The difference of pronouncing Beach and Bitch???

YouBeach   Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:29 am GMT
I am not a native speaker of English and people start to laugh after I pronounce the word "beach."

They say I pronounced it like "bitch."
What's the difference of the pronunciation of the two words?

I hardly find any difference when my native speaker friends pronounce the two words for me. Maybe my native language does not have such difference of those vowels.

Can you give me some explanation of the different pronunciation of the two words "Beach" and "Bitch"?

To me, "meat-meet" and "leave-live" sound pretty much the same!
Paul   Sat Apr 25, 2009 3:55 pm GMT
"meat" and "meet" are pronounced the same. "leave" and "live" though are different. You'll need to learn how to distinguish them if you don't want an "accent".
Pamela   Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:38 pm GMT
I have another problem. Usually people call me beach. I don't know why
Kess   Sun Apr 26, 2009 1:02 am GMT
Beach and Bitch don't have the same vowel.
EA vowel is close to Italian and Spanish /i/, as in IBIZA
I vowel is closer to Italian and Spanish E, but more central: miracle, pronounced close to ''meracle''
Jasper   Sun Apr 26, 2009 10:34 pm GMT
YouBeach, open your mouth a little bit more when you pronounce "bitch"--about one centimeter more. This will help but won't be perfect.
Guest   Sun Apr 26, 2009 10:50 pm GMT
Beach: biich
Bitch: bich
SunnyBeach   Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:47 am GMT
Some people like to shout at me: 'You're a sun of a beach!'

Is that a compliment? Are they calling me a sunshine boy?

When they say that to me, I always smile and say, "Thanks!" or "Thank you, so are you!" if he or she looks like a sunshine boy or girl. Is that a correct response?
tlourp   Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:00 pm GMT
search for those two words on forvo.com or add them if they haven't already been pronounced.