The subtle sounds that English speakers have trouble catching

The "p" in pit, is not the same as the one in spit

Listening hard
(Image credit: iStock)

You've probably noticed how speakers of some languages can't seem to tell certain sounds apart. As a result, they can confuse word pairs such as wet and vet, beat and bit, thin and tin, or long and wrong.

But have you noticed how you do the same kind of thing? You and everyone who speaks English?

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James Harbeck

James Harbeck is a professional word taster and sentence sommelier (an editor trained in linguistics). He is the author of the blog Sesquiotica and the book Songs of Love and Grammar.