How to pronounce the Spanish B

One of the first letters you should learn to pronounce properly is the Spanish "B". The Spanish B has two different pronunciations. When it is at the beginning of a word, it is pronounced similar to the English "B", like in the word "Beach".

Spanish: Bella, Bien, Bueno, Baloncesto. All these are pronounced with the English "B" as in "Beach".

However, when "B" appears in the middle of a word, the pronunciation is a quite a bit softer, almost like an English "V".

Spanish: Abejorro, libro, ibérico. All these are pronounced with a sound that is a bit closer to the English "V", and not such a hard "B". Note that in these cases the Spanish "B" is not identical to to the English "V", just a little big closer to it than the hard English "B".