pronunciation of spin, stick

0I disagree with this guidance.02br
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00While P and B, and T and D, are very similar - the only difference being whether they are voiced - the S in both stick and spin are unvoiced, and there is no need to voice the P or the T early, before the vowel.0-

0 The "p", "t", and "k" sounds are unaspirated after initial "s".02br
00 Here's what that means.02br
00 If your native language is Chinese, you may hear English "p", "t", and "k" in this position as "b", "d", or "g", respectively. If, when you pronounce it, it sounds to you like "b", "d", or "g", but to an English speaker it sounds like you have the correct pronunci

0 Thanks, CJ, but I don't understand fully what you mean.02br
00 Do you mean that to a native English speaker, he/she will not think he/she hears the 'b' sound in 'spin' or 'd' sound in 'stick'? Put it this way. If the words 'sbin' and 'sdick' really existed, would they be pronounced exactly the same as 'spin' and 'stick'?02br
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00 Ricky02br
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0 01blockquote

00to a native English speaker, he/she will not think he/she hears the 'b' sound in 'spin' or 'd' sound in 'stick'?12blockquote

10 Yes. That's correct. The native English speaker will not think he/she hears 'b' in 'spin' and 'd' in 'stick'.02br
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00If the words 'sbin' and 'sdick' really ex

0CJ, Merriam Webster describes the pronunciations as:02br
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00Pronunciation: 00'stik02br
00Pronunciation: 00'spin02br
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00Why do they use the t & s here? Is it possibly because though you are supposed to enunciate the t & s but people just find it easier to say d & b instead?0-

0 Strange observation: I can't find any words starting with 'sb', 'sd' or 'sg', but many with 'sp', 'st' or 'sk'. Is it related to the pronunciation?02br
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00 Ricky0-

0 Ricky,02br
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00 That is completely predictable; English words are made up of sounds in a certain order. Certain combinations just don't occur in English. The same is true for all languages. Each language has certain combinations that are characteristic of that language. Each language has certain combinations that are not used at all.02br
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0 It may be a meaningless question but I still hope someone can think of a reasonable answer. If 'sp', 'st' and 'sk' are to be pronounced as 'sb', 'sd' and 'sg', why didn't the 'creator' of words simply spell 'spin' as 'sbin' and 'stick' as 'sdick'? It will make the spelling and pronunciation match much better. After all, languages are created by humans and unnecessary complexity shouldn't

0 Ricky,02br
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00 The English speaker hears the difference between 'b' and 'p' as the difference between a voiced and an unvoiced consonant.02br
00 The Chinese speaker hears the difference between 'b' and 'p' as the difference between an unaspirated and an aspirated consonant.02br
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00 Initial 'p' as in 'pot' is an aspirated, unvoiced

Yeap, though you must understand that /b/ is usually fully unvoiced. Occasionally, the final consonants in sp, sk and st are slightly voiced. You may listen to many such examples on Youglish, if you like.