Bad and Bed?

Question

I noticed that the north americans can distinguish the pronunciation of these two words 'bad' and 'bed' even if they are uttered alone. I know english well, as a second language, for many years ( I am Brazilian), but this information surprised me, because I always thought that in american english the pronounce were exactly the same. Is is true? If you americans hear one of these two words separated, could you distinguish them? Thanks

Answer 1

When you say "bad" you use for the letter "a", the following phonetic symbol/sound: æ

When you say "bed" you use for the letter "e", the following phonetic symbol/sound: e

Wanna listen and have fun listening to those two vowel sounds, in an exercise to learn how to differentiate those two phonemes? (a phoneme is a specific speech sound or utterance; in this case, the vowel sounds "æ" and "e")

Go to:

http://www.manythings.org/mp/m14.html

Check the 3d exercise (men and man; it's exactly the same pronunciation-difference case, as bed and bad).

I advice you though to get an English dictionary with a list of pronunciation symbols, at the beginning pages of the dictionary. The most standard list of phonetic symbols used for American English is the IPA chart for English. You can check out this list at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_chart_for_English

If you master the pronunciation of those symbols, you'll sound like a 100% native American (of course, you have to also speak with the correct intonation, stress and rhythm, but the latter come mostly by listening carefully and practicing a lot).

Good luck and have fun!!

Answer 2

To an American the two vowels sound very different. The /ae/ vowel in 'bad' is not found in a lot of languages, and when speakers of those languages learn English, they are taught to use the /e/ vowel instead, which is easier to say, and as a result they hear a /e/ in 'bed.' Incidentally, using the /ae/ vowel in place of /e/ is one of the stereotypical features of a foreign accent.

Answer 3

Mes, mais, Mai, and met in French language, for example...they are pronounced exactly the same way.
Mes parents sont decedes = My parents have passed away.

Je voudrai bien rester plus longtemps, mais ma femme m'attend = I would like to stay longer, but my wife is waiting for me.

Je suis ne en mois de Mai = I am born in Mai.

Il met son linge sale dans le lave-vaisselle = He puts his dirty laundry in a dishwasher.

These are only few of so many examples I can give you. Lot of words in a lot of Languages are pronounced and spelled the same, but have different meanings.

All depends on where you put the word...I am going to bed because I have bad headache...

However, "bad" and "bed" are not pronounced alike this time, but they sound alike, especially to someone who's native Language is other than English.

English is not my native Language neither, but I speak few other Languages which made it easier for me to understand.

I like yours though, it's a lot better than mine...congrats!

Good luck!

Answer 4

They are very similar but yes i could distinguish them one has an "e" sound and the other has the "a" sound. But a lot of the english words are hard because we tend to slur our words together.

Answer 5

yes, I can distinguish them... the short e sound is different than the short a sound. They are not pronounced exactly the same, unless you have a foriegn accent.

Answer 6

Yes, i can distinguish them because they mean different things! And, they are not peronounced the same, the are peronounced differenlty form each other!