Van Isn't Fan: Give Your V Real Voice

Dutch does have a letter v, but in many regions it's pronounced with much less voicing than English requires — sometimes almost identical to f, especially at the start of a word. Carrying that habit into English can turn 'van' toward 'fan' or 'very' toward something closer to 'ferry,' which are genuinely different words to American ears. The fix is about committing fully to voicing: rest your top teeth gently on your bottom lip, same as for f, but switch your vocal cords on the entire time you're making the sound — you should feel a steady buzz, not just air. Try this for two minutes with the pairs 'fan/van,' 'fine/vine,' and 'leaf/leave,' placing a finger on your throat to check for vibration specifically on the v-words. Once that buzz becomes reliable, your v will stop quietly sliding toward f, and words like 'love' and 'very' — which you use constantly — will land exactly the way you intend.