February 14 is バレンタイン（ヴァレンタイン）. Japanese has three kinds of characters. katakana カタカナ is used for names and places abroad and to describe sound. Japanese doesn’t have V sound so it’s hard to hear and pronounce it. For Japanese people it’s no not important to distinguish V and B.
But when we write sometimes used ブfor B. V ヴ for V.
Valentine’s day is know as バレンタイン デー. oｒ ヴァレンタイン デ―. If she/he knows selling of Valentine, she/he may write ヴァ. If she/ she doesn’t know and just hear the sound may write バレンタイン デー.
Other consonant which most Japanese find very hard are F and Th. We have no Th sound in Japanese. So English teacher for the very beginners emphasize the difference between F フ and V ヴ B ブ and V.ヴ Th is more likely pronounced S ス or Z ズ.
So please do not be surprised to hear Japanese people pronounce correctly! Behind the wrong pronunciation, she.he has made great effort in learning English. Japanese is said to be isolated from any language families. I have a great disadvantage in learning. So it’s no wonder for you or someone who is leaning Japanese think it’s difficult. Right?
Practice makes perfect. There is no royal road o learning.
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