely woman called Rachel demonstrates how to say v.

 

The next step is to say words that begin with v.

 

V-words:

vast

vest

very

vacuum

vet

vegetable

vent

via [pronounce: vaia]

vain

valid

vault [pronounce: volt]

violin

virgin

view

visit

volleyball

vote

vowel

 

Then practise words that end in v:

 

love

live [pronounce: liv and laiv]

give

dive

rove

cove

stove

prove

have

stave

knave [pronounce: neiv]

Dave

carve

dove

above

 

Your last set of words is with v in the middle:

 

lively [pronounce: laivli]

loved

lovely

heavy

Kevin

Calvin

caves

carving

believable

receiving

cover

service

starvation

over

every

seven

behaviour

 

And then lastly it’s on to saying sentence with v-words. If you’re able to say the good v in each sentence, you’ll be a master.

 

Here are some:

Starting with v:

The virgin was a virtuoso on the violin.

The vain vet vanished into a vault.

 

Other sentences with v:

Every one of seven variations was very creative.

We don’t believe the service we received is valuable.

There have been too much poverty and starvation.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you probably don’t believe what Kevin says.

They served heavy beverages and lovely vegetables.

 

I encourage you to make up your own sentences.